by Micol Ostow
Then Miss Kitty locks him in the tomb and turns it around three times!
After the audience says the magic words— “Abracadabra, banana SPLITSVILLE!”—there’s a huge flash of light and a kaboom! Miss Kitty unlocks the door to the tomb and opens it all-the-way-wide.
Each time: Magnificent Blue is GONE! Poof, he has escaped!
The audience always gasps.
The trick is amazing.
And I, Louise Trapeze, know how it works.
Magnificent Blue taught me once, as a thank-you for helping him sort his magic scarves. It’s actually very simple. Inside the lining of the tomb is a tiny hidden latch. When that latch is unhooked, Magnificent Blue sneaks through a trapdoor to a secret compartment underneath! That’s how he disappears.
So, that is the thing I know about the Aztec Tomb. And here is another thing I knew that morning:
Magnificent Blue wasn’t performing that week. He was away at a special Magic Camp for Professional Grown-Up Magicians. He was going to catch up with our troupe back in Funky Town.
That meant the Aztec Tomb was just sitting in our prop trailer, all alone.
And that meant the Aztec Tomb would be the absolute perfect place to hide my brand-new birthday costume!
It was the greatest eureka! plan ever!
The prop trailer was stuffed to the gills with crates and cages and old light-up signs. There was even a giant wire basket filled with Tolstoy’s squeaking red rubber noses.
And then: there it was!
The Aztec Tomb!
I rushed to it. The tomb door opened with a squeak, and I grabbed the lining, feeling for the latch.
I got it!
The super-secret door swung toward me. Scrunch-scrunch-scrunch. I wadded my leotard, my tights, and even my beautiful headband into the teensiest ball it could be. Then I stuffed everything into the secret compartment.
I felt sad seeing my special costume smushed up on the floor of the tomb. And I felt sad thinking I was going to miss my fabulous debut.
But I decided being afraid of heights was worse than being sad. So I closed the tomb back up and tiptoed outside.
The sky was bluer now, and people and animals and all kinds of Sweet Potatoes were moving around. But no one had seen me come out of the prop trailer, thank goodness gracious.
“Louise! There you are!” It was Stella. “I woke up and you were gone! Where’d you go?” She gave me a for-serious look. “Are you still upset about our fight? I feel bad about it.”
“Me too,” I said. “I shouldn’t have been so mean about Fernando. I know you’d never take a gooberhead’s side over mine.”
“Never,” Stella agreed.
I didn’t know what to say to Stella about what I had been doing, though. I for certainly couldn’t tell her about hiding my costume.
But before I could say anything, Stella grabbed me. She pulled me toward the Big Top. “If we’re not in a fight anymore, you have to come with me right now!” she said.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“You’ll see!” Stella promised. “Close your eyes.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. I let Stella guide me into the Big Top tent.
And then! The most unexpected thing of ever happened!
“Surprise!” Lots of voices shouted at me in a happy way.
I was so startled! But it was a good kind of startled. Because the entire Sweet Potato Troupe was gathered under the Big Top just for me! In the middle of the tent was a shiny rainbow-colored sign.
“It’s a Happy Birthday Breakfast,” Stella explained.
I looked around. There was a folding table set up with breakfasty muffins, and doughnuts with sprinkles and chocolate chips, and a large pot of coffee for the grown-ups to drink. The Wonder Dogs were playing “Happy Birthday” music on their red plastic doggie pianos. And the juggling chickens were juggling yellow-frosted cupcakes up-up-up into the air without even getting any frosting on their feathers.
“Don’t worry,” Stella whispered. “We have different cupcakes for eating.”
That was good news.
I laughed with Stella and hugged Mama and Daddy. Clara Bear unicycled up and popped a sparkly tiara on my head. Then there was singing. Even the chickens clucked along.
“We’re so excited for you, Lou,” said Petrova. “Fernando told us you’re going to be the star of the flying trapeze tonight!”
Ferret-breath. Why did he have to be such a gooberhead all the time? Suddenly he was right there, staring at me with ferrety eyes.
“That’s what you said, right?” he asked.
“Of course!” I said. “I’m going to fly.”
“She’s going to do a split on the flying trapeze,” Stella said. “And her tightwire is higher up now, too.”
“Oh, can we get a sneak peek?” Cady the Bearded Lady asked.
“Do a turn on the tightwire, Lou!” cried Stefano Wonder.
Everyone was looking at me and cheering me on. I was sorry I’d said anything to Fernando about flying. I was sorry I’d said anything to anyone about flying.
“I can’t,” I said in a quiet-mouse voice. But no one could hear me over the cheering.
“Lou! Lou! Lou!” They were so loud!
I took a deep breath.
“I CAN’T!” I said. My voice came out extra shouty.
Mama wrinkled her forehead. “What do you mean?”
My eyes got watery. It was time for the hardest part of the eureka! plan. Now I had to tell a little white lie.*
“I can’t go on the flying trapeze tonight,” I said.
“Why not?” Daddy asked gently.
“Because…” I swallowed hard. “My costume is missing.”
Everyone gasped. Ringmaster Riley waved his arms. In his biggest announcer voice, he said, “We must find Louise’s costume!”
“Don’t you worry,” he said to me. “We’ll all search high and low. We’ll find your costume!”
“Indeed!” shouted Lady Edwina.
Maharaja Moe stepped forward. “Khan will look underneath our equipment, and in the corners of the tents and the trailers,” he said. “Cobras are good at slithering into tight spaces.”
I was worried. What if tight spaces meant the secret compartment of the Aztec Tomb? Khan wriggled away in a flash. I had to stop him!
But before I could quick-think of how, Miss Kitty joined in. “I can check all the magic props,” she said. “In Blue’s things, it would be easy for something to—poof!—vanish.”
“No!” I blurted.* “You can’t!”
Everyone looked at me. I had to think of something unblurty to say.
“It’s just, the prop trailer is so big! You can’t search it alone. I’ll help!” I offered.
“Great!” Miss Kitty said. “Between you, me, and Khan, we’ll find some kind of clue!”
I for sure hope not, I thought, walking away very quickly. I was nearly out of earshot when Daddy called me back.
“Lou,” he asked, with his thinking face on, “is there something you want to tell us?”
I looked at Daddy and Mama.
They looked right back at me.
“No,” I said. “Of course not.”
Before they could ask me anything else, I ran off again.
And I didn’t look back at them once.
Right away at the prop trailer, I noticed three important things:
1. The door to the trailer was open just a teensy bit. For instance, the amount a cobra might need to sneak inside!
2. One of the trailer windows was open, too!! Just the perfect amount for a cobra to slither through!!
3. Khan the Cobra had already gone inside—probably through the door—and come out again—probably through the window—with my costume!!!
Then he took my costume way-high-up into the tallest tree around!!!!
And the reason I knew that Khan had slithered my costume into the tall-tall-tall tree was:
The costume was up there! Stuck in the branches!
<
br /> And there was Khan, a few branches below, slithering around and around and around. He looked as sad as a cobra could look.
“The costume is stuck!” Miss Kitty Fantastico shouted when she saw me. “Khan already found it in the trailer! He brought it out the window and into the tree, but now he can’t get it loose.”
“Of course not!” Fernando said. “Snakes don’t have hands.” He laughed.
“This is no time for jokes!” I shouted. Poor Khan looked so upset. “He must have found it in the false bottom of the Aztec Tomb! But why didn’t he just go back out the door, like he came in?”
“I don’t know,” Maharaja said. “But it’s a problem. Because even though Khan can slither underneath, up, and around things, he’s not great at slithering back down from high places. We’ve been working on it.” Maharaja made a whisper-voice, like he didn’t want Khan to hear what he said next. “I think he is afraid of heights.”
Oh no! If anyone understood how awful it was to be afraid of heights, it was me.
This was all my fault.
“Hey,” Fernando said suddenly. “You said Khan got the costume from the Aztec Tomb. How did you know the costume was in there, Louise?”
I froze up. “I just…guessed,” I said. “It sounded like a place a missing costume could be.”
I could tell Fernando didn’t believe me.
Next to Fernando, Mama and Daddy had their thinking faces on again. It was very quiet. I knew that, really and truly, it was time to be one hundred percent honest. But I didn’t know where to begin.
And then, the most babyish thing of all time happened.
I started to cry!
There I was, crying in front of everyone! It was my second Extremely Embarrassing Time since my birthday began. Gently, Mama took my hand.
“Let’s talk, Louise,” she said. She led me around the back of the Big Top tent so we could be just-us-alone.
We sat crisscross on a grassy patch next to a big crate of confetti and a box of squishy juggling balls.
“So, Louise.” Mama’s voice was very parent-ish. “Everyone in the troupe spent their valuable time looking for your costume.”
I swallowed. It made me feel terrible to think about that.
“And now Khan is stuck in a tree. Maharaja says he’s very scared. Can you imagine how he feels?” Mama looked at me with laser-beam eyes, like she knew down-deep-on-the-inside that actually, I knew exactly what that was like.
“Why did you mention the Aztec Tomb, Lou?” Mama asked.
All the feelings squeezing in my stomach finally squeezed their way out.
“Because it was me!” I said. “I hid the costume in the Aztec Tomb!”
Mama put her hands on my shoulders. “What’s going on, Louise? Why did you do that?” she asked.
I sniffled. Her hands felt warm in a good, Mama-ish way. But I was still too embarrassed to tell her my secret.
But then Mama surprised me! “Does this have anything to do with your new starring role in our circus act?” she asked.
I looked at her. “How did you guess?”
Mama smiled. “Mother’s Intuition.”*
It was time to share my secret Scaredness Thing with someone. And since Mama had such amazing intuition, she’d probably understand.
I took a giant being-fearless breath. And this time, it worked! I looked straight at Mama and said, “The flying trapeze is so way-high-up! I tried, but I couldn’t drop to the net. It was too, too scary.”
And then, in my quietest tiny-mouse voice, I told Mama the totally, one hundred percent, truth:
“I think I am afraid of heights.”
There.
It was out.
My deepest, darkest secret was not a secret anymore.
I waited for Mama to yell or shout, or tell me I had to leave the Sweet Potato Circus forever because of being so unmature.
But instead, Mama did the strangest thing ever:
She laughed!
“This isn’t funny!” I said. “If I’m only ninety-eight percent fearless, then I’m not brave enough to be in our circus! What if Ringmaster Riley makes me leave?”
Mama made a funny face. “No one’s going to make you leave the troupe. You’re an Easy Trapezee, Louise!”
I sighed. What a relief!
“That’s really what you’re worried about?” Mama asked. “That being afraid of heights makes you less grown-up?”
I nodded.
Mama smooched me on the top of my head. “Well, I have a little secret for you about grown-ups.”
My eyes went wide-wide-wide.
“Grown-ups are afraid of things, too. It’s normal. It doesn’t make you less mature. Actually”—she smiled—“being able to talk about the things you’re afraid of makes you extra grown-up. That’s how you learn to face your fears. Besides, if you’re not afraid, you don’t get to be brave.”
Hmm.
It was true that since being honest with Mama, I was feeling much better already.
“You have excellent Mother’s Intuition,” I said.
Mama hugged me. “If you’re not ready to fly, that’s fine,” she said. “You’ll be ready before you know it. Until then, there are lots of special lower-down tricks we can add to your act to make it jazzier. Even in time for tonight,” she said. “Your birthday performance is going to be unique, I promise.”
Lower-down tricks sounded great. Jazzier sounded even better. “So I can wear the new leotard?” I asked in my most hopeful voice.
“As soon as we can get it—and Khan—down from that tree!” Mama said.
“Actually,” I told her, “I may have a fantastic eureka! plan about that.”
Quick-quick-quick, I ran back to the way-high-up tall tree. Everyone had gathered while I was talking with Mama. Khan was still all wound up in the branches.
Clementine was standing next to Stella, like always. I ran up and patted her on her wrinkly elephant side. When she looked at me, I pointed at her trunk, then into the tree, and finally at myself. Clementine blinked at me with her big, round elephant eyes. I knew she understood.
“Cheeze Louise and holy trapeze!” I whispered to myself. It was time to be totally brave.
Clem reached out and wrapped her trunk around me. Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh! She lifted me up toward the tree. Quickly, I untangled my costume from the branch it was caught on. Then Clementine lowered me level with Khan.
I leaned over and whispered in my softest, most Mama-ish voice. “I know it’s scary way-high-up,” I told him. “But I’m here, and so is Clem. We’ve got you. It’s safe.”
And even though I was still approximately* two percent afraid of heights myself, I meant it. Even way-high-up, I was safe. And Khan would be, too.
I stretched out my hand. Slowly, Khan slithered over to me, winding around my arm. Clementine carefully lowered us both to the ground.
Once we were safely down, Khan gave me a flickery cobra kiss on my nose. He wriggled back to Maharaja. Everyone cheered like crazy.
Lady Edwina grabbed my costume from me. “Let me see if it needs any last-minute repairs,” she said. “It’s not supposed to get tangled in trees!”
“It’s my fault,” I said. “I hid it in the Aztec Tomb.” It was easier to talk about since I’d told Mama the truth. “I was afraid to go way-high-up on the flying trapeze. But Mama says if I’m not ready, I don’t have to make my debut tonight. I still get to wear my costume, though!”
“Of course you do!” Lady Edwina said. “It’s your birthday!”
“But, Lou,” Stella cut in, “you might be more ready to fly than you think.”
Easy for Stella to say, I thought.
“I’m not,” I told her. “I’m afraid of heights. I didn’t want to tell you. That’s why I was so grumpy at our sleepover last night.”
Being honest didn’t make all the jealous feelings go away, but it felt good to tell the truth to my BFF anyway.
Stella smiled. “I forgive you for being grumpy. Birthday E
ve means you can be in any mood you want.”
“So you actually can add another Scaredness Thing to my list,” I admitted.
“I don’t care about your List of Scaredness Things,” Stella said. “You just let Clementine lift you way-high-up into the air—the same way she helped you down from the trapeze yesterday!” She grabbed my shoulders. “You didn’t even think twice! All you needed was Clem’s help. How brave is that?”
“Extremely brave, I’d say,” Daddy chimed in.
My heart did a flutter. Was Stella right? Was I actually brave…with a little help from my best circus friends?
Actually, I totally was!
I felt warm and friendship-fuzzy. But then I thought of something. “Clementine isn’t an Easy Trapezee. She’s part of your act. Not mine,” I said.
“Don’t be silly.” Stella glanced at Clementine. “We can make an Official Birthday Exception.”
Clementine trumpeted to say she agreed, and Max Saxophone and Ms. Minnie Dee nodded their heads, too.
“Louise and Clementine know a superb trick,” Stella told Mama and Daddy.
“We do!” I said. “Instead of falling to the net after I do my trapeze trick, Clementine carries me down to the ground. We practiced it yesterday.”
“You have to do that trick in your act tonight!” Stella said.
I turned to Mama and Daddy. “Can I? Prettiest please with a lemon drop?”
“How can we say no to such a mature, talented birthday girl?” Daddy replied.