August Acrobat

by Ron Roy

  “It reminded me of Hannah’s the first time we saw her,” he said. “That was, like, five minutes after we watched the mystery acrobat in the tent.”

  “I remember!” Nate said. “Hannah’s hair was all spiky.”

  “After I saw that guy at Howard’s, I thought maybe Hannah’s hair was all weird because she’d just pulled off that hood on her silver costume!” Bradley went on. “Later, her hair was all neat.”

  “Our folks don’t know,” Adam said. “We haven’t told them how good Hannah is on the high wire and trapeze.”

  “But why not?” Bradley asked. “She’s awesome!”

  Adam sighed. “The folks want to keep the Flying Fortunatos together, but the circus is falling apart,” he said. “They’re getting old, and they have no money.”

  “Even if I performed, we still wouldn’t have a circus,” Hannah said. She looked at her brother. “Tell them the rest, Adam.”

  “I don’t want to be an acrobat anymore,” Adam said. “I want to be an artist. I want to go to art school this fall.”

  “But your parents—” Bradley started to say.

  “They don’t know that, either,” Adam said. “They’re going to be crushed when we tell them.”

  Bradley remembered the note. “Who’s Mr. Wood?” he asked Adam.

  “How’d you hear about him?” Adam asked.

  Bradley told him about the picture he’d found in the shoe box. “You wrote the note, right?”

  Adam nodded. “Lawson Wood is a great artist,” he explained. “I want to do what he does. I was writing him a letter, and then I threw it away.”

  Adam looked at his sister. “Your turn,” he said.

  “I don’t want to be an acrobat, either,” Hannah said. “I want to open a school to teach acrobatics. But the folks would have a fit. They keep thinking they can save the circus.”

  “She’s a natural,” Adam said. “She could totally teach other people. I think she’s part bird or something.”

  Hannah grinned. “You’re the one who’s part bird,” she said. Turning to the kids, she added, “Adam Fortunato is the best acrobat I’ve ever seen. Our parents taught him. Now he’s even better than they were. He’s been teaching me for ten years!”

  Bradley remembered Adam’s performance earlier. “Um, we saw you in the tent,” he said. “You didn’t look much like an acrobat.…”

  “Oh, I was just practicing how I was going to fool my parents,” Adam said. “I was going to pretend I was a klutz—that I couldn’t do it anymore. So they’d let me out of the show.”

  “What are you guys going to do?” Nate asked.

  Adam shrugged. Hannah shook her head.

  “I have an idea,” Lucy said.

  Adam and Hannah looked at Lucy. “Tell us!” Hannah said.

  “Tell your parents they can be part of the audience tomorrow night,” Lucy said.

  “I’m so excited, I can hardly eat my hot dog!” Nate said.

  “What do you mean?” Brian asked. “You’ve already gobbled down two!”

  The kids were sitting next to Mr. and Mrs. Fortunato. The couple looked around the crowd with amazement on their faces.

  It was intermission time, and in a few minutes, the trapeze act would begin. Every seat in the big tent was taken! Bradley, Brian, Nate, and Lucy were squished between the Fortunatos and Howard the barber.

  When Bradley turned around, he saw Mr. Linkletter sitting with three boys who looked like miniature Mr. Linkletters. Bradley waved, and Mr. Linkletter’s mustache wrinkled.

  Ellie was selling ice cream and hot dogs.

  Mr. Paskey, from the Book Nook, stood next to her, handing out bags of hot popcorn.

  A band from the high school was playing rock and roll and circus tunes outside the tent.

  Inside, a sign stood in front of the trapeze net. But no one could see what it said—it was covered with shiny silver-and-blue fabric.

  So far, the audience had seen a man from the senior center juggling fruit, and Officer Fallon doing magic tricks. Clumsy the clown, who was really Hannah Fortunato, had everybody laughing every time she tripped over her enormous feet.

  Now it was almost time for the mystery acrobat. Bradley smiled as the lights went down. The Fortunatos had no idea what they were about to see!

  The music ended. A spotlight appeared in the big ring. Everybody cheered when Mr. Holly from the gas station stepped into the circle of light, wearing a bright red jacket and black pants. He held a microphone, and a gold whistle hung around his neck. Peter the parrot sat on his shoulder.

  “Good evening, folks,” Mr. Holly said. “May I present the world’s smartest parrot!” He looked at the bird. “Tell everyone your name, please.”

  “Peter the parrot!” Peter squawked.

  Everyone cheered and whistled.

  “Very good, Peter! Now tell everyone the name of the president of the United States,” Mr. Holly said.

  “Peter the parrot!”

  “And who is the vice president, Peter?” Mr. Holly asked.

  “Peter the parrot!”

  “Very nice, Peter,” Mr. Holly said. “Now tell our friends, who is your favorite singer?”

  “Peter the parrot!”

  “Oh, good! Will you sing a song for us?” Mr. Holly asked.

  Peter didn’t say anything. He just tucked his head under one wing.

  The audience clapped and whistled.

  “Now for our special surprise,” Mr. Holly said.

  “Surprise?” Bradley heard Maude Fortunato ask her husband.

  Mr. Holly looked up into the audience, right at Mr. and Mrs. Fortunato. “This next act is dedicated to the Fortunatos by their son, Adam, and their daughter, Hannah!”

  The spotlight shone on the high wire.

  Maude Fortunato gasped when she saw the figure in silver tights and a mask, balancing on the wire.

  “When did Adam get a new costume?” Maude asked her husband. “I just made him the blue one last month!”

  “Shhh,” her husband said.

  Bradley smiled. It was Hannah, not Adam, on the high wire, and she looked great. Only her nose and mouth showed beneath her mask.

  The silver acrobat walked across the wire, perfectly balanced. The spotlight followed her. When Hannah reached the other side, she tied a blindfold around her eyes. Then she walked back onto the wire. In the center of the wire, she flipped upside down into a handstand.

  The four kids said, “Oooh!” Then they started clapping and whistling.

  Maude whispered, “I can’t look! Adam has never done this before!”

  Hannah flipped again and was on her feet.

  Suddenly another acrobat walked to the middle of the wire. This one was dressed in a shiny dark-blue costume and also wore a mask.

  The two acrobats joined hands.

  “That’s Adam!” Maude said. “I made that costume for him. But who’s the other one?”

  “I think I know,” her husband said.

  Adam bent one leg, and Hannah stepped onto his knee, still holding his hand. Then she gripped his shoulders and flipped upside down. Before anyone could blink, Hannah’s head was balancing on top of Adam’s. His arms were raised, and Hannah held both of his hands.

  Then, in a flash, Hannah flipped down to the wire. Adam unhitched the trapeze and held it as Hannah climbed onto the bar. Adam pushed the trapeze, and Hannah floated out above the audience.

  For the next five minutes, it seemed as if the entire audience was holding its breath. Hannah dipped, soared, flipped, and swung like a silver bird.

  Bradley snuck a look at Hannah’s parents. They had tears in their eyes.

  When Adam and Hannah flipped down into the net, then onto the ground, everyone jumped to their feet to clap and yell.

  Mr. Holly came out and blew his whistle. When the audience quieted down, he handed the microphone to Adam.

  Adam and Hannah pulled off their masks.

  “Hi, Mom and Dad,” Adam said, smiling up at his parent
s. “So now you know who the real Flying Fortunato is, right?”

  Everyone cheered.

  “But Hannah has another surprise for you,” Adam went on.

  The twins each took a corner of the fabric over the sign, then ripped it off.

  There on the sign was Adam’s most stunning painting yet. It showed Hannah in her silver costume, swinging on the trapeze. The words read:

  THE FLYING FORTUNATOS’

  SCHOOL OF ACROBATICS

  Adam handed the mike to his sister.

  “I’ll need to hire some teachers,” Hannah said. “I hope my first two teachers will be Basilio and Maude Fortunato!”

  Her father stood up. “We would be honored, darling!”

  “And, Adam!” Maude exclaimed. “Your painting is just as amazing as your performance!”

  “Well,” Adam began, “about that …”

  “Hurry up, you slowpokes!” Brian said. “We can’t be late for our first class with Hannah!”

  The four kids ran toward the tent.

  Inside, Bradley, Brian, Nate, and Lucy saw a lot of their school friends. Every kid was wearing a T-shirt with a picture of Hannah in her silver costume. Beneath the picture were the words I CAN FLY!

  Basilio handed the kids their new shirts. They pulled them on over the shirts they were wearing.

  “Okay, everyone have a seat on the bleachers!” Hannah called out.

  The kids all took seats.

  Bradley felt a flutter in his stomach. Was he really going to learn how to walk on the high wire or swing on a trapeze?

  Adam was there, helping his sister start her school. After counting the kids, he said, “We signed up twenty for this class, but only nineteen are here. Who’s missing?”

  “That would be me,” a deep voice said. They all turned and looked toward the tent’s open flap.

  Mr. Linkletter walked through. He was wearing high-top sneakers, gym shorts, and a purple T-shirt. “I’ve always wanted to be a circus performer,” he said.

  “You can sit next to me, Mr. Linkletter,” Bradley said. He scooted over on the bleacher seat.

  “Thank you, young Mr. Pinto,” Mr. Linkletter said.

  Bradley grinned. Mr. Linkletter’s mustache was definitely wrinkling!