Watching the Circus Load The Wagons

“Hey Jake!” called Midge as she hurried up the sidewalk to the front porch. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing,” answered Jake. “Just sitting here waiting for you to come.”

“Are we going to go watch them load up the animals and take down the tents?” asked Midge.

“Yes,” said Jake. “Booker-T should be here in a few minutes and we can all go watch them.”

“I'm here!” called Booker-T as he hurried up the steps. “I'm ready to go.”

The three quickly went down the steps and along the sidewalk and outside the gate, they turned to go up the sidewalk to the corner where they crossed into the park. They saw the men loading the horses into a beautiful wagon and the elephants were helping pick up the large tent poles and place them on a very big wagon. There were lot of men who were taking down the main tent and folding it up to load onto the wagon. The dogs were being loaded into another wagon with pictures of dogs on the outside.

“Come on Midge,” said Booker-T. “Lets get closer. I want to see the big tiger cats before they load them onto that wagon.

“We can't get too close,” said Jake. “There are too many men around now. We have to be careful or we could get stepped on by those big elephants loading up the wagons with the men and the men are so busy with their work, they might not see us and trip over us.”

“Jake is right Booker-T,” agreed Midge. “We have to stay back here near the trees where we are safe from getting stepped on.”

“See that tree over there by the tiger's wagon,” said Booker-T. “Come on, lets go stand by that tree and watch.”

“Okay,” said Jake as he followed Booker-T across the open area to the other tree.

They stood huddled together beneath the tree watching the men load the tiger cages into the big wagon. There were three wagons and each wagon held two cages. They strapped the cages down and closed the rear gate to the wagon and locked it. The tigers let out a huge roar and Booker-T starred at the wagons.

“Wow,” said Booker-T. “They sure sound bad.”

“They are bad,” said Midge. “They would eat you for dinner Booker-T.”

“Oh, I don't think so,” said Booker-T. “We are all cats.”

“No no,” said Jake. “They are much bigger than you are and are a lot meaner than you are. You are a house cat, they are wild animals. You can't trust them.”

“I guess you are right Jake,” said Booker-T as another tiger let out with a fierce sounding roar from his cage.

“Look over there Midge,” said Jake. “They are starting to load the elephants into the giant wagons.”

“The wagons are so pretty with all the colorful pictures on the outside of them,” said Midge. “I love the circus.”

“It was nice,” said Booker-T. “Thank you for asking me to go along with you. Seeing the animals was exciting. Can we do this again next year if they come again?”

“Sure,” said Midge. “Jake and I come to see it every time they are here in the park.”

“Ok,” said Booker-T. “This was nice. I like the big tigers, but have to be careful and not get too close to them or the big elephants. I thought that one had me when he touched my head.”

“I know,” laughed Jake. “You sure moved fast out of that tent. I don't think I ever saw you move that fast before.”

“Ha ha,” said Booker-T.

“It was funny,” said Jake. “You did move really fast and backwards too.”

“I guess I did look funny,” said Booker-T. “But it sure scared me.”

“It is okay Booker-T,” said Midge. “There was a time when Jake and I got scared too. We were trying to check out the lions they had last year and we were under the wagon when one of them stuck his big paw out of the cage bars and touched Jake on the back as it let out a huge roar. We ran as fast as our legs could take us away from that wagon. Jake was running so fast that I couldn't catch up to him.”

“Oh my,” said Booker-T. “I'm sure glad he didn't hurt you.”

“That would have been bad,” said Midge. “He had some very big paws with big claws.”

“We all need to be careful when we go to see the animals again,” said Jake. “We all want to come back home safe.”

Midge and Booker-T agreed with Jake as the three walked along the park to the little pond at the other end where they found Snappy sunning on the big rock along the edge of the pond.

“Hi Snappy,” said Midge.

“Hey you guys,” said Snappy. “What are you doing?”

“We just watched the circus load up their wagons and get ready to leave,” said Jake.

“I loved the circus music while they were here,” said Snappy.

“It is nice,” said Booker-T. “Maybe you can come with us to see the animals next time.”

“Oh no,” said Snappy. “Not me. I move too slow if there was any problems.”

“I guess you are right,” said Booker-T. “I didn't think of that.”

“Come on,” said Snappy. “Lets play in the water for a while before you go home.”

The four jumped into the little pond and enjoyed the cool water.