Circus Girl

From: Koalabear ([email protected])



Once upon a time, in a place not too far away, there was a little girl named Barbie. She did not live in a house, like most eight year old boys and girls: Barbie lived in a trailer. But the trailer that she lived in was not a house trailer or a motor home. Barbie's Mommy and Daddy were circus performers, and so she lived in a special trailer that was pulled by a big eighteen wheeler long haul truck.

Barbie was a part of her parents act, and when Daddy had the lions and tigers perfectly posed on their pedestals, she would enter the cage boldly. Dressed in bright spangled tights, shiny black boots and cape, Barbie would fearlessly stride into the spotlight as the big cats clawed the air and roared. As the crowd gasped, she cracked her miniature whip to each animal, pirouetted prettily, and bowed grandly when the audience went wild with cheers and applause.

There was no doubt about it: Barbie was a hit and was soon accorded the status of a Star of Bonner's Big Top Extravaganza. She was given her own dressing room and a real salary, which her parents put away for her future college. She received an allowance that she really didn't need, as the circus supplied everything a little girl could possibly want.

All the cotton candy she could eat; hot dogs and orange fizzes; slurpees and sandwiches; balloons, trinkets and stuffed animals were hers for the taking; and she could play the games free at any concession on the midway. The roustabouts and carney folk doted on little Barbie and did everything possible to please her. In fact, the circus folk treated her like a grand little princess: but Barbie took no joy from their kindness and gifts, for Barbie was at heart a brat!

She walked like a brat, proud and prissy; talked like a brat, snide and snippy; acted like a brat, naughty and nasty; behaved like a brat, with temper and tantrums; and in general was a horrid little girl! But the Big Top people were indulgent and glossed over her behavior. They said it was just a phase, and she would grow out of it; it was not that bad, and she would change soon; it was normal for an eight year old to be that way, and in time she would improve. But deep in their hearts, they knew none of this was true, and it made them sad and sorrowful. They wondered what could possibly be done, but none had a solution.

Barbie's Mommy and Daddy were no help, for whenever they tried to take her in hand to teach her the error of her ways, she refused to perform. Ultimately, they gave in to her demands and ignored her disobedience for the sake of the act, and her power over the crowds.

Barbie loved being a part of the circus, and gloried in her stardom. Of all the wonderful things about the circus, most of all she loved the animals. Barbie did not love the lions and tigers for their fierce beauty; she did not love the chimpanzees for their agility; nor the zebras for their startling stripes; nor the giraffes for their stately stature; not the gorilla for his silver back and gentle power; nor the elephants for their huge size and ponderous strength; not the beautiful horses for their flowing manes and their graceful canter in the ring; not even the performing dogs were loved for their tricks and friendly tails.

No, it was none of these wondrous attributes that Barbie loved. What she loved most about the animals was that she could tease and torment them whenever she liked. A bright child, Barbie was always very, very careful to be unobserved as she mistreated the circus creatures. But mistreat them she did, in a myriad mean ways.

She poured pepper into the zebra's fodder, and giggled when they snorted and sneezed. She stole hula hoops from the clown prop chests and played ring toss with the baby giraffe's neck, laughing gleefully at the poor animal's frantic attempts to dislodge the objects. She greased the bars in the chimp's exercise cage, and chortled when they slipped and fell. When children tossed peanuts to the elephants, Barbie threw small stones that she had gathered, and giggled as the great beasts spat them out with rumbles and whuffs of disappointment. Barbie used her clever mind to devise a hundred fiendish ways to taunt and terrorize the circus animals, and none escaped her meanness.

One night, in the wee hours, when all the circus humans were fast asleep in their soft beds, something special happened. The elephant Matriarch fanned her great ears, rumbled and sent a message to all the animals in their cages in the long rows of parked trucks.

**rumble**rumble**rumble***ruuummmmbllle****rummmmbbbbbble

Which, when correctly translated into human speech, means:

"My dear fellow creatures of the Great Circus: we must do something about that child! Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas?"

You will note that unlike Barbie, the elephant Queen Mother was always polite to everyone she knew. She treated all the animals with equal deference and kindness. Whether tiger or titmouse; lion or lamb; Gorilla or Gnat; she knew that all were important beings in the natural kingdom. Even the sneaky skulking hyena and the scabby scavenging vulture were part of the wheel of life, and were treated with consideration and respect.

At once, all the animals began to speak. Well, they did not exactly speak: some animals howled; some growled; many roared and rumbled; a few squeaked and squealed; some chirped and chuckled; a small number buzzed and barked; and the wolves bayed at the silver moon.

It took some doing, but the Elephant Queen finally got the meeting under proper control and all the creatures began to take turns having their say. Now you must understand, that unlike a human meeting where all the people are in the same room, the circus animals were separated by their cages and enclosures. So the loud animals like the tigers and lions, relayed the speech of the quiet ones like the giraffe and the mice, and the discussion continued until every animal being, large and small had made a contribution.

As you might imagine, this was a rather noisy meeting, and some of the circus folk were awakened by the clamor. But they were only briefly awake: just long enough to mumble to each other that the animals were certainly restless tonight.

"Must be the full moon!" said the roustabout boss sleepily. The animals noisy meeting continued and after a time all the humans turned over and went back to sleep.

Very early in the discussion, the Elephant Queen ruled out actual mayhem. She stamped her huge feet and insisted that the child should not be eaten: Barbie just needed to be taught a serious lesson!

At last, in the wee hours just before the dawn, the animals reached a consensus: which is just a fancy way of saying that they all agreed. The Elephant Queen gave out the assignments, and after a time, all was quiet as one by one and two by three, the creatures finally went to sleep.

"HEY RUBE! HEY! HEY! HEY! HEY RUUUUBBBBE! RUBE!"

These are words that can send terror into the hearts of circus folk! "Hey RUBE!" are the words that traveling tent people have always used to warn of danger, trouble or an emergency. When circus people hear this cry they drop whatever they are doing and come running to find whatever is the matter, and who needs help.

And so it was at Bonner's Big Top Extravaganza on this early Saturday morning. Roustabouts and riggers; accountants and animal trainers; clowns and cooks; trapeze flyers and sideshow barkers: all came running to find the source of the terrible screams which echoed among the tents and trucks.

But a funny thing happened when the circus folk found the cause of all the hullabaloo! The sound of screams was soon smothered by the sound of a crowd laughing and applauding, and from far and near was heard the howls and roars; hoots and rumbles; squeals and squawks of all the big top creatures.

For the source of the great commotion was Barbie. There she was; upended over the back of the baby elephant, held firmly in place by the powerful trunk of the great Elephant Queen. Barbie's bright frock was pulled up over her back by the baby elephant's trunk, and her panties had somehow fallen to her knees. Despite her frantic struggles, the cruel child was helpless to stop what was happening. For Barbie was getting a sound spanking!

One of the young chimpanzees had a small branch, broken from a nearby tree, and was enthusiastically switching Barbie's bare bottom! The switch covered every inch of her small behind, and the little green branch sang as it turned the brat's bottom into a bright red display of overlapping lines.

Swick-Swack! Swish-Snap! Whoosh-Whack! Snick-Snap! Whish-Wap!

Barbie screamed and howled, begged and pleaded for mercy, but no one came to her aid. As the pain mounted, she began to cry out for her Mommy and Daddy to help her; but they stood silent and shared a secret smile with others in the crowd of watchers.

Finally, the Elephant Queen released Barbie and raising her nimble trunk high, trumpeted her triumph for all the animals to hear.

"KREEEAAAAGHHHHH! KREEEEAAAAGGGGHHHHHH!"

The chimp jumped to the great queen's back, waving the little switch and doing backflips: hooting and laughing as only chimpanzees can Barbie slid from the baby pachyderm's back and fell to the ground, crying and squirming, frantically rubbing her hot little bottom. She jumped to her feet and began the dance of the soundly spanked, but her knee-tangled panties tripped her up and she fell again. The poor child was a pitiful sight: her face red and wet with tears, her bottom crimson and burning; her dress spattered with mud; one pigtail undone; one ribbon and one shoe missing.

Barbie's Daddy lifted her in his strong arms and carried her, still crying and rubbing her sore little behind, back to their trailer. Her Mommy gave a Barbie a bath, changed her into fresh jammies, and put her to bed. It was some time before Barbie quieted down and drifted off to sleep: but a lesson had been given and a lesson had been learned. Barbie never ever again teased or was cruel to any animal.

And the moral of this little tale, dear reader, is that when folks have a problem, the first step in finding a solution, is getting everyone together to figure out what to do. Listening to every idea: good and bad, silly or sensible, until all have had their say, will always bring out a good answer. Cooperation is the best way to solve a problem. Maybe, if animals would cooperate more; instead of ignoring other species, or mostly trying to eat each other, we might be the ones in the cages!


Copyright January 2000 by Koalabear ([email protected])


Back to Issue 23
Back to All the Stories

1