Stability

Prompt ▼

Prompt: Write 250-750 words of a nonsense story about a day you spent at a circus.

Written for "The Whatever Contest." "The Whatever Contest -- Closed for Now" 

Word Count: 722

"All Rise, All Rise!"

The ape's voice came clearly through to us, he was using a powerful megaphone. Wherever we were, we stood up. Some of us saluted.

The RING MASTER's caravan was driving in to the field, pulled by two camels and an ox. The Ring Master and Ring Mistress were returning from their annual vacation, which they took every four years.

I was with the stable-girl at the time, hoping to learn exactly what she did. I wanted to be a stable-girl, too, you see. The stable-girl in a circus has a lot to do. She has to check the stability of the trapeze swings. She has to check the stability of all the ladders the clowns climb during their act. Sometimes, she has to check the stability of the country's economy. Aside from that, she looks after the stables and the horses in them. When the stables are turned, she does the same work but upside down.

So I was with her and with the horses when the Ring Master and Ring Mistress drove by. The Ring Mistress, glad to be back at her beloved circus field, was peering through the window and caught sight of me immediately.

"Who is that stranger?" she asked.

The camels stopped. The ox didn't realise what was happening and walked on a few paces. Realising that fellow-pullers weren't pulling any more, the ox stopped, too. (Say that three times fast - the ox stopped. The ox stopped. The ox stopped.)

Anyway, the Ring Master and Ring Mistress descended from their grand caravan and asked me what I was doing in their circus.

Overwhelmed at the attention, I could only stammer, "St ... st ... stabling, your lordship and your ladyship."

"You stabled a ship?" the Ring Master cried. "Where, where?"

Before anyone could stop him, this tall man, dressed all in golden robes, was running in to the stables. He didn't find a ship there, but one of the horses liked to play with a toy boat while bathing and that had to do instead. The Ring Master asked if I'd stabled the boat. The stable-girl nudged me and winked, so I said 'Yes" even though that was a lie and as a rule, I don't like to lie.

The Ring Master then said he'd add the boat to his collection of circus objects because no boat had ever been in a stable before and surely this would make the boat valuable. The horse almost cried at losing his bath boat, but I quickly gave him a rubber instead and he was all smiles again.

When the Ring Master and Ring Mistress had parked their van in their slot and set the camels and ox free to graze, everyone stopped Rising and Saluting. The lion tamer was upset because his cake didn't rise properly, either. He hadn't expected it to salute, but it would've been rather lovely if it had risen properly. So he had un-risen cake with his coffee, and (as Lilith 🎄 Christmas Cheer shall confirm) there is nothing sadder than un-risen cake with one's coffee.

Anyway, to get back to the horses. The horse with the rubber was now showing off his new toy to every other stable animal. The unstable ones didn't want to see rubber s, but the stable ones got a bit upset that they didn't have one of their own. So I had to quickly get out my bag of rubber toys and I handed out a , a and a and all the horses neighed happily.

Then the stable-girl and I checked the trapeze swings and wires, the tightrope, the ladders and anything else that needed to be stable. Everything was fine for the show that night.

The show that night was a huge success. Not only was the collection at the ticket office stable, so were the seats the audience sat on and the tent the performers performed under. Besides, the horses had a new idea. They put their new rubber toys - , , and on their backs to show how stable rubber toys could be on horseback.

The audience cheered, and the stable-girl and I were called upon by the Ring Master and Ring Mistress to take a special bow.