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A GIRL ON A BALL
One day our class went on an outing to the circus. I was very excited, because I'd only been to the circus twice before in my life and that was a long time ago. Lena's only six, but she's been to the circus three times. It's really not fair. Anyway, my class was going to the circus, and I was glad I was much older now, because this time I'd see the performance properly.
The first time I was in the circus I was still a baby and didn't understand what it was all about. When some acrobats entered the ring and one jumped on another one's shoulders I laughed my head off, because I thought they were clowning. I'd never seen grown men climbing on each other's heads and shoulders. That's why I burst out laughing. I didn't know how hard it was.
I remember I kept watching the brass band. The conductor was waving his baton but none of the musicians even looked at him. The drummer and all the rest of them even just played away. While I was so busy watching the band the circus performers were going through their acts, but I wasn't paying any attention to them and so missed most of the show. Which just goes to show what a silly baby I was then.
Here we were now at the circus, my whole class and me. I liked the smells of the circus, the bright posters and bright lights, the beautiful carpet that covered the ring, the high ceiling and all the shiny metal swings and bars way up there.
The band began to play. Everybody rushed to their seats. Then we bought ice cream from an ice cream vendor. Suddenly a whole troop of people dressed in flashy red costumes with yellow stripes came out from behind a red curtain. They lined up along both sides of the curtain and then their chief, who was wearing a black suit, walked through the double line. He said something I couldn't catch in a loud voice. Then the band began to play very fast.
A juggler came on. He was great. He kept tossing up small balls, ten or a hundred at a time, and catching them. Then he started fooling around with a striped rubber ball, butting it, rolling it down his back, kicking it up with his heel, and all the time the ball never stopped rolling up and down his body. You'd think it was magnetized. It was really something. All of a sudden he tossed the striped ball into the audience. That's when the fun really began, because I caught it and threw it to Valery. He threw it to Misha. Misha decided to throw it to the conductor, but missed and hit the bass drum instead. Bang! The drummer got mad and tossed the ball back to the juggler, but it fell short and hit a lady's hairdo, knocking it lopsided. We nearly died laughing. We kept on laughing after the juggler'd disappeared behind the curtain.
Then an attendant rolled a huge blue ball into the ring. The man who did the announcing came out and shouted something I couldn't understand. I couldn't make out a single word of what he'd said. The band started playing again. It was something lively but not as fast as before.
Then a little girl ran into the ring. I'd never seen such a pretty girl before. She had on a silver dress and a filmy cape. She had long arms which she waved like a bird. She jumped onto the huge blue ball and stood there. Then she started running on it. I thought she was going to jump off it again, but the ball began to roll. She kept running on it, making it roll around the ring.
I'd never seen a girl like her before. All the girls I knew were plain, ordinary girls. This girl was not like any of them. Her small feet kept running on top of the ball, just as if she was on a smooth floor. The blue ball took her wherever she wanted to go: backwards and forwards, left and right. She kept laughing as she ran and looked like she was sailing along. I decided she was probably Thumbelina, because she was so small, so pretty and so wonderful.Then she stopped. An attendant handed her some bracelets hung with little golden bells. She slipped them over her hands and feet. Then she began circling around on the ball again. She seemed to be dancing. The band played very softly. We could hear the golden bells tinkling on her long arms. It was like a fairytale.
Then the lights went out. The girl glowed in the dark. She was floating slowly around the ring, glowing and tinkling. It was wonderful. I'd never seen anything like it.
When the lights went on again everyone clapped and shouted Bravo! I did, too. The girl jumped off the ball and ran towards us. As she was running she suddenly did a somersault, then another and another, until I was afraid she'd crash into the rail. I was so scared I jumped up and wanted to rush down and catch her, and save her, but she suddenly stopped and threw out her long arms. The band stopped playing. She stood there, smiling. Everybody clapped as hard as they could and some people even stamped their feet.
Just then the girl looked at me. I could see she knew I was looking at her and knew I could see she was looking at me, too. She waved to me and smiled. She'd waved to me alone and smiled at me alone! I wanted to run down to her again and even stretched my hands out, but she suddenly blew us all a kiss and ran off behind the red curtain, just like the juggler had done.
Then a clown appeared. He was carrying a rooster and began sneezing and falling, but I couldn't care less.
I kept thinking about the girl on the ball, about the wonderful girl who'd waved to me and smiled at me, and I didn't feel like watching any of the other performers. In fact, I shut my eyes tight so's not to see the clown or his red ball of a nose, because he interfered with my thinking about the girl. I could still see her dancing on the blue ball.
After that there was an intermission. All the kids ran down to the snack har, but I went down to the ring and the red curtain. I wanted to see the girl again, so I stood by the curtain and waited, hoping she'd come out. She didn't.
There was a lion act after the intermission. I didn't like the way the lion-tamer kept dragging the lions around by their tails as if they were dead cats. He made them change places all the time and then made them lie down side by side so he could walk over them. What'd he think they were, a rug? They looked like they wished he'd leave them alone. It was no fun watching them, because lions should race across the prairie, hunting bison and roaring to make the earth shake. These weren't lions. I didn't know what they were.
After the performance was over we went home. All the way home I kept thinking about the girl on the blue ball.
"How'd you like the circus?" Daddy asked that evening.
"You know, there was a girl there. She danced on a blue ball. She was wonderful. I liked her best of all. She smiled at me and waved. Just at me. Honest! Isn't that something, Daddy? Let's go again next Sunday so you can see her."
"Yes, let's. I love the circus."
Mommy gave us a funny look. You'd think she never saw either of us before.
That was the beginning of one of the longest weeks ever. I ate, went to school, got up, went to bed, played and even fought. Still, each and every day I kept wishing it was Sunday so Daddy and I could go to the circus. I'd see the girl on the ball again, and so would Daddy. Maybe he'd even ask her to come and visit us. I'd give her my toy revolver and I'd draw a sailing ship for her.
On Sunday Daddy couldn't go. Some of the men from his office came over.
They had charts spread out all over and shouted and smoked, and drank tea and stayed very late. When they finally left, Mommy had a splitting headache. As Daddy was rolling up his charts he said,
"We'll go next Sunday, Dennis. My word of honor."
I don't know how that week passed, because all I did was wait for Sunday. Daddy didn't fool me this time. He got us tickets in the second row. I was glad we were sitting so close to the ring. The performance began. I kept waiting for the girl on the ball, but the man who announced the program kept presenting other acts, one after another, but not the girl. I was so jittery I was trembling. I was dying for Daddy to see how wonderful she was when she danced on her blue ball in her silver dress and filmy cape. Each time the announcer appeared I whispered,
"He'll announce her now!"
But he seemed to be announcing other acts just for spite. I was beginning to hate him.
"I wish he'd shut up! What's he announcing? That's not interesting!" I kept saying.
Daddy had his eyes on the ring, each time he'd say, "Stop talking. It's a wonderful act."
I decided he didn't know much about the circus if he could like those kind of acts. I could just imagine what he'd say when he saw the girl on the ball. He'd probably jump up and hit the ceiling.
Then the announcer came out and shouted in his strange kind of voice, "In-ter-mis-sion!"
I was stunned. Intermission? How come? The lion act would go on after intermission. Where was the girl on the ball? Why hadn't she come on? Was she sick? What if she'd fallen off the ball and broken her leg?
"Come on, Daddy. Let's find out where she is."
"Indeed. Where can she be? Let's buy a program." Daddy seemed quite pleased. He looked around, smiled and said, "Ah, how I love the circus! The circus smells make my head swim."
We went out into the foyer. It was very crowded. Vendors were selling candy and soft drinks. The walls were hung with tigers' mugs. We finally found an usher who was selling programs. Daddy bought one. I was too impatient to wait till he'd read it through so I asked the usher,
"Can you tell me when the girl on the ball is on?"
"What girl?"
"It says here: Tanya Vorontsova. Balancing Act on a Ball.' When'll she be on?" Daddy asked.
"Oh! You mean Tanya? She's gone. They've gone on tour. You just missed them."
I was speechless.
"We've been waiting to see her these past two weeks," Daddy said, "and now you say she's gone."
"Yes. She's gone. She left with her parents. Her parents are The Flying Vorontsovs'. Ever heard of them? Too bad. They just left yesterday."
"There! See, Daddy?"
"I didn't know she'd be leaving. What a shame. There's nothing we can do about it then," Daddy said.
"Are you absolutely, positively sure she's gone?" I asked the usher.
"Absolutely."
"And you don't even know where she is?"
"They've gone to Vladivostok."
So that's where they were. Vladivostok. It was so far away. At the far edge of the map, way off on the right-head side.
"It's so far away," I said.
The usher suddenly seemed in a hurry. "You'll have to go back to your seats now. The lights are dimming," she said.
"Come on, Dennis! Next is the lion act. Don't you want to hear them growl? Come on!" Daddy said.
"Let's go home, Daddy."
"That's a nice how-d'you-do."
The usher smiled. We went out to the cloakroom, got our coats and left. We were walking slowly along the boulevard. After a long while I said,
"Vladivostok is as far away from Moscow on the map as you can get. It'll take forever to get there by train."
Daddy didn't say anything. He seemed to be thinking about something. We kept on walking. After a while I suddenly remembered there were airplanes, too, and said,
"But it'll only take three hours by plane."
Daddy didn't say anything this time, either. He was walking along, holding my hand. When we got to Gorky Street he said,
"Let's go to the ice cream parlor. We'll order two portions each. What d'you say?"
"I don't feel like it, Daddy." "They've got a soft drink there called Baikal. I've never tasted anything like it in my life."
"I really don't feel like it, Daddy."
He didn't try to coax me. He began walking faster and squeezed my hand so hard it hurt. I could barely keep up with him. Why was he walking so fast? Why didn't he say anything? I looked up at him. His face was very serious and sad.