Gus had a crick in his neck from looking up at Effie as she hung upside down in the rigging of the big top. Her left ankle looped through a stirrup of the thick white rope they called the web and her body and arms made a triangle with it.
‘Now this time, Gus, gently and in time to the music,’ said Hannah.
Gus took hold of the end of the rope and began to turn it in a wide circle, all the time keeping his eyes fixed on Effie. She looked like a strange insect in her green leotard. He spun her faster and faster, her long plait whipping around, her body becoming a blur of movement. The music slowed and Gus slackened the pace. Effie twisted her body into elegant shapes, wrapping the web around her. At a signal from Hannah, she unhooked her foot and slid down the rope, landing beside Gus in the ring. She swayed a little as she stood beside him, still dizzy from the twirling.
‘Now take your bows,’ called Hannah as she made the music fade out completely. Gus bowed awkwardly to the empty bleachers but Effie flung her arms wide and blew kisses, revelling in the imaginary applause.
Night air drifted in through the flaps of the tent and Gus slipped his jacket on over his clown costume.
‘You keep spinning me too fast,’ Effie complained, ‘You can’t spot for me if you’re gonna do it like that. It makes me feel sick.’
‘I’m just trying to stay in time to the music.’
‘One of these days I’m gonna spew all over you from up there and then you’ll be sorry.’
The show had finished an hour ago and they were taking advantage of the fact that all the aerial rigging was set up. Gus sat on the bleachers, slumped down inside his coat and watched Hannah practise her solo trapeze act. Mac and the new tenthand, Stewie, brought out the net for flying trapeze and Vytas showed Stewie how to secure it.
‘You may as well go now. We don’t need you any more,’ said Effie, limbering up to join Hannah on the trapeze.
‘You don’t have to rub it in,’ said Gus, but Effie didn’t hear him. She was already half way up the ladder with Pikkle following. Hannah had moved to the catcher’s bar and hung in the lock position, her wrists taped, ready to catch. Effie swung out from the platform and her body whipped the air as she built up her swing. When Hannah clapped her hands, Effie let go of the bar and flew across the big top. Gus pulled his knees up and tried to ignore the burning feeling of envy in his chest.
Pikkle watched Effie carefully, helping her steady herself as she returned to the platform and following instructions from Hannah, making sure that everything ran smoothly. At the end of Effie’s session, Hannah called for him to have a turn. He looked all limbs as he did a shoot-over-the-bar and Hannah caught him by his ankles but Gus would have given anything to swap places with him.
In turn, the three of them dropped to the net, landing on their backs and then rolling to the edge of the net to swing out and drop to the sawdust.
Gus got up from the bleachers. His body was stiff and tired but he ached more from the things he couldn’t do than what he had done. When Hannah came over to him and tousled his hair he couldn’t smile at her. He looked at the ground and traced a pattern in the sawdust with his big toe.
‘You let Pikkle try, but you won’t let me.’ He knew he sounded like a pouty baby but he couldn’t help himself.
‘There is no risk if it is Pikkle,’ said Hannah.
‘That makes no sense and anyway, what about Effie?’
‘She was born to the circus, she has been properly trained.’
Gus looked up at Hannah and gently touched her on the arm.
‘I’d do anything to have a go, Hannah,’ he said.
‘I know, Gus.’
‘Do you really think I’m too clumsy, like Doc reckons?’ he asked.
‘You are not too clumsy. Your floor work is very smooth. You have the body of a gymnast – lovely broad shoulders, narrow hips. I think you are becoming a very fine acrobat, Gus.’
‘Then why won’t you let me have a go on trapeze?’ he exclaimed in frustration.
‘Because it is not a decision for me to make. I have told you this before. You must talk with your grandfather.’
‘He hates me – that’s his reason.’
‘This is not true, Gus.’
‘Yeah, yeah. But I can’t talk to him. He’s always so angry about everything. No wonder my mum left.’
‘This is not why she left.’
‘Yeah, well I reckon it must be why my uncle left. I reckon Doc hates boys.’
‘You are very cruel to say these things. You know nothing, Gus – nothing!’
‘I know I want to fly on the trapeze and I know I could be really good and I know you could teach me. Did you train my mother?’
Hannah touched his cheek gently and smiled at him.
‘No, she was already a fine acrobat when I joined Zarconi’s. Such a beautiful trapeze artist.’
‘So did Vytas train her then?’
‘No, your grandfather trained her.’
‘Doc! Could he – I mean, he couldn’t do that sort of stuff!’
‘Gus, things aren’t always as they seem. There is no act in this circus that your grandfather wasn’t part of once. Doc understands everything about trapeze. He was an excellent catcher – big and powerful with a very sure grip. A good catcher is what makes trapeze beautiful to watch. The act he did with Annie and Gus was famous in this country – they were the Fabulous Flying Zarconis. If Zarconi’s still had an act like that, never would we have trouble getting an audience.’
‘We could have an act like that! If you’d teach me how to fly, Effie and me could do a great act. If you’d just let me up there, I know I could work up something really hot.’
‘Your grandfather would not want this, Gus,’ said Hannah, and she turned away.
It wasn’t often that the circus spent two nights in any town, but Doc seemed to think it was worth staying over an extra night in Albany. Effie and Gus wandered around the town in the afternoon, buying sweets and arguing about whether their new clowning routine was going to work.
Doc had dreamt it up and Effie thought it was hilarious but it was the sort of routine that made Gus hate being a clown. He had to stand there looking dumb while Effie threw buckets of water over him, drenching him completely. He’d pretend to lose his temper and chase her around the ring with another bucket, out for revenge. But of course, he was the fall guy and had to just miss her every time. Finally, Effie would jump on to the lap of someone in the audience and Gus would threaten them with another bucket. The audience would be convinced that they were about to be drenched with water, but the last bucket would be full of confetti.
‘Well, at least it’s part of the show and it’s funny,’ said Effie. ‘Doc says he wants me to do the snake-girl routine before the show. Things must be really tight if he’s going to drag out that old trick!’
At seven o’clock, the first early arrivals to the circus were met by Doc and Effie outside the ticket booth. Effie wore a worn-out jungle costume of fake leopard skin and had Lily draped around her neck. Doc offered everyone the chance to have their picture taken with the Wild Jungle Girl and her live snake. A few were even game enough to let Effie hang Lily around their necks for the shot.
For the first time ever, Gus felt sorry for Effie. He knew she was embarrassed and trying hard to hide it. Just as the fourth customer put his arm around her, something went wrong with the camera. Doc started fiddling with it and cursing but it was Effie who looked really angry. The customer didn’t want to take his arm from around her while they waited for Doc to fix the camera. She wriggled to try and get away from him but still he pulled her closer. When Doc looked up and saw the look on Effie’s face, he stepped in and gave the man a shove in the middle of his chest. For a moment, it seemed there was going to be a fight, but somehow Doc managed to calm things down and Effie ran back to the Cuelmos’ caravan.
The show was cursed from the start that night. Anything that could go wrong did go wrong. The audience was restless and the applause was half-hearted for every act.
When Gus and Effie stepped into the ring, nothing they did felt right. By the time they started the water bucket routine, Gus was worried and annoyed with Effie. He chased her just as he had in rehearsal, but she was dodging him more than usual. How was he expected to make it look convincing if she wouldn’t slow down? He drew back the bucket and flung the water out of it with all his might, missing Effie and catching a big burly bloke in the audience smack in the face. For a split second the man looked flabbergasted, then he leapt to his feet, water dripping from his eyebrows, and grabbed Gus by the front of his costume.
Gus could only mutter, ‘Sorry, mister, sorry.’ Suddenly, Doc was next to them, prying the man’s hands from Gus’s costume and trying to subdue him. There were boos from up the back of the bleachers. Nance put some music on and announced Kali. Effie and Gus quickly left the ring, while Doc hustled the drenched man out of the tent, shoved some money into his hand and told him to clear off.
‘No bloody sense of humour, mate. That’s your problem. It’s only a little bit of water. Lighten up.’
‘Call yourself a circus,’ shouted the man as he stood outside the tent, dripping. ‘Bunch of geriatrics and a couple of lousy kids. You got a bloody cheek taking people’s money to watch that!’
The man stormed off into the darkness and Doc sighed. He looked down at Gus who was standing limply beside him. ‘C’mon, sonny Jim. Let’s get you out of that wet gear,’ he said.
They stood at the back entrance to the tent and Gus stripped off his sodden costume. Doc offered him a towel.
‘I’m really sorry, Doc. It was just an accident, I didn’t mean to hit him. I had water dripping in my eyes and all and I just didn’t judge it right.’
‘It doesn’t matter, kid. Don’t be too hard on yourself. He was a right so-and-so.’
Gus took the towel and looked up at Doc curiously. Doc’s face looked grey and his brow was criss-crossed with frown lines, but there was no anger in him. Gus felt a rush of warmth for the old man.
‘Problem is, the bloke was right,’ said Doc as he tousled Gus’s wet hair dry. ‘This circus – it’s old, worn out. Once we really were incredible. You know, when I was a boy and my grandfather ran this show, all the fliers advertised it as Zarconi’s Incredible Stupendous Magic Circus. And then by the time my father was running it, they pulled Stupendous out because we just couldn’t live up to it, and then I had to pull out Magic and now I reckon I ought to pull out Incredible too. There’s nothing very incredible about this outfit any more.’
‘That’s not true, Doc,’ said Gus. ‘I reckon the acts are really good.’
‘You don’t know anything about circus, boy. This circus needs a new act – something fresh – not the same tired old stuff we’ve been doing.’
‘I could do something fresh, if you’d let me,’ said Gus, hitching the towel up to cover his bare shoulders. ‘If you’d let me on the trapeze, Doc. I know I could do it. It would be really special. Me and Effie and Hannah, all three of us.’
‘Slow down, boy,’ said Doc holding his hands up as if he were halting traffic, ‘You can’t even aim a bucket of water and you want to fly around in the rigging.’
‘I could learn. It would be just like your old act that you did with my mum and uncle Gus but all fresh and new again. We could be the Fabulous Flying Zarconis again, and everyone would want to see it just like when you did it.’
Doc went red in the face and his eyes narrowed.
‘Who told you that?’
Gus stepped back and clutched the towel tightly. He couldn’t answer. He knew he’d just got Hannah in deep trouble and he backed away as his grandfather strode towards him. Doc grabbed Gus’s bare shoulders.
‘Who told you?’ he shouted, so loudly that even the horses grazing nearby stopped and looked up in alarm.
Gus felt all the blood drain away from his face. He wished he knew how to faint. He couldn’t run away because Doc’s hands gripped him so hard.
‘Doc?’ came Nance’s voice. She’d come out of the tent, her hands full of knives and juggling clubs. ‘What are you doing to that poor boy? It was an accident, don’t you give him a hard time.’
Doc turned to look at her for a moment and in the instant his grip loosened, Gus made a break and ran for it. The cool evening air sent a shiver over his damp skin as he bolted across the lot and climbed into the caravan. He could hear Doc and Nance’s voices rising in angry shouts. He curled up on the couch and thought about the sea. He felt at sea right now, but if he closed his eyes and thought about his father he could imagine that they were both dolphins swimming in the water off the Bight. Swimming past Duc d’Orleans Bay – his dolphin father in King George Sound and him alongside, diving through the deep waters. As near to flying as he would ever get.