On a summer night in the middle of June, the moon big in the sky and the sun, too, Sunny Pines Trailer Park had its first annual CIRCUS UNDER THE STARS FOREVER YOURS!!!

Berk made up the name.

There were lights everywhere thanks to Melody and Harry, who was back for now, and a cotton candy machine and a dunking booth that Mrs. Sydney Gunnerson donated the money to rent.

Delilah brought sweet rolls and doughnuts and leftover cupcakes from the bakery.

There was a real live stage that Earl Bowen built and none of us even knew he was a carpenter and even was in the army for ten years and then he lived in Papua New Guinea (!!!!!), he built a real live stage with a curtain and a background that me and Carlene and dumb-bum Bonnie, who thought it was stupid but then did it anyway, the three of us painted and it was actually kind of fun.

There was music and a microphone thanks to Grant and Bob.

Jerry Smith got to bring home some exotic pets from Petco for everyone to look at, like a bearded dragon, and a gerbil, and a big huge boa constrictor snake.

Berk had a new golden leotard and she and Sadie and Jane did the opening number where they danced and then yelled in their loudest voices:

WELCOME TO THE CIRCUS UNDER THE STARS FOREVER YOURS! PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR PHONES AND ANY OTHER MOBILE DEVICE! WE HOPE YOU ENJOY THE SHOW!!!

And then Bart came out wearing a top hat and his baggy jeans and he made jokes and everyone laughed and he was the Master of Ceremonies.

And soon, the acts started.

Melody rode her unicycle and Paul lifted a couch with three people sitting on it and Carlene and Bonnie performed a lip sync to a One Direction song that wasn’t too bad.

Mrs. Sydney Gunnerson did a ventriloquist act with her doll named Agatha and people weren’t sure whether to laugh or be serious, but then Mrs. Sydney Gunnerson and her doll named Agatha started laughing so then everyone was laughing.

Randy walked across the stage on his hands and Berk did her tightrope act and only fell twice and I juggled Sprite bottles and sang Yankee Doodle at the same time, thank you very much.

And then, this really happened, Grant belly danced! He belly danced wearing these spandex pants and gym shorts over them and no shirt and some sort of mask and me and Bart we could not stop laughing, and Roxi, Bart’s mom, kept telling us to shush but she was so red in the face you could tell she was trying not to laugh, too, and Mom was laughing the hardest.

Tandi did a front handspring, which who knew she could do that? Even Carlene had her jaw dropped. I bet she couldn’t do that and Chip drove down the street in his truck.

Delilah told a story about a monkey’s paw that about made me pee my pants and even the Conways came out and the dad told a few jokes.

The whole neighborhood.

~

And at the very end, Mom. My mom. She got up and sat on a chair. All by herself with a guitar.

She looked beautiful and small and in her white flowing dress again. The one I thought was for Dad. But maybe it was for her.

She was going to Mountainland Applied Technology at nights. She was seeing a therapist person that we got for free through the government and sometimes we went, too. And she was finally asking people for help.

She got up there and smiled.

“This is for my girls.”

And then she started to sing, her voice filling up the night.

No one moved, no one breathed, the notes were so full and real and everywhere, like a dance all their own.

And then, Berk, she crawled up on my lap and the three of us, Mom up there, me and Berk on our lawn chairs, we cried.

And cried.

And cried.

We could do it.

We didn’t need luck or seven million dollars or hot-air balloons.

We could do it.

I looked around at everyone sitting there, loving my mom and loving us, too, and I knew it was true.