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HERE IT COMES

BIGTOP FOLLOW DYLAN TO MOUNT ISA

Mount Isa isn’t prepared for a circus this big. The biggest circus they’ve ever seen had three camels, four ponies, two talking parrots and one trapeze artist. But the circus on its way to Mount Isa is so big, it takes up five semitrailers.

As the tyres of the road trains bounce along the Barkly Highway, the family of lions doze in and out of sleep. The elephants watch the dry, rocky landscape from their trailer, while the kangaroos that bound along the side of the road draw the attention of the tigers.

At the rear of the first semitrailer is a pile of neatly stacked purple barrels. On the side of each barrel is a stencilled print of a skull and crossbones and the words — CAUTION: WEAR GAS MASKS WHEN OPENING.

In the driver’s cabin, a photo of Deadly D scoring a try for the Broncos hangs on a frayed piece of string from the rear-view mirror. Jocks the clown grips the large steering wheel with his purple gloves as he chuckles to himself and flicks the picture of Deadly D back and forth. Socks is in the passenger seat talking into his mobile phone.

‘Yes, Ringmaster, we are on target. Our sources tell us that Dylan Conlan has just left Brisbane airport for Mount Isa.’ Socks looks over at Jocks and gives him the thumbs up. ‘No, Ringmaster. We won’t fail this time,' says Socks.

As Jocks flicks the picture again, it rips away from the string and flies out the window. The semitrailers of the BIGTOP circus speed into the distance while the torn photo of Deadly D blows silently along the dusty road.