They say the eye of an animal holds wisdom. Trying to look up into the eye of an elephant could be intimidating, except that the animal is ten times smarter than we are, and has the courtesy to tip it’s head slightly.
Eye to eye, I told her how gorgeous she was. She responded by lipping me with her velvet trunk, touching my face, throat, chest, smelling and blowing hot air
all over me as she did. The strength in her trunk was sudden, going from a gentle caress to wrapping around my middle and pulling me towards her open, wet mouth. I never got that far, as she stopped. Perhaps because I just kept my eyes on her deep, dark non-blinking eye. When is an elephant smiling?
Just look into their eye, that is the only way I could tell. I would say she was actually chuckling at me.
Then she would express these tiny “hoots”, like someone saying “hmm.”
I kept my hands running near her leathery face and “hmm”ed back. She just kept running her nose around, as if she was going to find a peanut in my bra.
Janie, from the circus PR department, took some photos. Gosh! I hope they come out and I get one to share with y’all!
My family was waiting out in their seats, and, suddenly, I was standing with Jonathan, a handsome, 6’4″ black man bedecked in sequins and long red topcoat…the ringmaster!
It was dark behind the curtain. We were cracking each other up with ringmaster jokes. I was thanking him for allowing me to sing the National Anthem (usually his job), but he said he’s sung it 20,000 times and he was glad I was doing it tonight. Then, it was time! The man on the stool pulled the rope: the curtains parted. Out went the clowns. Clowns with giant rubber balls of yellow, green and pink. Out went Johnathan. Strolling in knee high shiny black boots.
Back in came Johnathan. The curtains closed. He took my arm; I told him to remember to kneel when he asked me to marry him. Ha ha. Time to go! Curtains parted, again.
We walked to the middle ring. Johnathan said something, but I was concentrating on starting on the right note (can’t start too low or too high…either way is trouble!) And WHAM! The spotlight was on ME! The entire arena was dark except for the circus toy lights kids buy and swing around, eerie little rings of light. I hit my note and went for it. Wow. A GREAT sound system makes singing such a DEE-LIGHT! I sang to Asia, the elephant I had just been hanging with, and she walked around the three rings, flag and girl on her back, and I held that “land of the freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee” with all my might.
Good God, I love to sing that song! God bless America! God bless this world!
The circus was just AWESOME! Except that Lily and I were grumbling about animal rights, we loved it all. The SIX guys on motorcycles in the GLOBE OF DEATH (how how how do they do that?! I couldn’t even watch…what if just one of them slips…!) Belo the clown…hilarious! Tightropewalkers! Cotton candy!
Tigers! Camels! (I love camels. They are so sassy!) And, of course, little dogs dressed like clowns, chirpy and slap-happy. One of the dogs was jumping on our friend, Todd’s, back…he was chosen by a clown to come out into the middle ring (it was our ring! We were lord of the rings!) And Lily was chosen, too, to be a “bubble girl”, standing in the middle of a giant tub of water…encircled by a giant bubble the clown creating with a super wand…wow! I can only just keep saying WOW!
I have to go make breakfast now.