| A TWICE WEEKLY SERIAL OF BIG TOP FOLK BY
SIMON PARKE |
|
EPISODE 2
BURT TURTLE'S GRAND PERFORMANCE
Burt Turtle walks slowly towards the Big Top. He's owned the circus for 40 years now, bequeathed him by his father. Indeed, he is a fourth-generation circus man, if you include his great-great aunt, who was a popular bearded lady.
Whether he had wished to assume this mantle from his father, he isn't sure. It hadn't felt like a choice at the time. Part of him had always wanted to be a farmer, but the fact is, it was this door which opened, and he'd walked through it. And that made all the difference.
It did mean that while other folk settled in a brick home and a community, he'd spent his life in a circus trailer, taking the show from town to town, festival to festival. It was a sort of permanence; permanent travel. He'd done a bit of juggling in his time; and a little clowning. But increasingly, he'd become a caretaker; one who took care of others. His grand performance in life was not to perform.
"Ah, another day of doing nothing!" declares The Great Davido, the leader of the acrobats and contortionists. "I wish I had your job!"
And it is true: he does want Burt's job; in that he wants to own the circus. To that extent, Burt is something of a nuisance to The Great Davido's ambitions. The caretaker needs to take care.
More clowning around |
