It was June 7, 1929; the circus was stationed in Dublin. The day was blazing hot and all the acts were piled into the lounge tent. Our last show the circus ended up being surprised with one of the recruiters from The Battle of the Circuses come and watched our performance. All of our dreams were to make it into this battle and we had been working hard. Our only shot we had was last night, and now we were all waiting intently as to what the verdict was.

As we were all sweating away in the tent, the flap was suddenly laid back.

“We did it! We did it,” squeaked an out of breathe Squeaky. “We go into The Battle of the Circuses!”
Everyone jumped up and gathered around Squeaky to read the letter of acceptance.

“I think this calls for a celebration,” excitedly yelled Loopy.

They all piled out of the huge tent to get prepared to celebrate. I, Lovely, hung back for a while knowing the tents would be packed and busy as if it were a show day. I knew it wouldn't take me much time to get ready, I was a natural beauty. I had long blonde hair that was easy to deal with, a face that didn't require much makeup, and a curvy figure that looked good in anything.

By the time I got to the tents they were nearly emptied. I quickly slid to the back, where all my clothes were stored. I knew the perfect outfit to wear tonight. I had just recently purchased a sparkly red flapper outfit.
I slipped the dress over my head and put on my red high heels. Before I looked at myself in the mirror, I went over to the makeup tent and applied just the basics, threw my hair up and stuck a feather on a sparkly band around my head. I took a look in the mirror and saw the lovely, Lovely looking as gorgeous as ever. Satisfied, I stepped out of the tent; I knew that I would be the last person to arrive at the center pole. I quickened my pace to make up for lost time.

When I was within ear shot, I heard Grouchy yell,” Well, it's about time, Lovely!”

“Oh Grouchy you know a girl has to have her time at the mirror,” I replied.

Grouchy just snorted and went to join Mopy, Loopy, Sneaky, Crazy, and Squeaky in the car. I wasted no time and quickly followed the grouchy butt to the car. It took us exactly fifteen minutes to find a parking spot within reasonable walking distance. By the time we made it there, everything was in full swing. The dance floor was packed and an upbeat song was blaring. Before I knew it, Sneaky grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the dance floor. We all knew this was our one night to have fun, for tomorrow we would be heading to London for The Battle of the Circuses.
By the time everyone was ready to go, it was early in the morning. I was exhausted, and my feet were killing me from dancing the night away. Nobody said anything on the way home for they were asleep. I don't blame them. Everyone had to wake up at the crack of dawn, in order to pack up all the gear and animals and onto the train. The performers would be arriving by car and boat, causing us to leave the field in Dublin at eight in the morning to catch the boat to the United Kingdom on time. By the time eight got here, we were all loaded and in the cars on our way to the boat. Nobody was chatting away for they were all too busy trying to keep their eyelids open, we all could feel today was going to be a long day. We were right on schedule when we finally made it to the boat, and we quickly head to the sleeping quarters for a couple hours of shut eye.

“Knock, knock, knock!” woke me from my blissful beauty sleep. Finally we reached the ports of London. The view of London was amazing; you could see all the towering buildings and hear the church bells ring twelve o'clock. As we got into the cars, all I could think was, this year the queen was hosting the battle. It would be taking place in one of the royal pastures near the city. When we got out to the pasture, all the other circuses were set up and lounging around their campsites.

“Look at them all,” Grouchy said.” Acting like they already got this thing won.”

“Grouchy you don't always have to be so grouchy, just because that's your name,” I stated.

Our camp was stationed in a corner of the pasture. We went to go see who would be ahead of us. Everyone was praying that it wouldn’t be the circus, Worlds Greatest Show on Earth; they were the number one circus. If we were behind them, we’d have to be outstanding. The line was long to see what the lineup would be. We waited, and waited for what seemed like a lifetime. Circus after circus we watched as they walked away with a smile upon their faces. We knew that they had gotten lucky and not gotten the spot after that circus. We were getting more nervous by the minute. After what seemed like a decade of my life wasted standing in that turtle moving line, we finally saw the board. I could tell by the others faces, that we had received that unlucky spot.



“Well, we are sunk,” Mopey said. “Might as well just pack up and leave before we are humiliated.”


“We can’t go home now,” Crazy said. “We have worked too hard to stop now.”


“All it means is that we will just have to work harder,” squeaked Squeaky.


“We will make it a show they will never forget,” I stated.



“Cause we can totally change it to where it’s unforgettable within a day,” said Grouchy.


“Well then why are we wasting?” replied Crazy.


With that said, we quickly went to practice. Some of the audience members, who have seen previous shows, have always said how daring our acts were.

“What if we took our act, Mystery Machines, and made it the best daring show ever imagined?” Crazy questioned.



“What exactly are you thinking?” Grouchy asked.


“Well, like our act…we could have it in the dark, but we would still be throwing knives as we flip and trapeze everywhere, but the knives would be on fire, and we would have lights on our outfits,” Crazy said.



“You are absolutely crazy,” I yelled above the others.



“We could at least try it out with fake swords,” Crazy said.


“And how exactly do you plan to make it suddenly dark at one o’clock in the afternoon,” I said sarcastically.
.

“We could use blindfolds; it’s not like we don’t know our steps and counts.”


Without any more questioning as to what Crazy was thinking, we gathered and setup our equipment. We ran through the crazy idea without the blindfolds, thankfully. I can’t imagine how the practice would have gone if we had used the real swords. We had people getting hurt left and right. Grouchy ended up breaking a finger, Sneaky broke a toe; Mopey got stabbed in the ear; Squeaky, Lopey, Crazy all got black eyes; and I ended up with bruises everywhere. After hours of pain, we finally got through the rehearsal.


“All Righty! Now that we have survived this time, light them,” Crazy announced.



We all just looked at him like he was off his rocker. Just because we survived one run-through doesn’t mean it’s time to make them ablaze. Nobody were in the mood to argue, for we were ready to get this done. We went to the trunks that contained the real swords and oil that was flammable. We were all praying things wouldn’t go wrong. With our blindfolds on, swords in hand, and the rest of our acts watching, we flew through the air, tossing, and flipping. When everyone landed on the last count our blindfolds flew off to inspect the damage. The only thing was a cut on the back of Crazy’s hand, serving him right. Our onlookers swarmed like bees to congratulate us on our outstanding performance and wishing us luck on tomorrow. By the time we broke through the crowd, the sun was setting.

Nerves woke me up early, I quickly ate my breakfast and headed to the tent. The sky above was bright blue and the sun was up, the perfect weather. All of the people within my act had to put on the darkest makeup ever made, so that our whiteness didn’t show from the glow of the blades.


As I stepped back to have a look at my masterpiece in the mirror I heard Grouchy say, “Wow lovely, you don’t look like…what is you are always saying?”


Annoyingly I replied, “The lovely Lovely. And you’re right, I look like a robber.”



“How did ‘your right’ taste in your mouth?”


“Like vinegar,” I snared over my shoulder, with a flip of my hair leaving the tent.


For once in my life, I was the first one to reach the center pole. A whole thirty minutes I waited for the rest of my act, and like always they arrived last.


“It’s about time you decided to grace us with your miserable presence,” I yelled at Grouchy.


“Like your presence is much better than mine. You know if I had to choose between standing next to a trash bin and standing next to you…I would chose the trash,” Grouchy replied.


“Would y’all just shut up! Y’all fight more than an old married couple,” yelled Squeaky.


I glared at Grouchy as I walked to go talk to Helga and Herman the Hippo. I never talk to Helga, for she always talks about Herman.


“Hey Lovely, look at how tired Herman is today,” Helga yelled. “I don’t think he will be very good today.”


My eyes bulging out I replied, “Helga, he has to perform good!”


“But he is yawning like crazy! You better watch out while you are bouncing around, hate for you to spring into his mouth,” she said.


Thank goodness the car pulled up, for I had no idea as to how to answer to her. When we arrived at the center where the circus battle would be held, and The Greatest Show on Earth was performing. We didn’t have much time to gaze, but when we got the chance we took it. This circus was amazing; they were all together on counts and had awesome stunts. They truly did deserve the title: number one.


“They are going to be hard to compete with,” said a familiar voice behind me.


“Gosh, Sneaky, I didn’t notice you were there!”


The finally was over the top. Everyone had something in their hands, whether it was fire or swords. They were all twirling through the air or dancing in the arena. You could feel the energy in the air as it tried to grab your bones, willing you to dance. With a bang of the drums they all froze. The crowd went crazy. This was going to be a hard to top.



“Everyone please remain seated. It’s for your own safety!” announced the announcer.


We dipped the swords into the oily substance, and turn on the lights on our suits. The stadium lights shut off. The beat of the drums quickened, and we took off into the arena. We warmed up our bodies as we danced around. As we each bounced upon our trampolines, they sprang to life with the lights on our outfits. The curtains and our swinging bars started flashing with light. The beat of the drums got faster, we twirled and bounced and flipped and bounced, the drums suddenly stopped. With the long pause it felt like I was hanging in midair. When my feet finally came into contact with the trampoline, I sprang again into the air and threw my knife in the direction of Crazy. I turned to look forward to see my landing target, but I didn’t see the any lights upon a bouncy area.


“Lovely, watch out,” I heard a team member shout, but it was too late! My world was already turning black and wet as I entered the mouth of Herman.


My head rammed into the back of Herman’s throat and as an instinct he tried to swallow me. I felt a tug on my legs, my body pulled back a little, but the throat constricted and pulled my deeper within the beast. I felt pressure being released as someone released my legs. Oh, how much I wished they wouldn’t let go; I was growing more and more frightened by the minute.

If I strained my ears I faintly heared, “Hold on Lovely, they are going to get you out.” The smart remark passed through my mind, “What exactly would you advise me to hold onto? This nasty, slimy wall of saliva? I think not!” Minutes ticked away; suddenly I felt the world quickly flipped.

”ZZZZZZZZ…...” I heard from deep within.


“That’s just great, so you just decide to lie down and take a nap, don’t worry I’m nice and disgusted in here. Don’t worry about me! You just go on and dream,” I thought.


Suddenly the cutting of something soft came like angles to my ears. Someone was coming in to get me! Suddenly the sharp beams of sunlight penetrated my eyes. As I sucked in a deep breath of air, two hands reached in and grabbed my arms. Slowly and easily, as too not damage Herman anymore than I already had, I was pulled to freedom. The blissful sound of applause sounded to my ears; I looked up to see the audience around us was standing. As an instinct I gave a saliva covered bow. As I rose back up, I was quickly surrounded by my fellow teammate’s arms embracing me.

When we broke lose, Crazy said,” When I said give them a show to remember, I didn’t mean for you to get too dramatic with it.”

We all laughed, looked up at the still applauding audience, and took one last bow as a team, and we left the arena. The feeling of knowing that they were applauding for us, was more lovely than myself. Even though getting swallowed by a hippo wasn’t part of the show, this would still be a performance that the whole country will never forget. That feeling, my friends, was better than the feeling of winning the whole competition. We might not end up as the winner, but these people will still tell others of what they witnessed and soon the whole world will know the story of the girl who was swallowed by a hippo and lived.