Under the Big Top

       Kathleen Tudor

      ‘He’s still watching you,’ Kris’ best friend whispered. They both giggled, a little loosened up by the wine they’d been drinking and the unusually lively atmosphere of the bar.

      ‘He’s cute,’ Kris whispered back. The guy in question had been sitting across the bar watching her for about ten minutes, and grinning at her every time she glanced his way. Melanie had tried winking at him, but he’d only smiled politely at her and moved his eyes back to Kris.

      ‘You should go talk to him.’

      ‘No way! I can’t just walk up to some random guy!’ But when Kris tried to sneak another peek at him, the cute guy was gone and a serious-looking couple was taking the table he’d been sitting at. ‘Damn, he left,’ she said, surprised at how disappointed she felt to be potentially missing out.

      Melanie giggled and then slipped from her stool, something about the bathroom coming out mangled by her mirth. And as she vanished into the crowd, Kris’ mysterious stranger dropped onto the vacated seat and toasted her with his glass.

      Kris moved automatically to touch the rim of her wineglass to his, inhaling the scent of whiskey as she used the gesture as an excuse to lean closer. ‘Fancy seeing you here,’ she said, a flush of pleasure rising in her.

      ‘I’m Daniel,’ he said. ‘You from around here?’

      ‘Yeah. You’re not?’ She withheld her name on purpose, a tease for making her wait so long before he approached. Daniel … she liked strong names.

      ‘I’m with the Candy Apple Circus. We’re in town until Tuesday.’ He drank off the rest of his whiskey and eyed her in an obvious challenge, or maybe he was just waiting for her to fawn.

      ‘I’m Kris,’ she said, shifting her posture to give him a better look at her breasts. ‘What do you do in the circus, Daniel?’

      ‘Strong man act,’ he said, and it was good that he was grinning, because otherwise she would have accused him of being a bad liar and walked away. ‘Or maybe I’m an animal tamer. Or the ringmaster himself …’

      ‘Or a clown?’ she teased.

      ‘Definitely not a clown. I think those guys work harder than anyone else,’ he said, and he surprised her with his sincerity when he said it.

      Respect for the clowns, huh? She believed that he was with the circus, at least. No one else would have thought about that, although once he said it she could believe it. After all, they had to do all of the running around and jumping through the whole show, not just one act.

      ‘So not a clown, and not a strong man. Maybe you shovel elephant poop.’

      ‘No elephants,’ he said, laughter in his eyes. ‘We have horses, but I don’t shovel their shit, either. Does it matter what I do?’

      She shrugged her shoulders and he sighed as if put upon.

      ‘All right then, I am an assistant tent master. That giant tent that has to go up and come down fast and perfect every time we move. I help make sure it happens. And that it doesn’t collapse the first time somebody hops up and down in the rigging. You can feel free to brush me off now that I’ve told you what a boring job I have.’ He made a comically exaggerated wounded face, and Kris couldn’t help but laugh.

      ‘Okay, so it’s not as exciting as trapeze guy …’

      ‘Trapeze guy! Why didn’t I think of that? I could be the Flying Daniel!’

      She laughed again as he struck a silly pose. ‘It’s still pretty cool. You must get to see a lot of cool places.’

      ‘All over the states,’ he agreed. His fingers found hers on the bar, and she let him take her hand. ‘But the tent is home once you let it get under your skin. I could show you.’

      She’d seen circuses before, but there was something about being able to see it when the tent was quiet and the lights were out that made her shiver with anticipation. She liked to see things behind the scenes, quiet, with the make-up off and the defences down. She’d been backstage at a television show, once, and the actors all out of character, with their make-up off and their hair a mess had been a revelation to her, and strangely exciting.

      ‘I want to see,’ she said, and stood with him, letting him pay for her wine along with his whiskey.

      She hesitated for a minute when he led her to a beat-up looking truck in the parking lot, but his smile was sweet and disarming. ‘It doesn’t look like much, but it tows great,’ he said. She got in.

      The approach to the tent was much as she expected, but the real excitement was driving through the gates off to the side and behind the tent. There, dozens of trailers and motor homes sat parked in neat rows, generators purring. He pulled into a dirt lot filled with cars and mostly trucks, and she was so stunned by the intimacy of the sight that he had time to come around the truck and gallantly open her door for her.

      ‘Are you going to get into trouble for this?’ she asked.

      He shrugged and winked. ‘Not if I don’t get caught. Really, though, there are only a few people who would mind, and they’re all asleep at this hour. Come see.’

      Kris tried to take in everything as he led her toward the huge tent. She was hungry for it all, and the sight settled in her belly like a glow of arousal, awakening other