Sky's the limit

Tradition had always been extremely important in the family. You were born into it. You have no choice. The children were not asked at any age if, they want to do it. It was just expected. Sky knew from an early age she had the family talent. This did not mean she wanted to stay in the family business. Her brothers and sisters had all joined in the show the same as she had. Problem was, Sky wanted more. She studied hard in lessons to prove to herself that she could be more. University called to her. She wanted to be amongst likeminded people who studied for pleasure, not because they had to. She sat at her small desk reading the essay she had written on the victorian household. She liked the Victorian era. The fashion, The Royal Family, Jack the ripper it all fascinated her. She absentmindedly played with the clear contact balls in her hands. They looked like they glided and moved on their own through her skilled hands.

If there was the time before a show she would go out and entertain the bored children who were sitting ringside with them. She was trained in most of the circus acts. Trapeze, juggling, throwing knives, so many she couldn’t list them all. She never knew what she would be doing before the show. She would walk up to the list her parents printed out each day and see what part of the show she would be performing in that night or if she had a night off. Her parents did this to try and avoid the boredom of doing the same thing every day. They made the list to try and inspire excitement of who would be performing what each night.

They were a static circus, set inside a year-long holiday park. They had regulars who came every year to see them, they even knew some by name. Every school holiday period her parents along with herself and her siblings would put on clown school to teach the kids and adults how to spin plates, ride unicycles or dress up as clowns and play with the different props. She enjoyed the clown school. She enjoyed seeing the looks of amazement on peoples faces when they had mastered whichever trick they had tried their hand at. Maybe she could teach? She just knew that she didn’t want to be a part of the circus her whole life, she wanted more. She had known for years but still hadn’t found the words or the confidence to tell her parents. She worried it would break their hearts. Now that the time for further education was coming up. She knew she would have to tell them soon instead of hiding all of the brochures underneath her underwear in her draw like a child with contraband. She had already applied to several universities for early acceptance. That way she would have time to plan what to say to her parents. They were proud to be performers, neither of them had ever thought of doing anything else with their lives.

She heard the study door open and listened to her fathers’ footsteps walk to the message board to post tonights show. It was time to rehearse her act for the night. It only took an hour as everyone knew what to do, they just needed to practice timing and which opening they would go out to. It differed slightly every night like the Simpsons couch gag. She closed down her laptop and walked over to the list. Knife throwing, her favourite. She went down the hall to her sister’s room to tell her she would be getting stabbed that night. She was joking, of course, her aim and the tricks of the trade made it extremely difficult to stab whoever stood in front of the comically large target board. She went to the study and knocked on the door, then went in.

“Hi dad, I’m just here for my knives, please,” She said to his back as he bent over his desk, probably working on a new routine.

She went to his side and looked at the paper he was drawing on absorbed in his work of the presumed new routine he had probably dreamt up. He always said he drank, ate, lived and dreamed in a big top. She waited patiently while he finished his thought. He was a kind man but god forbid anyone ever dared to interrupt him when he had an idea. It seemed to fly away as soon as he stopped working on it if, he was stopped before his initial idea had been jotted down on whatever he had at hand at the time of the idea. It looked like an interesting new trampoline act with the trapeze. The act would probably go to her eldest brother and sister as they were the most confidant with those acts. Finally, when the initial idea was drawn up he looked at her confused for a second then reached into his pocket for ‘The forbidden cupboard’ keys. It held all the props for the dangerous acts. Such as knives, swords and paraffin among other things that could be stolen. Everyone had their own set of knives. Sky’s knives had a blood-red blade which turned into a flame design at the handle. They were designed to look as if she was throwing fire. Sky was mainly a dangerous act participant. Her main skills were Knife throwing, sword swallowing and fire dancing. Her image was a fire goddess as she had bright red hair, a red costume and a phoenix tattoo on her arm. They all had some sort of themed persona at work. Her father was the ring leader with his tall top hat and tails. Her mother was always the gorgeous assistant. She was still stunning even after five children who were all mainly grown-up. She took her knives, returned the keys to her father’s desk as he was back working again, then went out to the target. Her sister was already there waiting to get things thrown at her. She was looking at the props.

“I’m feeling brave tonight so I’m thinking balloons to start then I’ll hold a fan near my heart and you can pop the hidden balloon by my side.” Her sister suggested.

They had an unwritten rule that, with knife throwing the target person chose which version of the act they wanted to do.

“If that’s what you want to do, we can do that” Sky agreed

“Then we can William tell it with the apple on the head at the end, do you want to grab the crossbow?” Sky worried that her sister might be feeling too hyper and daredevil for the show.

“The crossbow trigger is still broken, but I can use a blindfold if you want?”

“Double it! I’ll be blindfolded too, you should miss the first time. Get the hearts of the audience racing”

Sky rolled her eyes, she hated it when her sister was this confidant but also proud that her sister trusted her so much. She was her favourite, she would miss her the most if she went away.

XXXX

“Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the Angel’s triumph circus!” Sky’s dad yelled at the crowd. The sign that it was showtime.

The night’s performance was a great hit. The double blindfold with the bluff miss throw made the audience ooh and ahh. Sky had smiled at her sister when they took their bow. She loved it when the audience really got into the acts.

After the final bows of the family and their circus friends who also performed with them. Sky’s dad stayed dead centre of the ring. Her mother ran out the back with a flourish. Feathers from her tail littering the floor. When she came back she stood beside her husband with a microphone.

“We here at the Angel’s triumph circus would like to say we are parent’s who respect our children’s privacy, mums out there am I right?” the crowd murmured in agreement.

“We have been a family-run circus on this spot for three proud generations. Now I am pleased to announce that one of our chicks has broken all that tradition and has been accepted into university.”

Sky’s mum’s eyes met hers. Sky could see the proud tears in her parents’ eyes.

“You did it, baby. We knew you would be the one to fly the coop”

Sky ran up to her mother and the envelope with her acceptance letter in it. She should have known that she would have their support. Sometimes a break in tradition can be a good thing.