The Start
It's been exactly 7 years since my fathers passing, and that means that it's been 7 years since I took over as ring leader, and since then the magic that was once here had disappeared. My father Alexander Tuckett was the best ring master that ever lived he knew exactly what every child that entered our tent wanted to see and he helped them imagine it. The Tuckett Cirque was the name of the circus where dreams came true, and i’m the one in charge of this establishment as of now. Although we were a successful circus I felt like the joy ,and dreams come true, had disappeared the day my father passed. It seemed like I should be depressed the moment everything went downhill for me, and of course I should be, but being a part of this circus family has distracted me from all of my grief. My mother Henrietta Tuckett the Spanish lady of the circus was the light of my father's life but she disappeared one dark circus night, and when my father went to look for her a car crash took his life quickly, I barely had time to say goodbye. My uncle Manuel Esparza ( my mother’s brother) took me in after all that had happened, although it wasn’t much of a change since he was an acrobat in the circus so that meant that every corner of the circus would bring back a memory. “ Spencer!!” I jerked my head to the sound of my Uncles voice, he and his partner Regina a.k.a my aunt were working on a new move for our upcoming show. It looked painful I cringed a little as I was looking at it, but I knew that he needed me right away so ignored this little fact.
I ran over to see what he needed “ uncle! When we are at work I am Ringmaster Tuckett remember? What can I help you with?” I motioned towards him making sure that he understood what I was trying to say.
They both laughed at my remark, and my uncle then spoke “ of course Ringmaster, I just wanted to inform you that we have just received a call for a new trapeze artist. The interview will be tomorrow at 7 am,” I nodded at his words and then went to go check out the other acts. There was Uriah the giant, he could lift over 200 pounds and was about 7 ft 2, I ran over to where he was so I could speak with him.
I got a small step stool and then spoke“Hey Uriah! Nice job man keep it up!” I shouted to make sure that he heard me, I felt like each and every individual deserved a bit of confidence before their act from the biggest to the smallest. Next there was Roger Lionheart king of the lions, even though he wasn’t a lion he made everyone believe that the lions had made him their king because of his bravery and honor. He’s been around since my dad first became Ring master, he seemed to hate me and his wife Dulcie “ the fairy of the secret garden,” seemed to hate me. I remember as a child believing that he really was a king and that she really was a fairy, but now all of that hardly seemed believable the joy in their faces and love in their eyes had faded away since I had taken over. Of course now that I'm older I know the truth, but I wanted them to allow the little kids to have an imagination when they performed. I guess they no longer believe in me or themselves, I would fire them but they’ve been around for so long that it hardly felt right to remove them. “ Good afternoon your majesties, I hope your act is coming together nicely,” I said as I bowed, trying to be as nice as possible.
They both gave me the eye which was expected, so as I started to walk away I heard Roger say to Dulcie “ I don’t understand why Alexander chose that 19 year old twit to takeover for him, I was the most reliable and the closest to him, I should be ringmaster!”
“ Don’t act like this hon, Spencer’s a good boy I’m sure things will all turn out for the better,” Dulcie said patting his back, I smiled a little at her kind words and then continued to walk in the direction of all the other acts there were 10 acts which in a circus this size wasn’t enough. Over the years people have left and acts were lost only few still remain, there used to be 15 acts but now we have shrunk in size. It took about 30 min for me to get around to everyone due to our short staff, life as a Ringmaster is hard and I’m not sure that I’m the right one for the job. But I couldn’t let my father down, in his will he wished that I would carry on as Ringmaster he believed in me so I should believe in myself. I walked into my office to get ready for our performance, I opened my wardrobe to grab my red and blue suit. Every time I opened those doors tears filled my eyes, it was my dad’s suit and every time I put it on it reminded me of him. The fanfare played as the guests began to arrive of every size and every color, it brought a smile to my face every time I saw a child enter with such excitement on his face. It reminded me of myself when I was about to see my dad perform, my eyes sparkled with excitement and I always awaited the moment when I would be a part. But now that I was I wish I could go back to that innocence and forget about all of this.
