Read Online That Time I Joined the Circus by J. J. Howard - Free Book Online Page A

had died and that I’d originally come looking for my mother. “When she wasn’t here, I pretty much had to find a job and a place to live,” I explained. “And your dad was nice enough to give me a job that came with a place to live.”
    Lina snorted. “If you want to call it that. Besides, dad’s given you jobs, plural . And crew quarters — I don’t know, I don’t feel like you belong there. Especially after what just happened, losing your dad and all.”
    I didn’t argue with Lina. As grateful as I was, I still wasn’t really sleeping. Jamie had helped me rig up a little privacy curtain like most of the other crew members had. But I was afraid to sleep, because of the nightmares about my last days in New York. And then there was the fact that the bathroom was a portable job outside the trailer — a fact that had me cursing my small bladder several times a night.
    We had come to a stoplight. Lina looked over at me. “I’m real sorry about your dad. And I’m glad you could find some work here.” She seemed to be deciding something, and was quiet for a few minutes. We pulled into the parking lot for the mall, the Oviedo Marketplace, and we all piled out of the car.
    “Books first,” Eliska said, and led the way. Lina just smiled sort of indulgently at her sister, and we followed her into the Barnes & Noble. Lina stopped at the Starbucks counter at the front of the store. “You want anything?”
    I looked down at the wallet in my hand and decided that a four-dollar coffee was no longer in the budget. Trying not to sound regretful, I said, “No, I’m okay, thanks.”
    Lina shot me a look. “My treat. You got my sister to stop complaining about the school for three whole days. That’s worth a latte. What flavor would you like?”
    “Caramel?” I couldn’t help smiling at the sort-of compliment from Eliska.
    “Done.” Lina smiled back.
    I had played teacher for three more days. On the first day, Eliska had caught me reading an old paperback copy of The Tempest that I’d found in the room. I’d sensed her watching me read while the little kids ate their snack and finally looked up. She’d asked me if I had read that book in school, and then we got started talking about the classes I’d taken at Sheldon, and then Eliska had asked if I could read the play with her. She’d pulled up a copy on her iPhone, and we read out loud. The little kids seemed to like to listen as I did different voices for the characters I read. I even made Eliska laugh once. But the new, actual teacher had arrived on Wednesday, just as we were about to load out.
    Lina and I sat down with our coffees. “Doesn’t Eliska like coffee?” I asked her.
    “Not this kind. Too fattening. My sister’s very disciplined. I have to be careful, too, but once in a while I cheat.” She held up her vanilla latte, which she hadn’t ordered nonfat. “Besides, she doesn’t want anything to take away fromher time with the books. She’ll be in here the whole time. I’m going to go shop for clothes, some makeup — she’ll still be here. Liska really takes school seriously; she’s constantly after my dad to get better teachers for them at the school. But it’s not really the way most teachers want to work, traveling around and stuff.”
    “Is she going to go to college next year? She said she’s a senior like me.”
    “Sore subject.” She smiled. “Not so much with me, but with my dad and my brother. If she goes away, we’re down to two. Most trapeze teams are at least four. We could get someone else in, but Eddie’s kind of … challenging to work with. And he and Dad like that it’s the Flying Vranas. My mom’s family were trapeze people way back. My mom died when I was ten,” she added. “Cancer.”
    “I’m so sorry,” I said, swallowing past the lump in my throat and trying not to think about my dad. “That must’ve been really hard.”
    “Yeah. Liska took it the hardest, I think.” She shook her head and sat up a