Read Online The Mystery of the Circus Clown by David A. Adler - Free Book Online

Chapter One
    Cam Jansen and her friend Eric Shelton waited while Cam’s Aunt Molly bought tickets for the circus. Then they all went inside the large arena.
    The lobby was noisy and crowded. Some people were rushing to their seats. Others were buying circus programs, toys, flashlights, and whistles. Aunt Molly bought a program for Cam and a flashlight with a spinning red and blue light for Eric.
    On the way to their seats a short, fat clown bumped into Aunt Molly and then bowed to her.

    Aunt Molly bowed to the clown. Then she turned to Cam and Eric and said, “I’m already having a good time.”
    As they walked on, they passed another clown. He was holding a large chalkboard with the message, “Elephants are underpaid. They work for peanuts.”
    Aunt Molly, Cam, and Eric laughed as they read the sign. Then they walked up the stairs and through the doors into the large arena. Their seats were in the third row from the back.
    “This place reminds me of the circus I saw in Montana,” Aunt Molly said as she sat down. “It was in a tent. They had a bear on roller skates. I was sitting very close, and that bear kept falling off his skates. I thought he’d fall right into my lap.”
    While Aunt Molly spoke, Cam looked through the circus program. Eric was spinning his flashlight.
    “No, I think the circus was in Mexico, or maybe it was Milwaukee. I get all those ‘M’ places confused.”
    Aunt Molly worked for an airline. She had traveled all over the world. Now she was on vacation. She was visiting Cam and her parents. It was the first time in almost ten years that she had seen Cam. The last time Aunt Molly had visited them, Cam was still a baby.
    “The bears in this circus don’t skate,” Cam told Aunt Molly. “It says in the program that they dance and ride motorcycles.”
    “Oh. In the other circus it was the poodles that danced. The monkeys rode the motorcycles.”
    Eric put the flashlight in his pocket. Then he said to Cam, “If you give me your program, I’ll give you a memory quiz.”
    “Just a minute,” Cam said as she turned the pages of the program. As she looked at each page, she closed her eyes and said, “Click.”
    Cam always says, “Click,” when she wants to remember something. “My mind is like a camera,” Cam often tells people, “and cameras go ‘ Click. ’ ”
    Cam’s friends say that she has a mental camera. Some people call it a photographic memory. They mean that Cam remembers just about everything she sees. It’s as if she had photographs stored in her brain.
    Cam gave Eric the circus program and closed her eyes.

    “How many elephants are in the parade?” Eric asked.
    “Six. And each one wears a blue-and-gold blanket.”
    Eric turned the page and asked, “How many acrobats are there in the Elkans Troupe?”
    “Ten, and the one in the front has red hair just like mine.”
    “Can you really remember all that?” Aunt Molly asked.
    “Sure,” Cam said. Her eyes were still closed. “And I remember that you’re wearing a white blouse with pink and yellow flowers on it, and in the middle of each flower is a tiny red dot.”
    Cam’s real name is Jennifer. But her friends started calling her “The Camera” when they heard her say, “Click,” so often. Soon “The Camera” was shortened to “Cam.”
    Cam and Eric lived next door to each other. They were in the same fifth grade class. On school nights they often did homework together.
    Music started to play, and Cam opened her eyes. The lights in the arena dimmed. Eric and the other children with flashlights began spinning them. The arena was lit with hundreds of spinning blue and red lights. A spotlight was turned on, and the ringmaster walked out. The circus was about to begin.

Chapter Two
    “Ladies and gentlemen and children of all ages, welcome to the Jack Wally Circus,” the ringmaster called out. “Watch now as Jack Wally leads the circus parade.”
    The music played louder. Then an old man holding a silver cane