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The loud roar of a tiger woke Ian
and Mac up. "Och, it’s going to be a lovely day," Mac said, rubbing his
eyes. The sun was shining into the small trailer through an open window.
"Was that a tiger?" Ian said,
jumping up from the floor. "Do you think it’s loose?"
"Come on now, Ian. Today’s the big
day when the circus starts. We’ve got our jobs to do. I heard Jock talking
to the Circus Master and we’re in the midday show."
Ian pulled himself up and peered out
of the window, just to make sure there was no tiger lurking about. "Funny
thing; you’d never think that we’d have to worry about a tiger way up here
in the highlands of Scotland," Ian chuckled.
"Don’t worry. It’s in its cage. We’d
better have some breakfast before we do anything else. It’s going to be a
busy morning," Mac suggested.
They left the trailer and ran over
to Jock’s tent. There was a huge pile of peanuts, still in their shells,
sitting on the ground, not far from the entrance. "Ah, there you are,
lads. Glad to see you made it. Eat up and then run over to see the costume
lady and slip into your tutus," Jock said.
Ian and Mac cringed at thoughts of
wearing those frilly outfits, but it was only for one show and these
peanuts were delicious. As they gorged themselves on peanuts the two
raccoons looked around the tent. A man was wheeling the cages in,
including the tiger’s. "Yikes, Mac! There’s that vicious tiger over there.
Please don’t let him out, please don’t," he pleaded to nobody in
particular.
"Ian, will you stop worrying
yourself. The tiger isn’t getting out of the cage. I’m finished eating.
Let’s get over to the costume trailer and put on our frilly, pink tutus,"
Mac mocked.
They were soon inside the trailer,
slipping into their costumes. "I feel like a fool in this. Imagine me, a
raccoon, wearing something like this," Ian whined.
"Put it on and stop complaining,"
Mac said sternly. They paraded in front of the mirror, Mac making sure his
tail was sticking out just right and Ian fluffed up his whiskers. "We’re
acting like a couple of girls," Mac laughed. "Look at us. Hee hee hee hee."
"I don’t think its funny at all,"
Ian scowled. Mac shrugged his shoulders and walked out of the trailer. Ian
ran to catch up with him. They were headed for the tent when a group of
men whistled at them. "Did you hear that?" Ian said, embarrassed. "They
whistled at us."
Mac shook his head and tried to
ignore it.
"Ah, there you lads are. You," Jock
said. Pointing to Mac, "go on over and start practicing with the ball and
you," pointing to Ian, "come with me. Sheena’s waiting for you."
Ian followed Jock to the other tent.
There stood Sheena, all dressed in a gorgeous red satin blanket. It was
thrown over her back and a crown lay on her head. Jock left and headed
back to Mac. "Look at you," Ian said, staring at the big elephant. "You’re
all dolled up."
"You don’t look so bad yourself,
Ian, or is it Ianna?" she chuckled.
"Enough of that," Ian scowled. What
do we do now?"
"Climb up and work on your balancing
and rolling. When we’ve done that for a while, I’ll stand on my back legs
and then we’ll walk around the tent. You can climb on my back," Sheena
explained the routine.
They spent the whole morning
practicing, as did Mac. Just before the show, the raccoons met at the pile
of peanuts. "Good luck, Ian," Mac said, patting him on the back.
"Same to you, Mac," he grumbled.
"We’re going to need it," and they headed off to the big tent for the
show. |
