The show started again. With a drum roll, a large Asian family
catapulted into the ring, from an old, white-haired man to three small
children. As if it were a dance, they scrambled on top of each other, forming a
human pyramid. Five young men, muscles dancing, comprised the bottom. On top of
them stood five women, then three older men, and the three children positioned
themselves onto the top somehow. After enthusiastic applause, they, starting at
the top, toppled down from each other.
Maja turned to him, eyes gleaming. “I’ve never seen people doing
tricks like that before. This is so great!”
He laughed at her enthusiasm. “There’ll be more. Just wait
and see.”
He turned back to the ring and forgot to breathe. There,
flanked by her brothers, stood Nina, strong and tall, wearing a feathery yellow
costume that perfectly underscored her dark beauty. Her eyes were riveted on
him, but she wasn’t smiling.
Feeling guilty somehow, Jozef wondered how long she’d been
watching him and Maja.
He was hardly aware of the manager’s announcement of the
Flying Bufandos. And anyway, she had no right to look at him that way,
considering that she was now a married woman. Just to make sure, he looked at
her hands, but she had turned and went after her brothers up the swaying ladder
to the platform high above the crowd.
Jozef, forgetting everything else around him, followed her
with his eyes as she seemed to dance in the air.
After their performance, the clowns came in and delighted
the three boys next to him, but Jozef noticed. It was all he could do to keep
his face passive and not to spoil the enjoyment of Konrad’s family.
Nevertehless, towards
the end of the show, Maja turned to him. “You’re so quiet, Panje Wawrzyniak. And I do believe you’re pale. Are you feeling all
right?”
He gave her the semblance of a smile. “I’m fine. It’s just a
little stuffy here.”
He turned and glanced toward the dark section of the tent,
where the artists were collected. Nina stood among them, still staring at him.
Her face was a study in misery.
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