Sequel: One-Hundred Days ›
In the Month of May
Day Five: Circus
The lanterns hung from strings, swinging in the soft breeze. They sent shadows dancing along the cracked cement sidewalks of downtown, adding an ever softening glow on the harsh lines of buildings against an empty and seamless night sky.
Downtown nights of our tourist-invaded city were always such as these, and yet people flocked to come to our polluted beaches and shady boardwalks.
The warm air drowned my lungs with it's humidity. Cold splashes of water fell from the tips of the lanterns and sagging leaves, and they left goosebumps along my skin as they mixed with the heat and sweat.
Tonight was like any other, bright and warm, full to the brim of summer anticipation, but tonight was different.
Instead of being alone, I was holding hands with the people surrounding me.
Instead of being disgusted by the heat and humidity encasing my body, I was delighted.
Because tonight, we were going to the circus.
As the shouts and cheers and music grew louder, excitement itched it's way through the crowds, burying itself under our moist skin and growing smiles.
As we walked, I caught conversations as the breeze flew them by me. So many people, from so many places, come together in one place to see one thing.
The smell of smoke fills my lungs as we walk inside, encased in fog and dancing lights. There are shouts and screams, words whipped past my ears, as people get situated and wait for the center of this circle to be flooded with light and for those figures to take us away from the world outside for just a few hours.
I hold the hands beside me tighter, and smile the widest I can manage. Everyone's eyes are glistening with anticipation, glazed over by necessity from living in that distant world just a few feet away. I can feel the haze lifting from my own eyes as the din grows quiet and the lights shine brighter, their rhythm speeding up as they dance in their ever-growing erratic circles.
We wait. Anticipation is flooding this hollow building to the rim, threatening to spill through the smallest cracks and break its foundations onto our heads. We wait.
We wait. Hands grip mine tighter as eyes catch each other, shining bright without their omnipresent glaze. The sight is beautiful, to see true excitement, true emotion. My own eyes glaze over with tears of happiness and awe. We wait.
Smoke thickens in our lungs as the glaze lessens from all of our eyes. A single voice echoes throughout the hollow space enclosing us, bouncing from wall to wall. The lights to stop to catch the face of the person below us.
We scream and shout as the people flood through the hidden doors inside the circle beneath our feet. We let ourselves go, we let ourselves forget everything. As animals and people dance in a neverending rhythm in front of us, our hearts follow their quick moving feet. As the lights dance and stream themselves over our faces, our eyes reflect them, and our minds become blank.
Those few blissful hours disappear, slipping through the fingers of our desperate hands. We cry and scream and dance, and we are the happiest that anyone can remember being in ages. Those cherished moments fall to the ground of space like water dripping from our fingertips.
We stay in our seats, even when the arena is dark. Dim straying lights still illuminate the soft dirt, just enough to see.
We are the only ones left, everyone else has gone, back to that dim and dank world where everything is covered in smoke and bleak grays and blacks.
We stand, and we run. We run to the arena and climb inside.
We kick the dirt where the people who had taken us away had just danced and flew and laughed. Our hearts dance inside our chests as we forget the world outside, the people just footsteps away, who at any moment could take us away from these precious moments.
We are animals freed from our chains and cages, let loose inside a dark wonderland of things. Our eyes are closed, we need nothing more than our dusty imaginations to keep our spirit alive, to relive everything that has just taken place in this loose dirt beneath our feet.
We are animals, free from our chains and cages, purely happy for the first time in years.
We drink in this bliss and freedom, drown ourselves in it's warm embrace.
We cry and scream and dance in pure bliss, at the circus.
Downtown nights of our tourist-invaded city were always such as these, and yet people flocked to come to our polluted beaches and shady boardwalks.
The warm air drowned my lungs with it's humidity. Cold splashes of water fell from the tips of the lanterns and sagging leaves, and they left goosebumps along my skin as they mixed with the heat and sweat.
Tonight was like any other, bright and warm, full to the brim of summer anticipation, but tonight was different.
Instead of being alone, I was holding hands with the people surrounding me.
Instead of being disgusted by the heat and humidity encasing my body, I was delighted.
Because tonight, we were going to the circus.
As the shouts and cheers and music grew louder, excitement itched it's way through the crowds, burying itself under our moist skin and growing smiles.
As we walked, I caught conversations as the breeze flew them by me. So many people, from so many places, come together in one place to see one thing.
The smell of smoke fills my lungs as we walk inside, encased in fog and dancing lights. There are shouts and screams, words whipped past my ears, as people get situated and wait for the center of this circle to be flooded with light and for those figures to take us away from the world outside for just a few hours.
I hold the hands beside me tighter, and smile the widest I can manage. Everyone's eyes are glistening with anticipation, glazed over by necessity from living in that distant world just a few feet away. I can feel the haze lifting from my own eyes as the din grows quiet and the lights shine brighter, their rhythm speeding up as they dance in their ever-growing erratic circles.
We wait. Anticipation is flooding this hollow building to the rim, threatening to spill through the smallest cracks and break its foundations onto our heads. We wait.
We wait. Hands grip mine tighter as eyes catch each other, shining bright without their omnipresent glaze. The sight is beautiful, to see true excitement, true emotion. My own eyes glaze over with tears of happiness and awe. We wait.
Smoke thickens in our lungs as the glaze lessens from all of our eyes. A single voice echoes throughout the hollow space enclosing us, bouncing from wall to wall. The lights to stop to catch the face of the person below us.
We scream and shout as the people flood through the hidden doors inside the circle beneath our feet. We let ourselves go, we let ourselves forget everything. As animals and people dance in a neverending rhythm in front of us, our hearts follow their quick moving feet. As the lights dance and stream themselves over our faces, our eyes reflect them, and our minds become blank.
Those few blissful hours disappear, slipping through the fingers of our desperate hands. We cry and scream and dance, and we are the happiest that anyone can remember being in ages. Those cherished moments fall to the ground of space like water dripping from our fingertips.
We stay in our seats, even when the arena is dark. Dim straying lights still illuminate the soft dirt, just enough to see.
We are the only ones left, everyone else has gone, back to that dim and dank world where everything is covered in smoke and bleak grays and blacks.
We stand, and we run. We run to the arena and climb inside.
We kick the dirt where the people who had taken us away had just danced and flew and laughed. Our hearts dance inside our chests as we forget the world outside, the people just footsteps away, who at any moment could take us away from these precious moments.
We are animals freed from our chains and cages, let loose inside a dark wonderland of things. Our eyes are closed, we need nothing more than our dusty imaginations to keep our spirit alive, to relive everything that has just taken place in this loose dirt beneath our feet.
We are animals, free from our chains and cages, purely happy for the first time in years.
We drink in this bliss and freedom, drown ourselves in it's warm embrace.
We cry and scream and dance in pure bliss, at the circus.