In Sickness and in Health

Normality is a tricky concept. What is considered to be normal for one person, can be considered completely out of the ordinary and just plain weird and over the top and even wrong for another. But one thing is for sure about a “normal day”. They always start the same way for everyone, no matter who you are or what you do. With a sunrise.

On the twenty fourth of August 2012, the day starts off as any other normal day should. With a beautiful summer sunrise.

At six thirty in the morning, the early morning sun shines down brightly over the beach green in the town of Elverton, a popular seaside town on the south west coast of the United Kingdom.

On the large green, yet sandy field, a large group of trailers and trucks are assembled around a large, round, six poled orange and white circus tent.

Inside one of the larger trailers, the sunlight breaks through the skylights, shining bright wakening waves down into the trailer and reflecting off of the polished countertop surfaces and the stainless steel refrigerator doors.

The air is already hot and stuffy, giving the full impression that the summer is indeed here, and there will more than likely be a thunderstorm or two as the day goes on.

In the living area, two dogs, a small mixed colour mongrel and a black dachshund lay fast asleep, the mongrel on his back, soaking up the sun, while the dachshund curls up in a ball in the corner.

In one of the trailer’s two bedrooms two babies babble away happily having been woken by the early morning sunlight. For a few minutes one of them, a little red headed boy keeps himself amused with his hands and his feet, but of course as all children his age do, he gets bored of this, and soon begins shrieking out for his parents attention. The other infant on the other hand, a red headed little girl, with big beaming hazel eyes sits waving her arms around with a plush booklet in her left hand. Unlike her brother, she doesn’t shriek for her parents, she lets out happy shrill sounds of amusement, even though there really isn’t anything to be amused by.

In the trailer’s other bedroom, a young man and an equally young woman lay in bed together with just a thin cotton sheet covering them, it’s far too hot for anything heavier. Both have been awake for the past ten or so minutes, listening to their children in the other room. They lay looking into each other’s eyes, smiling every so often at the noises their children make. The young man reaches to brush the young woman’s hair out of her face, and whispers a little something almost inaudible, but the young woman understands fully. It’s a peaceful moment, but is ultimately stopped when both children start shrieking for their parents.

“J’y vais.” The father announces in French, one of his native languages. He pushes the thin cover off of himself then, and goes to an overhead locker to pull out a t shirt, and slips it on over his head so that he isn’t walking around in just his underwear, and then he heads out of the room to go through into his children’s room.

“Good morning Alexi. Good morning Bonnie.” He greets the one year olds as he reaches over the side of each crib, and picks the toddlers up out of them.

“Papa!” The boy calls out almost ecstatically, and falls into a fit of giggles. His father doesn’t giggle though, his father just scrunches his nose up and carries them out through the other bedroom and bathroom, and into the living area. He gently sets both children down, letting the boy waddle off as he grabs his daughter, and lays her down on the floor, and sets to work changing her. As soon as she’s changed, he chases his son around the living room until he manages to catch him, and also changes him.

“And that is how we can tell you’re a Causton.” The young man says, referring to his surname as he changes the boy. “You wake everybody up with an unpleasant smell in the morning.”

Once he is done, he picks the boy up and stands him on the floor, then watches as the boy stumbles off to go over and join his sister in completely destroying any tidiness that existed before they awoke.

The young man stands now and picks the used items up to bag them and throws them away. He washes his hands, and then starts making breakfast for the two. He decides on a mixture of fresh fruit and a croissant for each of them, with some apple juice in supply cups so that they can’t spill it. Then he sets their high chairs, and puts the boy into his first before attaching the tray in place, and giving the boy his breakfast, followed by the girl.

He goes back over to the bathroom now, and goes through to the bedroom door. The young lady, his wife, is also up now, and is changing into a pair of black sports leggings, and a light blue crop top.

“As soon as the generator goes on I want to start practicing today.” She tells her husband, her accent bears a stark difference to his British accent, and it’s very clear that she is in fact American, whereas the young man is half British half French. “Mom’s gonna take the twins out today.”

“Cool.” The man smiles, and then goes back to his locker and pulls out a pair of men’s gym leggings and a fresh pair of underwear. His wife leaves him then, and goes through into the bathroom, where she brushes her nearly waist length strawberry blonde hair and pulls it up into a ponytail, and then brushes her teeth before she goes out to join her children in the living area.

“Mmmam.” The little girl calls out as her mother goes over to the kitchen counter to pick up a pack of wipes, and comes back to clean the floor around and under the twins high chairs.

“Did you finish?” She asks the little boy as she stands back up. The tray in front of the boy is in a state with smushed up fruit and soggy croissant everywhere, and of course even though the sippy cup is supposed to be spill proof, he has still managed to get it to spill. The litter girl’s table is in a very similar state.

“Oh no!” The young mother cries in a fun mock shocked tone. “Did Papa not put a bib on you? Did you get it everywhere?”

“Tu as vu mon déodorant?” The man calls out from the bathroom.

“Oui ici.” The young woman calls back, and goes to the dining table to pick up her husband’s deodorant, and takes it to him in the bathroom.

“Merci.” He calls out to her as she once again heads back out into the living area, and goes over to the little boy again. This time she completely clears the tray in front of him, and then removes it so that she can pick him up.

“Okay go to Papa.” She speaks with a gentle smile as she sets the tot down. Without a moment of hesitation the little boy waddles off to the bathroom to find his father, while the young woman quickly frees her daughter too, and sends her off to also go and find her father. Then she sets to work on cleaning up completely after her children’s breakfast.

A few minutes later, the man and the two youngsters come back into the living area, the boy very happily gets on with making a mess and playing with his toys while the girl clings to her father.

By now, the time is nearing eight. The father takes his daughter over to where the boy sits playing and sets her down. He doesn’t leave though, he just sits with them, building up wooden blocks and pretending they are houses while a large plastic T. rex comes and destroys them all. The mother on the other hand starts making up a bag. She makes sure to pack two changes of clothes for the both children, wipes, pacifiers, juice, everything they could possibly need for the day. She goes over to a storage locker that is located within the cabinet that their television sits in, and retrieves a pair of shoes for each of the toddlers, then hands them to her husband, who puts them on the children’s feet, and then stands them up.

“Alexi.” The young woman calls over to the boy from the kitchen area now, and obediently he goes toddling over to her. She picks the boy up as he gets to her, and takes him over to the dining table, when a bottle of children’s allergy medicine sits, and she gives him half a teaspoon of the strawberry flavoured liquid.

“You gonna go out with Nana today?” She asks, and the boy smiles. Suddenly he shuffles down off of her lap, and then goes running over to his dad who has been tidying away the toys, and points up at the ceiling.

“Really?” The man asks. The toddler just lets out a happy shriek and laughs.

“Okay here goes.” The man says with a shrug, and then picks his son up and turns him upside down so that the boy can walk along the ceiling.

All while this has been going on, the family’s two dogs have also woken up, and the sound of their little claws tip tapping around the kitchen as they wait to be fed can also can be heard amidst the chaos of twins in the morning. So to put them out of their misery, the young woman fills their food bowls, and places them down on the floor.

Seconds later, there is a gentle tapping at the door, and the young woman goes over to open it, allowing her mother to enter, and then shuts the door again.

A big celebration is made of the children's grandmother being here, and the twins themselves seem more than happy to see her. The little boy very clearly let’s his dad know he wants to come down from the ceiling and go to see the newcomer, and then goes bounding over to her.

The twins maternal grandmother is a rather young woman herself. Aged only 40 and quite delicately built, yet clearly strong. Like her daughter she has strawberry blonde hair that falls to just above her shoulders, and the same deep brown eyes. She wears a pair of blue denim shorts, a baby pink tank top and a pair of pink Vans shoes. A backpack sits over her shoulders, and in her hands she holds a set of car keys.

“Bonnie!” The woman calls out happily to her granddaughter who goes bounding over to her as quickly as her little stumpy legs will allow her to join her brother. Their big hazel eyes always light up whenever they see their grandmother, and today is no exception. They both shriek so happily as the lady picks them up in turn and spins them around, before she stops and sets them back down.

“Ellie did you pack everything they need?” The young woman’s mother asks as the twins father brings the bag over to her.

“Everything.” The young woman, Eliza, Ellie for short, replies with a smile. “Do you have the buggy?”

“All in the back of the car, ready to go.” Ellie’s mother smiles.

“Well, you two enjoy your day, and we’ll see you later” The twins grandmother says with a smile, as she slings there bag over her shoulder, and then turns her attention to the twins, taking their hands. “Wave bye bye to mommy and papa.”

The little twins wave and both of their parents go over to kiss their cheeks, and with that the lady leaves her daughter and her son in law alone. It’s also the precise moment that the lights come on in the trailer, meaning the generator has now been switched on.

“Right.” The man, Axel, starts. “Practice?”

“Let’s go.” Ellie smiles, and picks up their kit bag ready to go into the tent to practice.

Morning practices are always the best practices, well, in the summer anyway. The tent is at the perfect temperature, not cold and not yet hot enough to become an issue. The first thing Axel does once he is inside the big top is unlace the back door so that Ellie can follow him in. He lights the torch on his phone to give him just enough light to see in the pitch black tent. He goes up into the show’s band stand, and unlocks the sound and lights room, and uncovers the equipment so that he can turn the house lights on. There’s no need for anything other than the house lights right now.

With a comfortable silence, he leaves the tech room, and goes out of the main ring curtains, onto the stage, where Ellie sits fiddling with her iPhone and a Bluetooth speaker. It only takes a few minutes for her to find the playlist that she is looking for, and she leaves it playing as she stands. Axel joins her now, and together they spend the next twenty minutes stretching and warming up.

“Vous bon?” Axel asks in his native tongue.

“Oui.” Ellie smiles and nods, and then goes to sit on the stage of the bandstand next to the duffel bag she brought in with her. From it she pulls two pairs of inline figure skates, a black pair and a white pair. She hands the black pair to Axel as he comes to sit next to her and then pulls the white pair onto her own feet while Axel puts the black pair on.

Once both of them have their skates securely fastened, Axel goes through the iPhone playlists until he finds the exact playlist they perform to in the show. Then the two of them glide over into the centre of the large circus ring, and begin the main part of their practice. The first run through of course is perfect, as it’s the exact routine they work in the show. However everything that comes after that run through is just to whatever track plays from the iPhone next, and so rather than practice their routine they practice a mixture of trying out new tricks, perfecting already well practiced ones, and just plain messing around. Every so often they mess up a hold, but neither of them get mad or annoyed, because this is practice, this is the time to mess up.

One hold in particular proves to be tricky for them, and sees them both fall over and land in a heap on the floor together, both of them laughing their heads off.

“Sorry.” Axel giggles as he picks himself up and offers a hand out to help Ellie up. As soon as both are standing again they waste no time in getting straight back into practicing.

Eventually, after ninety minutes of practicing their skating, the two call an end to their practice, and make their way back over to the stage to sit and remove their skates.

“Hey!” A new voice calls from behind the pair. Ellie and Axel both look round to see a young Kenyan girl with died red hair. Slung over her shoulder she carries ten hula hoops, and in her hand she carries a pair of jazz shoes.

“Are you guys finished?” She asks. “I can come back later.”

“Hey Nora.” Axel smiles. “We were going to practice one aerial trick but it’s okay, we can fit that in later.”

“Are you sure? I can come back in a little bit.” Nora replies, and nods towards the backstage area.

“No no it’s fine, Mason and Dan probably aren’t awake yet to lunge anyway so it’s pointless practicing it without a lunge. We’ve not done it enough to do it without.” Ellie tells the girl as she puts both pairs of skates away into the duffel bag, and turns the speaker off, and slips it into her bag.

“Okay well, enjoy the rest of your day then.” Nora smiles. “I’ll see you later.”

“Show is at 6 tonight right?” Axel asks, and Nora nods.

“See you later Nora.” Ellie smiles, and together she and Axel leave the tent to go back to their trailer.

“Why did you ask if the show is at six?” Ellie asks as they walk back across the field. “You know the show is at six.”

“parfois j'oublie.” Axel shrugs as he replies in his home language.

“So why not ask me?” Ellie asks as they reach their trailer and go inside. “I don’t forget.”

Once inside, they take it in turns to quickly wash after their practice, and then take the two dogs for a walk along the beach before coming back, and getting ready to go out to lunch. However just as they are about to leave their trailer, a loud knock comes, and Ellie opens it to find a tall man of 6’ 3”, with strawberry blonde hair just like her mother’s, and dark green eyes. This is in fact Ellie’s mother’s twin brother, Mason, the show’s ringmaster.

“Hey Mason, whats up? We were just heading out.” Ellie greets the man.

“I kinda gathered but, I brought Axel something.” Mason replies, and then steps aside to reveal a relatively tall man, with dark brown hair and eyes as deep brown as Axel’s own.

“Dad!” Axel shouts as a surprised smiled crosses his face, and he bounds down the steps to greet his father with a hug outside.

“Oh my.... what are you doing here?” Axel asks happily.

“I’m not alone you know.” Axel’s father tells him, and Axel takes a step back to look just beyond his father, and sees his mother walking towards them.

“Maman!” He cries out and goes to hug her now. It’s a sweet and exciting moment, for Axel hasn’t seen his parents for nearly six months now, since just before the tour started.

“Mon petit fils!” Axel’s mother chimes happily as she hugs him and kisses each of his cheeks twice, then lets him go. “Ça va?”

“Trés bien maman, et vous?” Axel replies and asks.

“Bon. Tu m’as tellement manqué.” Axel’s mother replies and tells her son that she has missed him.

“Hey Eliza, it’s good to see you!” Axel’s father greets Ellie now, and goes over to give her a hug, which she happily returns. “Where are the babies?”

“They’re out with Ellie’s mum today.” Axel answers his father’s question. “We were just heading out to town, maybe get some lunch, you hungry?”

“Always.” Axel’s father smiles in reply. Axel turns to his brother in law now and looks at him.

“Uh oui!” Mason smirks, with open arms. The group then leave the trailer and head out off of the site, and along into the town centre.

“So was that surprise okay?” Mason asks Ellie as they walk behind Axel and his parents.

“It was perfect.” Ellie smiles. “He’s been really missing his parents lately.”

“Yeah me and your mom could tell.” Mason replies with a subdued smile. He tilts his head then and looks down to his niece. “Do you ever miss your dad? You never really talk about him. Me and your mom have always wondered but we never wanted to cross any lines by asking.”

“No, I don’t miss him.” Ellie sighs and responds. “Because he’s standing right next to me. He’s also my goofy uncle who’s part of the reason I carried the twin gene and ended up with two babies in one go.”

Mason smiles and puts an arm around his niece, the two then catch up to the others, joining their conversation as they walk to town.

The rest of their day is spent out in town, shopping for variations things. Things they need, things they don’t need but they want, things they can possibly use as costumes, things for the children. They eat lunch out as a family, and continue to look around until eventually they know they have to head back to the site where the show is currently located.

“Okay we’ll let you both get ready, and we’ll see you in a little while okay?” Axel’s dad asks as they reach Axel and Ellie’s trailer.

“Yeah.” Axel smiles and then turns to hug both of his parents. “À bientôt.”

With that, Axel’s parents leave, as does Mason, so that Ellie and Axel can get ready for the show.

After a quick check in with Ellie’s mother to find out how their children are, Ellie does her hair - crimping it to make it as big as possible, and pulls it up into a high side ponytail and wraps a red scrunchie around it, then applies her makeup. She turns to her husband then, and helps him with putting a few extensions in his brown hair - not too long though, just enough to make him look a bit more 80s, and then lifts half of his hair up so that he can tie a black bandana around his head. He too applies make up, but nothing much, just foundation and eyeliner around his deep brown eyes, just enough for the lights to not make him look washed out. Next they both change into the clothes they wear for front of house. Black trousers, and black military drummer style jackets with coloured detailing. Axel’s just has basic purple ribbon lacing effect with silver buttons, while Ellie’s is a little more intricate. Also purple ribbon lacing effect, but with white fringed epaulettes and white fringe trimmed fake pockets, gold buttons, and even a cris crossed ribbon at the back to pull it right the way in. Both of them also pull a pair of black boots on. Ellie then goes over to one of her lockers, and pulls out a box of accessories. She picks out a diamanté hair grip, and tightly secures it into place on the left side of her head.

“You ready?” Axel asks, as he places two bowls of food down for the dogs and tops up their water. Ellie just nods, and together they leave the trailer, and head over to the large circus tent.

Just a normal day. Just a normal day.