Running Away to Join the Circus

This is my circus-centric post! I've always had a fascination with the circus and the idea of being so openly separate from society. Also, the circus is like a huge part of my family mythology. Right after my mom and dad got divorced when I was six or so, they tried to take my sister and I to the circus together as a sort of we're-still-a-family thing. Instead they ended up getting in a huge fight on the way there and my dad ended up walking home! It's funny now because they actually ended up having an extremely peaceful divorce and are pretty good friends to this day.

SOO this is my mildly circus inspired outfit. I was thinking kind of trapeze-artist/clown/ringmaster vibes lol. Everything in this outfit is thrifted. The shirt and shorts from Goodwill and the shoes from The Arc Thrift Store.

I'm so circus-obsessed, I even wrote a pretty sinister short story about these two circus twins for my fiction workshop. Here's a little passage from it:

On the night of the trick’s debut, I stood backstage with my stomach in more knots than
Rapunzel Man had in his hair. Eric was next to me, counting out loud and marking his movements.

“Five, six, seven, eight, one, two…”

“You’re counting too fast, Eric,” I said to him with a scowl. I just knew he was going to mess it up in some way.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine,” he said, elbowing me lightly in the gut, “it always is.”

The first twinkling notes of our music began to swell around us. “Yeah well, just count slower,” I said as we stepped up to our marks.

“And now the Winkleton Twins!” boomed the deep voice from the large speakers lining the perimeter of the tent.

We marched out slowly, our steps instinctively synchronized. We wore matching purple harem pants that made a quiet whooshing sound I could still somehow hear beneath the crowd’s thunderous applause. I looked to my left and saw Eric smiling that smile of his, soaking in the adoration of everyone around him. I felt my mouth twitch and I shook my face back into a smile. The drum-roll began, cuing us to the start of our routine. The announcer’s voice was exiting the speakers in what sounded to me like garbled nonsense, but the cheers continued.

I squatted down so Eric could step onto my shoulders. With his toes digging into my skin, I turned full circle so he could wave at the audience. I positioned my hands under the arches of his feet, readying myself. Dip once, twice, a third time and then, with a flick of my wrists, he was soaring through the air towards his target of the canon.

A loud explosion and he was back in the air, rotating in a forward motion in my direction. I quickly tossed the vat as hard as I could and popped into a handstand, bracing myself.

OH and check out this awesome book I found at The Arc the other day. OF COURSE I had to snatch it.