Dale and Charles
Circus Spectaculum 1
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At the heart of Circus Spectaculum, the young Snoi brothers were stars. Dale and Charles, the latest generation of the Snoi family, a lineage of trapeze artists who soared through the air with breathtaking grace. The boys were twins, identical, inseparable, their acts were a rhapsody of poetry in motion and comedic relief.
Consummate circus performers, they frolicked with clowns on the ground and they glided with the high-flying artists in the air. The circus was their playground, their school, their family. It was magical even when they knew the secrets behind the tricks.
Combined with their stardom, they did not grasp that the circus was also a business, and for many performers their sole means of earning coin. The boys’ childlike demeanor at times chafed those with less star-power and less income.
Some performers would play tricks on the boys, of various degrees of meanness. While identical in appearance the two had distinct character differences. Dale was more self-depreciating, a people-pleaser and had terrible luck while Charles had more self-esteem, assertiveness and was unusually lucky. Dale was more often bamboozled than Charles.
One fateful day, Charles was sent on an errand and a cruel crew boss convinced Dale that Chip ran away from the circus. Dale immediately went to search for Charles, wherever he had gone. In his haste Dale missed the telltale signs of the circus packing up to move to the next town. True to his poor luck he headed the opposite direction the circus would travel and was soon lost.
Growing tired and hungry he left the road to gather some berries and soon was fairly deep into the forest as daylight faded. Dale tried not to panic as tentacles of fear crept up from his belly.
A search party from the circus passed by on the road but he was too far away to hear and hadn’t left trail markings for the party to notice.
Dale waded into the blackness, feeling the resistance of brush against his body, unsure which direction he was heading.
Slowly a glow on the leaves ahead of him formed. A faint smell of smoke reached his nose. Something cooking. Dale pressed forward as quietly as he could until he could hear voices, deep and husky, with gruff laughter. While he pondered the situation he didn’t hear people sneaking up behind him until they made themselves known in the dim light.
They were barbarians, people of the wild. Dale didn’t know the tribe but the bone jewelry, rough animal fur clothing and blunt wooden weapons looked right out of a storybook. They seemed a little small to Dale though, not much taller than himself. He wouldn’t realize they were also children until later.
They smiled toothy grins and gestured, apparently inviting Dale to their camp. Being outnumbered and surrounded, Dale smiled back, showing as toothy a grin as he could. He followed the lead barbarian toward the campfire.
When they drew close, Dale saw his first adult barbarian, and was duly impressed.
“Wow, you’re big!” said Dale, fascinated.
The lead child barbarian seized his own head in shock, “It speaks!”
The child’s mother tsked, “O’ course it speaks. It’s a human boy, you lump.”
“Why does it make that face?” the barbarian child asked.
“‘e looks jus’ like you,” his mother laughed.
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