Wally was beaming. Uncle Barry was taking Wally to the circus for his tenth birthday (the most important birthday, according to Wally). Wally had seen a flyer for Haly's Circus a month ago and had been talking about it non-stop until Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris decided to take him. Aunt Iris had woken up with a raging headache this morning but ensured Wally and Uncle Barry that she'd be fine if she could just stay home. Wally was a little bummed that Aunt Iris couldn't see the circus with them, but he decided just to tell her all about it when he got back, and he'd take lots of pictures with his Aunt's camera.
Wally stared up at the huge red and white striped tent. He had to crane his neck all the way back, almost bending over backwards just to see the top of the tent. It was amazing. Wally still had the flyer for the circus in his hand. HALY'S CIRCUS IS PROUD TO PRESENT THE FLYING GRAYSONS IN "FLIGHT OF DEATH" was written in light blue over the navy background. In the same light blue was a picture of three people suspended in air, stretched out like they were flying; a man, a woman, and a young boy. It was the boy who caught Wally's attention. He looked even younger than Wally himself, and he was flying. Wally could run, Wally could run fast, but this boy could fly. He was the reason that Wally was here; the reason Wally begged his aunt and uncle to come here.
After seeing the flyer, Wally researched the Flying Graysons (his aunt is a reporter and his uncle is a scientist, he researches) and discovered that is was a family gig: a mother, father, and their seven year old son. They were famous for performing without a net.
Barry looked at him, amused at his awed expression before tapping on Wally's arm so they could keep walking.
The tent was much bigger on the inside. Tiered stadium seating lined the tarp walls leaving a large open area in the center for the circus performers to present their act. Huge floodlights illuminated the inside of the tent, almost blinding Wally before his eyes adjusted. Thirty feet above the ground hung the famed trapeze set. The Flying Graysons were famous for performing their act without a net and, true to their reputation, no net lay below the swings.
While Uncle Barry wandered off to find popcorn, Wally searched for a good seat. In a stroke of luck that often seemed to find Wally, there was two fold up chairs right in the front row. Wally rushed towards the seats in his excitement, beaming and waiting for his uncle to return. He squirmed in his seat impatiently, fiddling with his camera; he couldn't wait to see the show.
Uncle Barry walked back, balancing as many bags of popcorn as he could (seven) and earning strange looks from the other guests in the audience. Barry sat in the open seat to the left of Wally, careful not to spill his popcorn. The jaunty circus music started playing and Barry distributed the popcorn between himself and Wally, giving Wally three and keeping four bags for himself. That'll probably last through the first few acts.
"Woah! Did you- did you see that?!"
Wally was close to bursting out of his chair. His fingers curled under the dirty edges of his seat, clenching tight with excitement. This was the part of the show he had been waiting for. The main act, death defying stunts, a family of acrobats soaring though the air: The Flying Grayson's trapeze act.
Currently, the mother and father of the family were soaring through the air, swinging from bar to bar, flipping and spinning. The youngest of the act was nowhere to be seen. The father was wearing white tights and a red, sleeveless shirt with a large golden "V" across his chest, the ends of which turned into wings on his shoulders. The mother was clad in a red strapless leotard with the same gold markings. Both wore a black belt with a golden "G" belt buckle.
Wally quickly grappled for his aunt's camera, taking tons of glare filled, blurry shots of the couple while simultaneously trying to watch the act.
True to the advertising, the acrobats were forty feet above the ground, without a net. The couple was flying from bar to bar doing flips, hanging from the other's hands, standing upright on the bars, and sometimes doing their famed triple somersaults.
Wally had never seen anything like it. He was anxious to see what the boy would do when he showed up. Over the weeks that Wally had been obsessing over the circus, he had become attached to the boy. No kid could run as fast as Wally, and even though he would never wish away his speed, there were points where he felt lonely. Wally was different, and he had no one outside of family to share it with. But this boy – this boy could fly! Wally didn't know any other kid who could fly, so he's lonely too, right? The flying boy made Wally feel like he fitted in. Maybe he wasn't normal, but he found someone just as different as him.
There! Wally spotted a small child clad in the same outfit as the dad, gracefully climbing the ladder towards the trapeze. Even at Wally's distance, he could tell that the boy was smaller than himself with a tuff of raven-colored hair atop his head.
Wally scrambled for his camera, maxing out the zoom and trying to get a good shot of the boy. Wally was completely focused on the new arrival, oblivious to the fact that the couple that had been swinging through the air moments ago had decided to land on the platform opposite to the one the younger acrobat was climbing to.
The bars were still swinging when the son of the couple reached the end of the ladder, climbing onto the platform. By now, Wally had noticed the absence of the two older acrobats. They were standing side by side, squeezing each other's hand and starring intently at the younger Grayson. Wally wondered if they were as nervous as he was. Probably.
All of a sudden, a voice was heard above the crowd on some type of loudspeaker, "Ladies and Gentlemen, the boy you see on the main platform is the only person in the world who can do what you are about to see. At only seven years of age, our very own Richard Grayson will perform for you a quadruple somersault on the trapeze with no net. This, boys and girls, is an extremely dangerous stunt and you can see it nowhere else. I introduce to, The Boy Wonder!"