Growing up in a traveling circus meant that Dick Grayson's life was, by most standards, anything but normal. His unique upbringing meant that he got to see- and experience- a lot of things other kids didn't. (How many people could say that a clown taught them poker?) But, even little circus boys had rules. Bedtimes, chores, forbidden places. For Dick, that was the after-performance party the circus always had before they left a city. His parents would only say that it wasn't a place for a little kid. Asking his cousin was useless, as he was forbidden to go too. Whatever went on at those parties had to be great fun, Dick decided, or his parents wouldn't make such a big deal about it.
He got the chance to test his theory one night. His parents had decided to explore Manhattan one last time; his aunt, uncle, and cousin had decided to see a movie. Uninterested, Dick had said that he wanted to stay home and rest up for the trip tomorrow. It was a startlingly mature thing for a six-year-old to say, but his parents conceded and said they'd bring something back for him. Until then, Marianne would keep an eye on him.
Marianne was the propmaster and practically Dick's second aunt. Her tight golden-brown curls and bright blue eyes always made her look cheerful, even when she wasn't. Of course, it made it hard to tell if she suspected anything about Dick's sudden mature situation to rest up tonight.
"You'd better behave tonight, Richard Grayson." Her eyes twinkled and she smiled. This, Dick decided, meant nothing.
He slowly, slowly got ready for bed while Marianne made herself comfortable on the lone bench in the train-cabin. She was unnaturally vigilant tonight; usually, she was only checking in on him from time to time. She surely suspected something, which would make Dick's master escape plan even harder to execute. Still, he was determined to see what was so amazing about this party. And so he slipped into bed, looking like an angel in his Superman pajamas and with his perfectly brushed teeth.
"Good night, Marianne."
"Night, sweetie. Sweet dreams."
The main light flicked off, leaving the warm glow of a table lamp as the only source of light. Marianne still hadn't moved and was instead reading a bad romance novel. Eventually, the silence and the soft light caused him to doze.
He woke up with a start about an hour later. Luckily, it seemed like the bad romance novel had put Marianne to sleep. The escape plan was a go. He dug under his bunk for his bag of supplies: shoes, a flashlight, a map of Manhattan, and a candy bar. Satisfied, he climbed out of bed very carefully and sneaked past Marianne. Fortunately, there were no creaky floorboards to give him away. Unfortunately, this door tended to stick. Dick had to pull rather hard to open it, and it "thunked" softly. Marianne didn't stir. That romance novel must've been really boring, Dick thought, if it put her to sleep like that.
After sneaking past Marianne, it was smooth...walking. Nobody was around: everyone was either in bed, out on the town, or at the after-show party. He hurried along to the little tent set up not far from the train. He could hear loud music and even louder voices. How did he not hear it in the train? It was so loud. But, to a six-year-old, noise meant fun. Dick moved stealthily toward the tent, watching the shadows move behind the tent with awe. Someone seemed to be dancing, others seemed to be sitting at tables, still others seemed to be playing instruments. He was so entranced with the goings-on in the tent that he didn't see the little girl hiding in the shadow of the train. He bumped into her rather unexpectedly, and both of them had to hold back startled cries of alarm.
"Who are you?" she whispered authoritatively.
"John," he lied. He couldn't get in trouble if she didn't know his name, right? "Who are you? You don't belong to the circus."
"I-I'm Mary. A magician of the highest caliburn."
Dick was rather impressed. "Mary" sounded quite smart.
"You're not s'posed to be here either, are you?"
The girl started slightly before looking at Dick accusingly, her blue eyes boring right into his.
"Neither are you."
Rather than being intimidated, Dick smiled what must've been a mischievous smile.
"Let's sneak in together. Two heads are better than one!" He wasn't entirely sure what the saying meant, but it sounded convincing.
Mary's accusatory look dropped away immediately and she smiled the same mischievous smile. "'kay."
They both walked closer to the tent, keeping to the shadows. It was like an unspoken game of "spy" where they both wordlessly pretended that touching the light would ruin their mission. Eventually they ran out of shadow and had to cross a little patch of moonlit dirt to reach the tent itself. Dick somersaulted across with ease. Mary followed, though her somersaults were less graceful, and she got a lot of sand in her hair. They stood in the shadow of the tent and dusted themselves off, hoping that nobody would notice their dirty clothes and the smudges of dirt on their faces.
"How do we get in?" the girl whispered. "You live here, right?"
Dick suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. "I travel with the circus. We don't live anywhere. 'sides, I've never been to the party before. Don't know how to get in except for crawling under the tent."
Mary looked like she was about to retort, but then saw her opening. Well, a literal opening.
"Look!" Her whisper almost became a not-whisper. Dick was about to shush her and remind her about "spy" when he saw what made her shout. There was a small tear in the fabric of the tent. They sneaked closer. The tear had apparently been clumsily mended with thick bright blue yarn that had come apart after so much wear and tear. Dick and Mary could easily see into the tent.
The inside wasn't quite as magnificent as they'd expected. Adults were sitting on folding chairs and milk crates, some playing poker on a folding table. Many had beer, and a few were dancing to the loud, pounding music that turned out to be classic rock. Only the ladies who ride the elephants seemed to be dancing with any kind of grace. The others just looked ridiculous. To top it off, the entire place smelled like beer and sawdust.
Dick could see the disappointment on Mary's face.
"Guess it wasn't all that cool," she mused, looking away from the spectacle.
"Yeah," Dick agreed. "Why'd they wanna sit around drinking and playing cards? There's tons of cooler stuff to do."
Mary looked thoughtful. "Hey, let's have our own party."
Dick smiled. "Yeah, we can play hide-and-seek and tag and-"
He was cut off when a large shadow loomed over both of them.
"Zatanna Zatara!" boomed a male voice. It sounded very adult and very angry.
Mary jumped and looked up at the man in the top hat. "Hi, Daddy." "Zatanna?" Dick said at the same time.
The man, Zatanna's dad, frowned. "I was so worried. What did I tell you about sneaking out? And you-" he rounded on Dick "- your family is probably worried too."
Dick felt a little ashamed. Maybe his parents hadn't gotten back yet, maybe Marianne hadn't noticed. But maybe they were worried sick, just like Zatanna's dad.
"Sorry," Dick mumbled, glad that the man can't see that he was rather red-faced.
"Come, Zatanna. And, you: go home immediately, young man." He was given one last sharp glare before the man escorted Mary away.
"Bye, John," she whispered.
"Bye, Mary."
As soon as they were out of sight, Dick dashed back to his "room" and hoped his parents hadn't been worrying too long.