CHAPTER II: MEETING THE TROUPE

Slowly, I opened my eyes. There were five insects above me, all of different species. There was a female black widow spider, a male ladybug (at least, I think he's male) a four-armed stick insect, a chubby & podgy caterpillar and a praying mantis with a tough exoskeleton.

'Wha... what happened?' I mumbled.

'You OK?' said the black widow spider. I looked closer –I couldn't believe it.

'Cora?' I said. It was definitely her face!

'Um... my name's Rosie...' said the black widow spider awkwardly. I suddenly realized my mistake. It wasn't Cora. Yet she looked just like her – her voice was even exactly the same.

'Sorry...' I groaned, getting to my feet. 'I thought you were somebody I knew...'

'You would have been dead if we hadn't found you,' said the praying mantis.

'Thanks,' I said, getting to my feet. 'What happened? I remember passing out near that swamp...'

'Exactly,' said the stick insect. 'We found you there and we brought you back here.'

'Where's here?' I asked.

'Oh, this is P.T. Flea's Circus,' said the ladybug. 'We work here.'

'What's a circus?' I asked.

'U don't know wat a circuz es?' said the glutinous caterpillar in a German accent. He sounded very surprised to hear that I didn't know. I couldn't find it in myself to tell them I had only ever left my colony once before this.

'It's a place where one pays to see a hilarious performance by actors and clowns,' said Rosie. 'It earns a lot, see honey?'

'I guess...' I guessed. I didn't really get it, but I didn't really need to. I had to get my matters back to the colony. I looked around for an exit, but there didn't seem to be one.

'What's your name?' said Rosie. I didn't want to stay for long, but I decided to be polite.

'Dim,' I said. The ladybug quickly stifled a cough that could have been hiding a snigger. 'And you guys?'

'Oh, these are Slim, Heimlich, Francis and Manny,' said Rosie, gesturing to the stick insect, the caterpillar, the ladybug and the praying mantis, respectively. They all nodded as Rosie gestured to them.

Well, thanks for your help,' I said in a depressed voice. I turned to go.

As I walked a couple of paces, I heard them talking behind me.

'Gee, he looks blue,' said Francis.

'Well yeah,' said Slim, 'all rhino beetles are!'

'No no, I mean he's depressed,' said Francis, in an obvious tone. I turned around to see Slim look more then a little agitated.

'You wouldn't be wrong,' I said, looking at the ground. 'I need help...'

'We can help you,' said Rosie, almost instantly.

'You can?' I whispered. Could they really help us? If they could, it would be great!

'Course,' said Rosie. 'You can stay with us for as long as you need. You must have been pretty badly injured to have your wings broken.'

I almost felt like crying at these words. She thought by help I meant for me. She didn't know what I was really talking about – although, to be fair, I hadn't told her or any of the others.

'No, no,' I stammered, seeing if there was a way I could explain without telling them anything about myself. 'You see, I...'

'What's going on here!' said a rough, deep voice.

The other circus bugs looked around. There was a brown flea behind Heimlich. He must be P.T. Flea, I thought.

'Who's this?' said P.T. rudely, looking at me. He seemed very snobbish, selfish, and desperate for whatever he wanted – a bit like me before I had been originally sent to the hornets. But had I really undergone any change – at all?

'Oh, uh...' stammered Rosie. It was quite clear that Rosie had not intended for P.T. to arrive on the scene quite yet.

'Dim, this is P.T. Flea,' said Rosie, quickly gesturing to the brown flea. 'P.T., this is Dim. He was injured by hornets.'

'Rosie, you know the rules,' spat P.T. 'Only bugs who work here are allowed for free. No non-paying customers allowed!

'Besides,' he said, turning to me, 'show's over. Come back tomorrow.'

'I was just leaving anyway,' I mumbled quietly. I turned to go again.

I was almost at the exit to outside when Rosie spoke up again, but not to me.

'Are you selfish, or are you just a robot? We've been really good for a while, and you let down someone who needs our help?'

I turned around to see P.T. looked shocked, especially as Rosie was leering over him – after all, she was about six times bigger than him.

'WHAT!' he yelled. 'You're just a performer, don't you go dictating what I –'

'You know, I wonder if there's anything in that millimeter-thick exoskeleton,' Rosie glared, pushing P.T. down onto the ground. 'Because I think it's the galaxy's biggest bottle of selfish-sauce!'

P.T. mouth dropped jaw-open, cartoon-style. The other circus bugs were watching with awe.

'You know, I was going to raise your wage, but you can stuff it now!' snarled P.T. Rosie instantly responded.

'Why, I –' she began.

It went on and on, with them both speaking over each other so much it was hard to even hear what exactly they were saying. The other circus bugs glanced awkwardly at me, and I gave them a similar visual response.

'That's it!' yelled P.T., in a "let's-finish-this" tone, 'you can go without food tonight!'

Rosie, looking defeated, collapsed. Almost immediately, Francis and Manny stepped forwards. They opened their mouths, and –

It was lucky, perhaps, that both Francis and Manny started yelling at P.T. at the same moment, lucky that their voices echoed off each other in the spacious backstage of the circus tent, for in all the confused dim, it was impossible for him to hear exactly what they had called him. He got the gist, however.

'Let's see...' he began, in a soft, silky voice. 'I think you two shall get the same...' He then turned his gaze on Slim and Heimlich.

'And if you two know what's good for you, you'll stay quiet,' he whispered slowly, in a very threatening way.' They shrank backwards, slightly scared. At this, I couldn't just watch any longer.

'Wait,' I began, quickly rushing forwards to P.T., standing in front of the other circus bugs, 'don't punish them. It's my fault I'm here. It's my fault I was attacked by a hornet...'

P.T. raised an eyebrow, looking as though he was considering my proposition. But before he could answer, Francis interrupted.

'But how is it your fault?' questioned Francis. 'All hornets attack coleopterans. They just discriminate against us. It's not your fault. It's like they're... an evil race...'

With a pang, I realized that Francis, as a ladybug, was also a coleopteran. For a second I wondered whether he had encountered problems against hornets too, but I quickly brought my mind back to the problem at hand.

'Please sir,' I pleaded to P.T., 'will you let them off the hook? Please?'

P.T. stroked his chin with his forefinger for about two seconds. He then looked at me straight in the eye before finally speaking up.

'Well, alright,' he finally said. He then turned to the other circus bugs.

'I guess I was a bit harsh on you guys,' he said. 'But I'll have you busted if you do that again!' He then turned back to me.

'You can stay for ONE –' he put up one finger to emphasize it '– night, IF –'

I paused in shock, honestly wondering what he was going to say.

'– IF,' continued P.T., 'you help distribute concessions for tomorrow's show.'

I didn't move, too surprised about what he had just said.

P.T. appeared to take my silence as an "OK." He then grunted, turned around, and marched off to his office.

Several nervous seconds passed, in which I truly was mentally frozen with what had just happened. This was not what I had planned – or hoped – at all. Working in a circus – how would that help the colony, or stop the hornets? The only advantage of being here was that it gave me a little safety from the hornets.

My best bet, I thought, would be to leave tomorrow as soon as the show was over. I could then turn my matters back to my family, friends and home – or what WAS my family, friends and home anyway. They were all gone...

'Well,' began Rosie, quickly drawing my attention back to the circus bugs, 'thanks for getting us our food back, Dim.'

'Ya,' chuckled Heimlich. 'I need lots uf food ef I em to be a beautiful butterfly one day.'

'Well, at least WE'VE all already undergone metamorphosis,' whispered Francis to me. I chuckled briefly at his little joke.

'We owe you one, my boy,' said Manny in an appreciating manner.

'Come with us,' said Rosie. 'You must be hungry. When'd you last eat?'

I paused, wondering what I should say.

'Two days ago,' I said quietly.

'Not surprising – why, you're nothing but skin and exoskeleton!' said Francis. He then slapped his knee and laughed, but none of us joined in.

'You get it?' he giggled. 'Skin and exoskel – skin and exo –' he then noticed that no one else was laughing '– I'll be quiet,' he stopped abruptly.

'Let's go to Bennett's Bar,' said Slim, to several claps from the other circus bugs. 'It's just around the corner,' he said to me. 'Have you ever been to the City?'

'No...' I said slowly, a little unsure exactly what a city was.

'Vhat?' gasped Heimlich.

'Let's go,' said Rosie to me, 'I guarantee you'll enjoy it.'


We were all sitting around a table in Bennett's Bar. We had already had out main course, and we were just having second helpings. All the other circus bugs were talking about gossip. I listened rather than talked, because I was so hungry I was continuously chewing, but also because I was thinking.

The City was a weird place. There were all kinds of bugs there, although there were no hymenopterans at all. It was, of course, because their colonies were all fascist, and therefore paid little attention to the need of the individual – except the royals, of course. My colony was probably part communist, part capitalist (which was a lot better).

Of course, with hymenopterans, only the queen could mate, with non-royal females being infertile, while with beetles and most other insects, the royals were just the democratically elected (we held a election every year, although the royals were rarely challenged). In other words, the names "Queen" and "King" were just titles. I wondered how vertebrates govern themselves…

My thoughts were suddenly broken by Rosie talking to me. Clearly, my semi-conscious state had showed on my face.

'You all right, Dim?' she said. All the circus bugs were looking at me. 'You're very quiet.'

I didn't answer immediately, thinking of something I could say that was relevant.

'Are there any ever hornets here?' I finally said.

'Here?' said Rosie. 'You mean in this city?'

I nodded in response, wondering what the answer would be.

'I don't think so. I've never seen one anyway,' said Rosie. 'What about you guys?' she asked the other circus bugs. They all shook their heads.

'I'll ask the bartender,' said Manny. He got up and walked over to the bar. I watched several mosquitoes throwing a dice (of sorts) around a bottle-cap table a couple of inches away for a few seconds before bringing my attention back to the others.

'So how long have you been working at the circus?' I asked.

Only four weeks,' said Rosie.

'About two months for us,' said Francis, gesturing to himself, Slim and Heimlich. 'We joined just as it started

'Month and a half,' said Manny, coming back and sitting down again. 'He never seen any hornets,' Manny said to me.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Well, at least there was some good news.

'It's getting late,' said Rosie. 'We should probably get back to the tent.' All the others quickly swallowed what food they had left and stood up. I made to do the same, but Rosie pushed me down gently.

'Could I have a word?' she said. I said nothing, and she seemed to take that for a "yes." Francis, Slim, Heimlich and Manny shrugged and left the bar to go back to the tent.

'Yeah?' I said, wondering what she wanted. I forced myself to look into her eyes. Rosie was exactly like Cora, apart from being a different species. Her personality was very similar, and she even had the same effect on me as Cora. There were both positive and negative effects to that. While I was around Rosie, I could never forget about Cora and the other beetles, which always made me feel horrible.

'Listen,' said Rosie, lowering her voice, 'I'll talk to P.T. and see if I can persuade him to let you stay for a couple more days. OK, honey?'

I didn't say anything, too afraid of her reactions to say that I didn't really want to stay.

'We'd better get going,' said Rosie. She stood up, and I did the same. Rosie was so nice, that, in a way, I sort of had a crush on her too, but I knew Cora was more important to me.

We both left the bar and walked back to the circus tent. I was thinking what would happen in the show, still wondering what a circus was.


Approximate Chapter Running Time: 00:43-00:48