Back at the circus, Dumbo and Timothy have come back from flying around the city, and decided to take a rest in the trailer. The baby elephant came up to his mother, with Mrs. Jumbo relieved to see that her son was safe.
"Mama, have you seen Sandy?" the calf asked.
"I'm not sure where she is, darling," she replied, using her proboscis to pet her son's head tenderly. "She's probably still taking a tour of the city with Paige and Rosie. Hopefully, they'll be back soon."
Dumbo nodded, even though he made new friends after revealing his true talent with his ears, he still felt that Sandy, Timothy, and his mother were his most true friends. Despite others treating him with kindness and respect, he still had some trust issues with other animals and humans making him grew unsure about them.
"Say Dumbo," Timothy said. "Why don't we take a walk? That oughta clear up your mind."
"Okay, Timothy," the calf nodded.
Dumbo and Timothy left the private car and began to go for a stroll around the circus grounds. As soon as the baby elephant stepped out, he felt something heavy fall above him. Dumbo looked over to see a thuggish-looking man falling face first onto the ground due to tripping on the calf, nearly losing his grip on a purse in his hands. The sound of angry barking then filled the air, and Dumbo and Timothy turned their heads to see a snarling dog barreling towards them before leaping over the shocked duo and landing on top of the fallen man, who was attempting to get up.
"Thanks kid," the German Shepherd grunted with an appreciative nod before turning his attention back to his prey.
Achilles growled deeply, and the thief flinched back in fear.
"Uh-uh-uh-uh, nice doggy…" the thief stuttered, attempting to calm down Achilles. But the German Shepherd was not easily fooled, and he continued to growl fiercely.
As this was happening, Sandy, Paige, Rosie, and Aileen returned to the circus ground as the big top was set up for the performance in a few days with the men busy at work getting the concession stands ready and the performers, animals, and clowns practicing for their acts.
The girls were enjoying talking to each other and laughed at each other's jokes. Sandy was at the front, continuing to laugh, until she felt a hard force crash into her. She landed on the grass and looked up to see a young man in a police uniform halting and looked at her with quick concern.
"Apologies miss, official police business," he said hastily before continuing to run.
Rosie, Paige, and Aileen looked at the running police officer with skeptical and confused looks, before turning to their leader.
"You okay t'ere Sandy?" the redhead asked, helping the blonde up to her feet.
"Yes, I'm fine, thanks Aileen," the blonde said, not trying to sound annoyed. "What on Earth was his idea? He should have looked where he was going."
"I don't blame you Sandy," Rosie added. "But he did say he's here on police business."
The petite brunette looked over to see the police officer continuing to run towards the big top. Her thin eyebrows knitted with concern as she looked back at her friends with a worried expression.
"Why he's going to our circus?" Paige asked.
"I have no idea," the blonde added shrugging her shoulders. "But let's find out."
Jacob continued to run through the circus, avoiding from collided with circus workers and animals. With his fast stamina and careful coordination, it was enough to catch the attention of everyone, both animals and humans. They all watched the young police officer making his way through the circus. Viktor, Josephine, Hans, and Anyu left their tent and noticed Jacob running past.
"What on earth's going on?" Josephine asked.
"I don't know, sister," Viktor said.
"Let's see what's happening!" Hans added.
Not too far, from where Achilles trapped the thief, the Ringmaster was going over some paper work and writing down some plans for performances. Martha entered the office and was holding a tray of coffee, and she placed the tray down on the desk next to him.
"Oh, thank you, Martha," he said, giving the woman an appreciative smile.
"You're welcome Mr. Williams," she replied with a nod.
The woman turned away, until her hip hit against a stand and caused a stack of papers to fall off.
"Oh dear!" she exclaimed, nervously.
"Oh, allow me please!" The Ringmaster noticed the commotion and stood up, keeping his cool.
"Oh I'm sorry," Martha knelt to the ground and scrambled to pick up the missing papers. "I'll get them picked up soon! How embarrassing!"
"Oh don't worry about it Martha, they're just papers. I'll get them organized."
Harold got up from his desk and began to pick up the papers too. As his gloved hand touched a sheet, Martha's hand touched his. They both froze and looked at each other.
"My goodness," she said, as blush crept on her cheeks.
"Oh dear," he said, feeling embarrassed. His heart began to pace more and he helped the woman up to her feet.
The two were about to speak more, until they heard a commotion from outside.
"What's going on?" the Ringmaster asked.
"I don't know," the woman said. "I think we better go see what it is."
The two left the office and were joined with Joe. They arrived near Dumbo's trailer and saw Achilles on top of the purse thief, bearing his sharp teeth, and the purse thief was frozen with fear. At the same time, Jacob managed to catch up and pulled out his handcuffs, and began to cuff the thief's wrists.
"You're under arrest for theft," he said in his authoritative voice, pulling the man up to his feet. He saw the Ringmaster coming up towards him.
"What's all this now?" Harold asked, once he halted.
"Sorry for trespassing sir," Jacob said while gesturing towards his prisoner. "I was just chasing this putz down after he stole a woman's purse, and if it weren't for your elephant calf back there, my partner and I probably wouldn't have been able to catch him."
The Ringmaster's face turned white in fear of a thief, but color came back to his face in relief.
"Oh, I see," he said, nodding. "Joe, call the police department to make sure this hooligan doesn't do any funny business."
Joe nodded and hurried away to notify the authorities while Jacob handcuffed the crook to a nearby flagpole to ensure he wouldn't go anywhere until the police arrived.
"It was very brave for what you did," the Ringmaster complimented him. "My name is Harold Williams, and I am the owner of this circus. The elephant calf who stopped the thief is Dumbo, the Flying Elephant."
"Oh, so that's Dumbo," the young man remarked as he looked at the smiling calf. "I saw one of your posters today, and I was hoping to see one of your shows while you're here in town."
"But of course, my loyal employees have been making sure that the show we put on here are unlike anything anyone in this city has ever seen!"
"I forgot to introduce myself, Mr. Williams. I'm Officer Jacob Bramble."
Soon after, Sandy, Paige, Rosie, and Aileen reached to where Harold was talking to Jacob. The young cop looked over to see the blonde coming up to him and he realized she was the girl he crashed into earlier. Harold also noticed the girls coming up, and decided to introduce to the cop to his niece.
"Oh, this young lady is my niece Sandy Williams, Dumbo's personal trainer and also one of our circus stars," the Ringmaster said, introducing the blonde to the police officer. "And these are her companions, Rosie and Paige."
Jacob walked up to Sandy and took her hand. "Hello miss, I remembered that I encountered you earlier. I'm very sorry about colliding with you, and I hope I didn't hurt you. My name is Jacob Bramble."
"I'm fine, thanks. It's nice meeting you too," she replied.
The two looked at each other as their eyes were connected. Sandy's blue eyes sparkled as she looked deeply into Jacob's green eyes. As the blonde continued to take a good look at the young man, a strange feeling overcame her. Was it confusion? Was it fear? Or could it be something more?
Rosie, Paige, and Aileen noticed the expression on the blonde's face.
"I gotta feelin' that Sandy has been struck by Cupid's arrow," the redhead smirked, giving a secret wink.
Penny, Dot, Godfry, Alice, Claude and Lolly, Annie, Talish, Tamila, Taksheel, Talika, Tamanna, Joan, Camille, Peter, and Donnie were watching from the menagerie tent, amazed by what they saw.
"Did you see what that guy did?" Annie, the giraffe calf asked, her eyes widening.
"I can't believe the big dog was able to catch that guy," Godfry added.
While the humans were preoccupied, Achilles turned his attention back towards the famous elephant calf who had unwittingly helped him take down his prey.
"Thanks again for the assist, kiddo," the dog told him, "I don't wanna know what kind of trouble would've occurred if that hoodlum hadn't tripped over you so I could corner him."
"I-it was nothing really," Dumbo responded modestly, shy at the praise the canine was giving him. "If anything, you're the one who deserves most of the credit for holding that guy off until your partner got here."
"Which was really impressive, I've gotta say," a new voice added. Dumbo and Achilles turned their heads to see Penny and the other animals approaching them, though most of her attention was focused mainly on the police dog. "Is that something you do practically every day as a police dog?"
"Not exactly," Achilles explained, "I also work on cases involving missing persons, locating lost or stolen items or criminals out on the lam, basically any case that would benefit from having a sense of smell like mine."
"That was amazing of what you did to that guy! I sure wish I could do that! I bet that you love being praised and getting tons of attention!" Penny said, with an eager smile.
The German shepherd stared at the young ostrich, and his expression remained stoic. Godfrey, Dot, Claude, Lolly, and Alice backed away nervously, not wanting to face a reprimand while Penny stood there filled with prideful expression.
"I do appreciate the compliments miss, but I don't do what I do simply for the praise and accolades," Achilles said sternly. "I would also advise you not to boast all the time or else it may get the best of you."
This made the young ostrich's smile turn into a frown. "Alright, fine. Sorry I said it, then," she muttered.
"I have to go now," the German shepherd said, "I suspect that my master has finished talking with the Ringmaster."
He looked at Dumbo and Timothy for a brief moment, and gave them a small soft smile.
"Oh, and one more thing. Tell your mother that she's very lucky."
"Why?"
"To have a son like you."
Achilles gave a nod, before making his way back to Jacob as the young man finished talking to the Ringmaster, Sandy, and the others. Soon Jacob's police team arrived and took the purse thief away to prison. The woman came by and Jacob gave her back her stolen purse, luckily nothing was lost. The woman thanked Jacob and left Central Park.
"Mr. Bramble, since you've done a good deed here, I think you deserve a little reward," Harold dug into his pocket and pulled out a ticket. "Here is a free ticket to come to our performances."
"Thank you Mr. Williams," the young man said, with a simple smile. "I'll make sure to come to one of your performances this week. It was a pleasure to meet you and your circus stars."
Jacob and Achilles bid good-bye to everyone and left Central Park. Before the Ringmaster could head back to his office, he noticed the young redhead standing in with the group of girls. He came up to the Irish girl, and asked, "Hello miss, can I help you with something?"
"Uncle Harold, this is Aileen Walsh. We've brought her here hoping to find her a job," Sandy explained. Aileen then added, "I ran into t'ese lasses after t'ey defended me from muggers, and they claimed they could help me find work."
"She's right sir," Rosie added. "She has no place to go and we told her she can stay with us until she can get back up on her feet."
The Ringmaster gave a nod and walked around the redhead. His dark eyes showed interest at her from head to toe. Aileen stood still as a statue and shut her eyes tightly, thinking she would get rejected.
"Have you had any job experience, relating to the arts Ms. Walsh?" he asked.
"Aye sir, I was an actress in a theatre company back in Ireland. I was in plays relating to Shakespeare and Greek Mythology."
"Mm-hm, mm-hm, mm-hm."
"Oh that reminds me," the redhead said, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a card. "Here is my green visa, it's my proof of my citizenship."
The ringmaster took her green visa and read it carefully, after a few hums and mm-hmms, he looked back up to her.
"Well, I've been looking for some more performers to help out. You what Ms. Walsh? I think I have some spots opened."
The Irish redhead had a smile appear on her face, it was filled with relief that she was able to find work. Sandy, Paige, and Rosie gave each other smiles, feeling wonderful of helping out a person in need.
"Thank ye very much, sir," the redhead said.
"You're welcome," he said, and turned to the other girls in a businesslike manner. "Sandy, why don't you and your friends help Aileen settle down and give a tour of our circus?"
"Yes, sir," the blonde said, turning to the redhead. "Aileen, we'll set up a bed for you in my tent, and get Mrs. Larkin to help you with measurements for a costume."
"Sounds great," Aileen replied.
Sandy, Paige, Rosie, and Aileen began to go through the circus grounds, with the trio guiding the redhead through and explaining what was around. The girls went into the tents, forming a bed, a closet, and a vanity for Aileen. The quartet of girls began to settle down and enjoy the day with some peace and quiet.
