Jazz was four and she was not amused. Her parents were inventors (with a specialty that she didn't care to think about), and Jazz was smart enough to understand that that meant they were always poor. Her parents, as many parents do in similar situations, tried to avoid talking about their financial issues around their young daughter. But Jazz wasn't stupid; in fact, she was pretty darn brilliant, so she knew that things must be getting pretty desperate when her parents took jobs as handymen in a traveling circus.
Haly's International Traveling Circus was a hodge podge of races, nationalities, and ethnic backgrounds. The smell of Mexican mingled in the streets with the smell of German food as the two rival food stalls set up across from one another. In their prep room a clown from Ethiopia argued with a clown from Brooklyn over the proper way to apply makeup. And in the big tent, a Russian acrobat and her Romani husband were showing a young Midwestern couple the ropes- literally.
"One of your other jobs here will be the upkeep and maintenance of the trapeze," said John as he concluded the tour of the Fentons' new responsibilities.
Jack Fenton admired the setup, which had not been lofted yet and was currently resting on the ground. He rubbed his thumb admiringly over the high-tension cable and talked excitedly to himself, "Fiberglass hanging system, right? You know we've been working on this new type of material that'd be lighter and still take twice the weight of this ol' baby! It'd really put some Oomph! In your swi-" Jack trailed off as he noticed the nervous look in John's eye at the thought of altering the trapeze. "O- of course we're nowhere near ready to test that sort of thing out yet, right Mads?"
"Right Jack. Now John, are we also going to be in charge of taking care of the nets, or is that something that you like to see to yourself?"
John and Mary shared a glance, as if smiling at a joke that only they knew. "We don't use a net," John said.
"That's why we get to put 'death defying' on all of our posters." Mary cocked an eyebrow at Maddie, as if daring her to say anything about how dangerous it was.
Maddie just smiled back, realizing that she had just found someone whose tenacity rivaled her own.