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“Barely! Iglided!”
“Come on down and we can try again!”
“No.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you or throw you up into the air without your permission.” Randall frowned. “I would have caught you if you fell!”
“Doubtful.”
“Well—”
“You’re too slow.”
Randall put his hands on his hips. “Hey, I got your scrawny butt up in the air real fast, didn’t I?”
Keaton growled.
“Please come down?”
“No. I live here now. This is it. This is my new home. Never leaving.”
Randall saw now he had to break out the big guns. He took a deep breath and then said, “Cookey made a blueberry pie. If we hurry, it may still be—”
There was athwangas Keaton abruptly let go of the wire.
Randall threw out his arms and gasped as he stepped forward to catch Keaton. He grunted, cradling Keaton against his chest as his heart pounded at a thousand miles per hour. “Are you all right?”
“Huh. You’re faster than I thought.” Keaton could have easily gotten down, but he didn’t make a move to leave Randall’s embrace. He was actually smiling, and his eyes were brighter than they had been before.
“You scared the life out of me!”
“Good. Serves you right.”
Randall laughed. “Okay, fine. Yes, I deserved it.” He hugged Keaton a little closer. “We could do this, you know. We could figure out a whole routine. The people watching aren’t gonna know the difference between you gliding or flying. All that matters is how amazing you look up there.”
“Amazing, huh?”
“Yeah! We could even get some of the acrobats to teach you a few moves and—”
“Randall.”
“Yes?”
“Pie first.”
“You got it.”
After enjoying Cookey’s pie, Randall and Keaton got back to work choreographing an act they could perform together. Randall could easily throw Keaton up into the air and from there, he could glide almost all the way around the top of the tent. Keaton figured out pretty quickly how to use the trapeze wires and swings to his advantage, using them as perches so he wouldn’t have to drop down for another boost from Randall unless he wanted to.
Randall often balanced large weights in his strong man act, and it was nothing to balance Keaton’s meager weight in the palm of his hand in a variety of positions. The audience wouldn’t know how light Keaton was, and there was something spectacular about having Keaton standing in Randall’s palm right before launching him up toward the ceiling like a rocket. Out Keaton’s wings would come and he’d glide around like an emerald angel.
They kept the routine simple and short for now, just enough to show Mr. King and get his resounding approval. Cookey, Drusilla, and a few of the others came around to watch them rehearse, and Keaton got his first standing ovation from his new circus family. Though Keaton grumbled a bit about being turned into a trained pet after all, Randall saw him smiling often.
He figured it had more to do with being able to fly again, however brief the glides were, but the reason didn’t matter. For the first time since Keaton had arrived, he was happy and laughing, and Randall was honored to have had a part in it.
After a long day of practicing, they headed back to their trailer and Randall collapsed into his big tub the moment it was filled. He soaked his sore muscles, he closed his eyes, and he sighed contentedly.
Problem solving was pretty exhausting work.
