Ten Thumb Sam by Rachel Muller

Author:Rachel Muller
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: JUV000000
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2007-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

The circus performers remained on alert for the next few days, but as the week passed and nothing happened, they began to let their guard down. By the following Sunday afternoon, they were almost relaxed.

Sam and Harriet were selling cotton candy in the bleachers just before the matinee performance when Sam suddenly elbowed his cousin. “See that guy in the gray suit on the other side? I’ve seen him before. I crashed into him last week when we were running after Loki.”

Harriet squinted in the direction Sam was pointing. “How can you be sure it’s the same guy from this far away?”

“It’s him for sure. It’s not just the suit—he’s got a mustache like a walrus.”

“C’mon—that’s too weird,” said Harriet. “We were in Winnipeg last week. He would have had to travel halfway across the province to come to this show.”

“So maybe he’s a traveling salesman,” Sam suggested, “or maybe he’s something else.”

“Something else,” Harriet repeated slowly. “Are you really sure it’s the same guy?”

“Positive. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“You mean, do I think he might be the person sabotaging the circus?” Harriet asked.

“Right,” said Sam.

Harriet shook her head slowly. “I don’t know. Don’t you think someone would have noticed him at some point by now, if it was him?”

“Not if he was careful. Maybe he comes at night, when we’re all asleep.”

“Doesn’t the circus have some kind of alarm system?” asked Harriet.

“Not exactly,” said Sam. “Mr. Poponopolis’s dogs are tied up outside at night. They’re supposed to bark and wake everyone up if anyone is sneaking around. But if someone gave them meat or some bones to chew on, they’d keep quiet. It’s not like they’re real guard dogs.”

“I don’t know,” Harriet repeated. “It could be him, I guess. Let’s watch him this afternoon and see what he does.”

The show was just beginning as Harriet appeared in the bleachers directly across from Sam. In between his own candy sales, Sam watched the man in the gray suit from his side of the tent. There was definitely something suspicious about him. He didn’t laugh or clap with the rest of the audience. He just sat with his arms crossed. As the last act before intermission was starting, he pulled out a cell phone.

A commotion in the center ring interrupted Sam’s surveillance. He looked down and saw a trio of clowns buried under a safety net that had somehow fallen on top of them. Other circus performers were already racing into the center ring to help untangle the clowns from the heavy netting.

When Sam looked up again, the man in the gray suit had disappeared. Harriet was also gone. Sam quickly scanned the bleachers on the far side of the tent before hurrying down the stairs toward the nearest exit. Once he was outside, he had to dodge a few mothers and fathers chasing their toddlers. There was no sign of either Harriet or the man in the gray suit until Sam reached the edge of a nearby field that was being used as a parking lot.

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