Circus of Thieves on the Rampage by Sutcliffe William

Author:Sutcliffe, William [Sutcliffe, William]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781471120268
Amazon: 1471120260
Goodreads: 26334796
Publisher: Simon Schuster Children's UK
Published: 2015-02-26T08:00:00+00:00

Backstage at the Oh, Wow!

AFTER THE SHOW, Granny took Hannah backstage. The circus on its own was almost more excitement than Hannah could take, so the idea of actually meeting the circussers afterwards was close to mind-blowing.

What a birthday! Even though she’d only been given two presents – a chunky tandem and a filing cabinet – this was still proving to be the best birthday of her life.

Hannah gripped Granny’s hand as they edged through the thick35 crowd of circus-watchers heading happily home. Granny’s hand was both gnarled (because she was old) and sticky (because she’d been scoffing candy floss for the last two hours), but it felt to Hannah like the most comforting thing in the world. Granny had always been an important person to Hannah, but now more than ever. She was her link to the past, to the mystery of her parentage and to her long-lost mother. Crowds usually scared Hannah, who preferred fresh air, grassy meadows and the feel of cowpats squelching underfoot, but as long as she had a grip of her sticky, gnarled grandmother, she felt safe.

After several conversations with sour-faced security men who all sprouted curly wires out of their ears and down into the back of their suits (which made them look as if they had battery-powered brains (which maybe they did)) Hannah and Granny were ushered into a long corridor with a thick36 red carpet.

Somehow, Granny knew where to go. The further they walked through the winding passageways of the Oh, Wow! backstage area, the tighter Granny gripped Hannah’s hand. There was a look on Granny’s face Hannah had never seen before – a gleam in her eye, a flush to her cheeks, and a slight tremble in the loose flappy bits on her neck. Despite being old and gnarled and sticky, her grandmother was clearly just as excited by circussiness as Hannah.

‘Granny?’ said Hannah.

Granny stopped walking and gave Hannah’s hand an extra squeeze. ‘I know,’ said Granny.

That was the end of the conversation – a conversation which perhaps appears totally meaningless – but which to Hannah and Granny made perfect sense. They were telling one another this was almost too much excitement to bear, and checking the other one felt the same thing – a feeling like that of simultaneously skydiving, winning the lottery, and needing a pee really, really badly.

After this exceptionally concise chat, they both felt reassured that the feeling was mutual.

Gripping hands tighter than ever, they arrived at a door with a large star on it and the thrilling words: ‘QUEENIE BOMBAZINE – DO NOT DISTURB’. Maybe the last three words weren’t particularly exciting, but the first two more than made up for it. This was her dressing room! Queenie Bombazine! Living legend! Mermaid of the Skies! Etc.!

Granny knocked noisily with her gnarled knuckles.37

‘Mmm-hmmm?’ came the reply, which sounded like a ‘come in’, but with a hint of ‘though I’d prefer you to go away’.

They went in. The first thing that hit Hannah was the smell. Or, rather, the scent.

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