TWO CENT TALEs
Tamer
Come and knock on our door. We’ve been waiting for you.
We stared at it incredulously. It had never been there before. Not once in over a hundred times we traversed this path. You went left and I went right and that was the end of that. “See ya tomorrow,” or “Have a nice weekend,” our only parting words. Jay made the first move. The friendly face of a golden… what the hell was that thing exactly? A panda lion? King of the bamboo forest, no doubt. Anywhatsits, that face on the doorknocker invited her forward. She rapped the knocker three times. Nothing happened.
Then, a small rumbling building to a roar. The doorknob turned. The well-worn and weathered wood door swung open and raspberry fairy floss (that’s cotton candy to those in the know) scented fog rolled out and engulfed us. Once the smoke cleared, we found ourselves inside the hustle and bustle of a carnival. Jugglers of fire and freaks of all kinds were on display. Sword swallowers. Swashbucklers. Pirate ships floating like zeppelins high above a colorful big top-enclosed circus. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! They, the animals, were the proprietors and therefore in full control of the festivities. They communicated in barks, growls and roars and the humans were the whole show.
Trapeze artists above and tiny cars filled with clowns were circling below before the audience of zoological proportions. There was to be no exit unless we performed an act. We had to serve at the pleasure of them, it seemed. They handed me a whip and they put a lion costume on Jay. I became the Jay-tamer.
She went left and I went right and it caused up-ROAR-ius laughter from the audience. The hyenas could not control themselves. It was infectious, that laughter. I giggled in spite of myself. Mostly because I was the one holding the whip.
We almost forgot where we were, until the stadium seating erupted in thunderous paw-stomping. I snapped back to the task at hand.
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I cracked the whip and snatched Jay’s lion’s mane beanie crisply and cleanly off her head. I grabbed it and flung it into the audience, singing out at the top of my lungs, “When a problem comes along, you must whip it!”
Suddenly, a bright light flashed, followed by that raspberry scented fog again. We were transported outside the door in the woods. Returned safely.
The panda lion door knocker relayed a message that required no words. It threw back its head, jaws opened wide, and bellowed a hearty king of the forest laugh. It just as quickly disappeared, the door and all, in a cloud of raspberry cotton candy. Snowballs made of the candy floss were left behind and we enjoyed them as a snack before we parted ways again.
I looked at Jay and she looked at me. “What a wacky place!” Jay exclaimed.
“Sure was!” I replied
“You really whipped it good.”
“Sure did.”
And we giggled all the way home.
Thanks for reading!🖤
