The Man in the Yellow Cap

We went to the circus yesterday. I'm sorry I have no photos for you because it was just that kind of Sunday when I have a hard time getting to a 12:30 engagement dressed and with a camera. This was Bram's first trip to the circus and only my second. In my defense, I would like to point out that we have been offering, really begging Bram to go to the circus for the last seven years. His reason for finally agreeing to go? He learned that 'freaks' weren't part of a circus. He's more than a little upset by the sight of conjoined twins, bearded ladies, people too tiny or humans too huge and the like. My frustration at learning only now why I've missed every circus for the last 7 years aside, I had great time, a wonderful time.

But, and you know there is a but, I'm afraid I didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped because I was so distracted by THE MAN IN THE YELLOW CAP. Men went by on horses, riding, standing, on two horses at once. Yellow Cap just sat there. Elephants, horses, ponies, tigers, goats, and a porcupine (all of the animals were in odd numbers, 9, 11, 7, 3, 1) danced by. And when I say danced, I mean really danced: kicking up their heals, tossing their heads, and generally looking as much like humans dancing as it was possible to do. Yellow Cap just sat there: not a smile, not a clap. "Maybe animals are not his thing," I thought, marvelling at the goats on horseback.
Then the acrobats came on, bending their bodies and throwing themselves around like so much yarn. Nothing. The clown encouraged us all to clap, slapped his giant floppy shoes in 4/4 time, pulled his hair off, put it back. Yellow Cap blinked. After a while, even his daughter began to look a little worried. Nine (odd!) sexy girls with handlebars attached to their waists gyrated to some heavy metal tune. Behind them seven (yes, 7, another odd number!) of motorcyclists rode their bikes inside a ball for 3 (odd!) minutes. Yellow cap didn't even appear to be breathing.
It was at this point that I noticed that with a few exceptions, the entire audience was behaving like this: they just sat and stared, not with awe, not with boredom, but complete and utter apathy, as if they were home watching television.
Okay, so maybe I am so ridiculously easily entertained, or so hard up for visual stimulation because we don't have TV at our house that I can't know quality entertainment when I see it. But you know, these performers weren't doing simple worthless tricks. The kids behind me were whooping it up, laughing, kicking my chair with excitement. What a circus performer does ain't nothing. When is the last time you wrapped your legs around your head and tucked your feet into your armpits? Or stood around tossing a whip at 7 tigers? I thought so. So, wouldn't you agree that the circus deserved at least some hearty clapping? Maybe Yellow Cap was waiting for the Super Bowl. How can that be more fun than a dancing elephant or motorcycle on a highwire?