“All right.” Thurley clapped her hands. “Who is the swinging man?”
“Why, me,” he answered, in innocent surprise at her question.
“Is Lorraine going to be in it?”
“Not much! She’s got to get pins and come and watch us.”
“Then I’ll sing, because I don’t think I like ministers’ children.”
This was another bond between them. But Dan’s way of showing it was to ask, “Where do you go to winters?”
“Mostly the winter quarters of O’Brien’s circus. Ma used to pose in living pictures with one of the O’Brien girls and that’s why we got invited. The quarters are out in Iowa, and it’s just like having a real house and home. Sometimes acrobats that got hurt during the season rest up, or clowns, and one winter we had the india-rubber man and his wife, the bearded woman; and he taught me a lot of songs and she showed me two fancy steps in dancing. Of course, the nicest part is having the animals.”
“Animals?” demanded Dan incredulously. “You mean—circus animals?”
“Sure, that’s what the quarters are for—tigers and bears and monkeys and an elephant or two and a lion, and, for the last two winters, I was big enough to help rub in the tonic.”