Tara was where she had always wanted to be, up on stage. Her parents had been performers for years but now, it was her turn. She heard Bill announce her name, yelling to be heard over the murmuring of the people who had gathered around their makeshift stage. She stepped up to the platform and smiled at the crowd below. Tara walked over to the ladder and began to climb.
Tara lived in a small community of entertainers who lived in a camp near the castle. Some of them were talented enough to go perform for the royal family. That was where her parents had gone. Tara wanted to go to the castle with them, but she had not been called upon. To perform in the castle was her dream. But she didn’t want to perform for the princess, who was only seven, as the other young entertainers did. She wished to perform for the King, Queen, and prince. It was more dignified. Though the prince was about her age she was not interested in him. She was too busy working on perfecting her act. All the entertainers had told her “If you aren’t perfect. You simply don’t go into the castle.” She needed to be perfect if she was ever going to perform for the royal family.
As Tara reached the top of the ladder she bowed deeply. Entertainers did not curtsy to anyone unless they had a higher status than you. And the peasants that had gathered beneath her did not have a high social status. She took a deep breath and stepped out onto the tightrope. Everything was silent and still. She was sure the crowd was waiting for her to fall to her death. Tara rolled her eyes, and just to scare them, she stepped off the rope. A horrified gasp rippled through the crowd as she began her freefall. As her face passed the rope she reached out and grabbed it, swinging herself back up.
Everyone let out a sigh of relief. Tara smiled smugly and began doing cartwheels across the rope. As she reached the other side she bowed again and the few people who had stayed through the whole performance applauded. Tara stepped onto the first step of the ladder. But instead of climbing down, she jumped. As she plummeted toward the ground she did three graceful back flips before landing in a haystack.
While the other entertainers finished Tara sat under a tree behind the stage and picked hay out of her hair. When everyone was done she stood up to help carry things back to camp. “Camp” was what they called their small community. It was just a cluster of cottages that sat in between the southern wall of the castle and the forest. When they got back to camp Tara sat under her favorite tree at the edge of the forest. She leaned back against its thick trunk and watched the small children chase the chickens that wandered around camp.
