Circus Fever

Ryan is depressed. He is spending a long time on his own, running away from his friends for fear of intimidation. It happened three weeks ago. His father- a renowned carpenter and a good family man- was arrested by the police, taken to the depot and jailed for life. Ryan’s dad-Mario- was very fond of his son. They would spend some 2 hours tackling each other in the latest play station football video game. And now he’s gone.

While behind bars, Mario-now confined to a tiny cell that he is forced to call home-dreams that one day he would be set free again to play with his son, kiss his wife and walk his favorite path down the nearby valley. How he cherishes freedom! How he longs to be out of that horrendous cell once and for all. Don’t get me wrong. He was very well fed, he was not treated to any abuses –physical or otherwise-, the cell was kept clean and all that but alas, there’s nothing like freedom! And that is the only thing he didn’t have. The sad thing is that he was jailed for life for no apparent crime. He didn’t do anything that might have harmed society. He didn’t abuse of any drug nor did he stab any stranger. He was living a perfectly normal life by society’s standards.

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I was wondering about the life lived by the cute and clap-able elephants, tigers and seals that I go to Floriana to watch almost every year in December. You see incredible elephants riding on each other. Wow! How extraordinary! I mean with all that weight they really deserve my applause. How do they do it? What incredible creatures these humping-mode elephants are. Then next come the tigers. Incredible! I usually watch tigers running after their prey on the National Geographic Channel but today I am seeing a tiger flying through a loop of flames. How incredible! Aren’t they astonishing? Clap, clap, clap!

These animals are really magical. They are also capable of teleportation. How else can they travel? Surely they cannot fit them in containers? HA! Containers! For these beautiful creatures? Of course not! They teleport themselves all over the world.

And I continue wondering. How come I never see elephants riding one other in the wild? How boring of them! Well of course, they see us humans in the crowd, and they want to please us with their tricks! I really love animals. How very thoughtful of them!

I was also wondering why elephants have tattoos around their huge feet. Yep, believe me! I was watching them doing their incredible routine and since I was sitting in the front row (Duh! Can I not be? I love animals!), I looked closely at the hind feet of these grey monsters in front of me and saw a chain tattoo imprinted around their feet. They are trendy ey? I wonder why it was a bit blistering and all that, but most probably he got hit by the trunk of another elephant-which gave rise to these blisters. Funnily enough this tattoo looks a lot like a real chain was binding this elephant. But nonsense of course!

You know what bothered me though? Why do the loving owners of these animals keep whips in their hands? It’s a mystery to me! To go through a ring of fire should be fun for the tiger. It’s receiving a round of applause each time and it’s becoming the most famous cat alive. They are obviously not forced by whips! LOL! Forced by whips!

I don’t know why but as we entered the circus tent, there were some people shouting something. Something about freedom and cruelty. I don’t know how the police can allow people to try to water down your appetite for this non-formal education.

And it seems that it’s not only these bunch of hippies that are against us enjoying animals in circuses. For some strange reason, my friend Ryan (who, by the way, has a criminal father. Sshh!) just texted me the other day: ‘ You might as well go watch my father juggle three oranges!’ Some people are crazy!

Oh and by the way, I just heard the animals are back next December. Hope to see you all there!

By Malcolm Borg.