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The Fakir and the Science of Miracles/Chapter Two: Tom the Clown

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Chapter Two:
Tom the Clown

One evening, after another such angry tirade of Franz to Katya with accusations of her being incompetent and lazy and threatening to turn her out onto the street to starve, Katya burst into tears in her small room — from the sorrow of her unhappy fate. She sobbed with her face buried in a pillow, it seemed to her that everything good in her life had ended forever, and that she would never again have joy and hope!

Suddenly, in the doorway, the head of a clown appeared, whose name was Tom. He, too, began to whimper loudly, and then, from special tubes hidden under his amusing red wig, streams of water, which depicted streams of tears, began to sprinkle out. Katya already knew that for this he was pressing a rubber bulb hidden in his pocket. But, nevertheless, she smiled through her tears. Tom cried louder and louder, and tears splashed in all directions!

“I wept harder than you! I’ve won!” — Tom said, walking into Katya’s room and sitting on a chair opposite Katya, who was crying on her bed. He added:

“Surrender!”

Katya completely stopped crying.

“What happened, Katya?” — Tom asked, and handed her a large checkered handkerchief.

Katya wiped her tears.

She told Tom about all her misfortunes.

Tom gave her some ointment from a jar and said that it would help to lessen the muscle pain and treat the bruises. Then he sat down beside her and asked:

“Do you want me to teach you how not to be afraid and how to do those things in your number that are not yet working out?”

“I’ll never be able to, I’m afraid of this trapeze! I cannot do it and I will never succeed in it!” — said Katya sadly.

“Forget such words, Katya! In the circus — they do not exist!

“Man can learn almost everything! A human’s possibilities are huge!

“For example, you can learn to control your own body — so that it does not control you! The body can whimper: ‘I do not want to, I cannot, I’m tired!…’, but you give it a command — and it obeys!

“But only, this command should be very clear and assured!

“Have you seen how Madame Matilda teaches the dogs to jump through the hoop, and stand on their hind legs? She gives them a clear command. So, you must learn to give the body similar commands!

“In this way, gradually, you will be able perform any number, no matter how complex!

“Do you want me to help you? We will train early in the morning while everyone else is still asleep.

“You want to be a real artist, right? Then — you must learn to never feel sorry for yourself, and, instead, do everything with joy! Only in this case, will the public be delighted to applaud you!

“But this is not the most important thing. Applause is only a recognition by others that you are performing well. But it happens that other people do not immediately notice what is important or beautiful. To prevent this from happening, you need to learn how to work so that you yourself can get joy from your performance!

“You see how all the artists of the circus work! What the public consider to be magic and miracles, is achieved by their daily work on every element of their number.

“When a person works hard to achieve a result, then, what seemed impossible yesterday, becomes not only possible, but only a small step that allows him or her to rise higher, to move further!

“And most importantly, if you conquer your fear of heights and pain, and learn to joyously do the things that you must do, — then you can be happy!

“But there is one small difficulty here: you cannot overcome fear once a and for all…”

“And how then?”

“You can just learn to keep fear under your control. Do not allow fear to command!

“In the same way, you can learn to overcome all the other emotions that make you weak and unhappy, and make you feel like a victim of some circumstances or other people.

“I’ve tested it in my life many times. If you give up before difficulties or indulge in your weaknesses — then you never become better! And if you do not give up — you become better every day! Maybe just slightly — but still better!”

* * *

On that day, the friendship between the clown Tom and Katya began.

Tom’s shows were always so cheerful! The whole audience would always roar with laughter and applaud enthusiastically!

And, in everyday life, Tom at was always ready to give everyone some humor and jokes that would “hit the spot”. No matter where he was or what time it was, he was as if always participating in his performance, playing the role of a joker, entertaining everyone!

Many in the circus loved and respected him, many even were afraid of him: they were afraid to become subjects of his jokes. Even the director of the circus Mr. Lurie sometimes respected his opinion.

But with Katya — Tom was different: he was a real and kind friend, without sad irony over what is happening, and without a lot of silly masks.

On the first day of their work together, it was very difficult for Katya to wake herself up at dawn, so Tom woke her up himself.

“To get up early in the morning — it’s great! The day then becomes much longer — and you can do everything that you have planned,” — he said. — “But to be lazy and sleep for a long time means that you have to hurry afterwards — to catch up with everything. And in the bustle and haste, we can forget how to notice the most important things in life!”

… And so, every day, Tom began to teach Katya not to be afraid of heights and to perform complex movements on the trapeze, overcoming the trembling of body and soul.

… He once was a gymnast himself… It was a long time ago, before a fall and injury, which was so serious that he had to become a clown.

He knew all the details of performing gymnastic and acrobatic movements — and began to help Katya to learn them while others were still asleep.

He lowered the trapeze to such a height that Katya was not scared. He reassured her, helping her to do various movements correctly.

Then Tom — gradually — increased the height. And he also added a trampoline-grid to catch her in case she fell…

But, most importantly, Katya learned to overcome her fear, she learned to achieve beauty and clarity in the execution of all her movements! She was happy together with Tom — for every such little victory!

Tom invented some new elements into the numbers, which Katya then showed to Franz. And he, attributing to himself their discovery, included those movements in the newly-created numbers.

And the numbers really turned out to be enchanting with their beauty!

* * *

The first performance of the “soaring angel” caused a sensation among the public. Katya was seen off with thunderous applause.

The little figure of a girl in a pink dress, embroidered with sparkles and with small elegantly made transparent wings on her back, shone in the beams of the spotlights. Katya did complicated movements under the dome itself, and then she as if flew around the arena from trapeze to trapeze.

Mr. Lurie was incredibly pleased!

Tours began in many European countries. One performance after another… And between them — endless trainings…

Katya got used to it.

But, one day, she complained to Tom:

“I do not see the life that is there, beyond the walls of the circus! I almost do not see even the cities that we come to! They all seem the same, only people speak other languages…”

“You, Katya, see much more than most people living in these cities! And certainly — more than the children of some craftsmen or workers from the factory.

“But, to live like that rich, dressed up public, who applauds us… I do not know if we should dream of such a life…

“Once, I tried to live without the circus… I then earned a lot of money… I held on like this for several years. But, nevertheless, I did not manage to live this way for long — and I returned to the circus. After all, everyone here — is honest!… But there… Over there, they all also play their roles, but very many of them deceive others and often deceive themselves…”

“Is that why you became a clown, who makes people happy?”

“Yes, Katya. And people… They are always the same, no matter where you go, even though they speak different languages…”

… This conversation prompted Tom to begin to teach Katya everything that he himself knew and could teach.

At first, he simply read to her fairy tales with pictures, buying them in bookstores — they were not new, but cheap. Then he taught Katya how to read and count. He also told her, as far as he knew himself, the history of the countries to which they came. And when such an opportunity was given, they together went for a walk around the city, in which Mr. Lurie’s circus was on tour at that time.