Betti on the High Wire Read Online Free PDF Page B

a handful of peanuts and crunched on them, which made Auntie Moo hold his hand and put her finger to her lips. Shhhh.
    I was sick of being quiet. I was sick of everyone being so afraid.
    “I’m not afraid of you,” I whispered.
    “Babo ...”
    I stood up in the lion cage and held on to the bars and whispered even louder, “I’m not afraid of you.”
    Toro whimpered, “Don’t have a Big Mouth now, Babo,” and a few of the leftover kids slapped their hands over their mouths. I could barely make out the white in their wide-open eyes. I didn’t care. I was the brave one. I stomped out of the lion cage and stood alone at the base of the woods. “I’m not afraid. I won’t be afraid!”
    I knew that’s what the circus people probably said, my mama and dad. They probably shouted it up to the sky. The earth probably shook like crazy as their voices echoed across my country and probably the whole world. “YOU CAN’T MAKE ME AFRAID!”
    My voice came out smaller than a squeak. No one could hear me, not even the hairy spider on my foot.
    BOOM! BOOM!
    I dropped to the ground and covered my head.
    I was a little afraid.
    Auntie Moo walked to the entrance of the lion cage and called my name quietly, but I knew she couldn’t see me in the dark. And she knew that I was way too stubborn about soldiers. If they were going to get anyone, they’d get me.
    After half an hour, the soldiers moved on. Auntie Moo shook her head, as usual. “Come in now, Babo. Come back with us.”
    I mumbled, kicking my feet as I walked back to the lion cage.
    We were all quiet until George whispered, “How does it end, Babo?”
    “How does what end?”
    “The story. The beautiful circus girl?”
    “Well ...” I took a deep breath. “She did have to go away. But she knew everything was going to be okay. Someday she would make it back, because the circus is her home.”
    My story made everyone feel sort of okay. Auntie Moo left to sleep by the fire circle and I waited until the last leftover kid fell asleep.
    Then I stepped over them and left the lion cage. The logs from the fire were turning from red hot to black ash. Without even saying any words, Auntie Moo sat up and I crawled onto her lap, and she hugged me and we rocked back and forth. She didn’t mind that I was about ten years old and way too big.
    “Are you sure they’ll like me?” I whispered. “The family?”
    “Of course they will.” Auntie Moo ran her fingers through my knotty hair. “Why wouldn’t they?”
    “Because one of my eyes is broken?”
    “Babo, the Buckworths don’t care about your broken eye. They like you exactly the way you are.”
    “Maybe. But what about the rest of those people in America? If they don’t like me, well, how am I supposed to get back here?”
    “Hmmmm.” Auntie Moo thought about that. She straightened out her long braid and it brushed against my face. “It will be difficult. You’re right about that.”
    I sniffled and squeezed my eye shut so I wouldn’t cry. “Then how will I get to see you again, Auntie Moo?”
    “I’ll be right here, Babo. You can always write to me.” Auntie Moo sighed. I listened to the sounds of the circus camp: an owl’s hoot from far away, and a few lost birds calling to each other from the trees, and the frogs croaking by the river, and the leftover children talking in their sleep. “Sometimes things aren’t as bad as we imagine, Babo. You’re going to be okay.”
    I hid my face in Auntie Moo’s chest, just like a baby, and she hugged me tighter. I breathed in Auntie Moo’s special smell of fire and sweat and sweet potato. I knew I’d miss Auntie Moo forever and she’d miss me. But things were like that during a war. People were here, and then they were gone. Just like that.
    “What is my new name again?”
    “They’re going to call you ‘Betti,”’ answered Auntie Moo. “It was Mrs. Buckworth’s mama’s name.”
    “Betti.”
    “It’s a nice name, don’t you think?”
    “It