The Girl Who Walked on Air Read Free Page A

win any prizes for observation.
    ‘Jasper was a good earner for this circus. And, as you know, we’re not a big venture. Not like . . .’
    ‘Wellbeloved’s,’ I cut in.
    ‘Exactly.’
    Wellbeloved’s was a big, flashy circus, and Mr Chipchase’s pet hate. He mentioned them when times were tough, and always in the same bitter tone.
    ‘So,’ he continued, ‘money will be tight. And if Jasper can’t work for us, then . . .’ He raised his palms.
    ‘What?’
    ‘You’ll have to do more around here.’
    ‘I’m game,’ I said. ‘You know I am.’
    But Mr Chipchase frowned. ‘Taking you in hasn’t made life easy for us. Even to this day there are . . . issues .’
    I didn’t quite follow.
    ‘Speak plainly please, sir.’
    He rubbed a hand over his face. ‘All these years, I’ve expected someone . . . to claim you,’ he said slowly. ‘But they haven’t.’
    I eyed him nervously: what someone ? Though I knew from the tightness in my chest exactly who he meant. I hardly needed reminding of how forgetful my mam was when it came to me. Still, this new information hurt like a slap.
    ‘My mam won’t come back for me, sir,’ I said, eyes stinging. ‘Ain’t any point thinking she will.’
    Mr Chipchase looked taken aback. ‘Louie, I don’t . . .’
    ‘She was glad to get shot of me, sir, truly she was.’
    He went tight-lipped. I hoped that meant we were finished, for I’d nothing more to say on the matter.
    ‘We’ll care for Jasper as best we can,’ he said. ‘But the doctor’s right . . . what this circus needs now is a new showstopper.’
    ‘Yes sir.’
    ‘And you, young lady will need to earn your keep. More than your keep from now on.’
    ‘Yes sir,’ I said again, trying not to smile. For surely he’d just solved his own problem.

Chapter 3
    That night I couldn’t sleep for trying. Then just before dawn my eyelids grew heavy. And – bam – Mr Chipchase’s words exploded in my brain. Fancy him expecting my mam to come back! Didn’t it prove what she thought of me, that she’d forgotten I existed? I lay stiff and cross under the blankets. Pip opened one sleepy eye at me then went back to snoring. By now I was fully awake.
    Jasper slept on in the opposite bunk. Quiet as I could, I lifted a corner of my mattress and pulled out my scrapbook. It was stuffed with newspaper clippings, all of which were on the same topic. I’d learned my letters from the headlines, though I still got stuck on certain words. Spreading the book across my knees, it fell open on my favourite page. The headline alone got my heart pounding: ‘BLONDIN ROPE DANCES ACROSS NIAGARA.’
    Glued on the page was the grainy picture of a man on a high wire. The Great Blondin himself. He stood with his left leg tucked behind him, balance pole across his knees. Every time it struck me – how tiny he looked! A rocky gorge reared up behind him. On the river below boats passed by like dots. Yet it was impossible to look anywhere but at him. He gave off magic, a kind of hope. It was as if he was walking on air.
    This magic flickered inside me like flames. If Blondin believed the impossible, then so could I. And it wasn’t that impossible, not really. With a shiver, I thought of Miss Lilly, who last night said she foresaw a great change. Normal times I’d have shrugged it off, but things were changing, so fast it made my head spin. Chipchase wanted a new showstopper: I had a talent to offer. Put like that it sounded simple. All I had to do now was make him listen.
    *
    Sunrise was the best time for practising. Once I’d watered the horses and tipped their oats onto the grass, I fetched my rope. For months now I’d hidden it in the belly box of our wagon. Heaped in with the horses’ harnesses, Jasper hadn’t noticed it was there.
    This morning the horses looked dozy as they ate. Not me. I was wider than wide awake, the fluttering in my stomach quite strong. I’d dressed in one of Jasper’s old tunics. It beat tucking up my