CIRCUS

That best portion of a good man's life, his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

Once when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus. Finally, there was only one family between us and the ticket counter. This family made a big impression on me. There were eight children, all probably under the age of twelve. You could tell they didn't have a lot of money. there clothes were not expensive, but they were clean. The children were well behaved, all of them standing in a line, two by two behind their parents, holding hands.They were excited jabbering about the clowns, elephants and other acts they would see that night. One could see that they had never been to a circus before. It promised to be a highlight of their young lives.
The father and mother were at the head of the pack standing proud as could be. The mother was holding her husband's hand, looking up at him as if to say, "You're my knight in the shinning Armour". He was smiling and basking in pride, looking at her as if to reply, "You got that right".
The ticket lady asked the father how many tickets he wanted. He proudly responded,"Please let me buy eight children's tickets and two adult tickets so i can take my family to the circus."
The ticket lady quoted the price.
The man's wife let go of his hand, her head dropped, the man's lips began to quiver. The father leaned a little closer and asked, "How much did you say?"
The ticket lady again quoted the price.
The man didn't have enough money.
How was he supposed to turn and tell his eight kids that he didn't have enough money to take them to the circus?
Seeing what was going on, my dad put his hand into his pocket, pulled out a $20 bill and dropped it on the ground. (we were not wealthy in any sense of word!) My father reached down picked up the bill, tapped the man on the shoulder and said, "Excuse me, Sir, this fell out of your pocket."
The man knew what was going on. He wasn't begging for a handout but certainly appreciated the help in a desperate, heartbreaking, embarrassing situation. He looked straight into my dad's eyes, took my dad's hand in both his, squeezed tightly onto the $20 bill, and with his lip quivering and a tear streaming down his cheek, he replied,"Thank you, thank you, Sir. This really means a lot to me and my family."
My father and I went back to our car and drove home. We didn't go to the circus that night, but we didn't go without.

DAN CLARK