10- WORKING AT CIRCUSES and CARNIVALS In HIGH SCHOOL!!....

A) When they would come to my Shenandoah Valley town, a temp job was in store for moi!
B) My grandfather, Carl, my father, Melvin, and all of my Steffey uncles were huge fans of circuses, always visiting each one that came to my town in the Shenandoah Valley! My father, in his 'shop', designed and made miniature circus wagons when I was little.
C) My goal, as a kid, was to one day see the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus under the bigtop!...and get a temp job putting it up! And when the impossible did happen, that circus coming to our small town, guess who was there at the crack of dawn?
D) That VERY EARLY Saturday morning three of us chums rode our bikes waaay out in the country to meet the Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey Circus by train. The country sidetracks of the C&O was the only spot for many miles to unload onto trucks and then on nearby to a large open farmer's field. We saw the lions, tigers, elephants cars being unloaded into cages. The work elephants did most of the heavy unloading, methodically and under the guidance of their trainers.
This young freshman high schooler, back then, never once thought of whether the animals were treated with respect and dignity. Today, I do think back over those kind of thoughts. During those early years of being thrilled about circuses, I observed a handful of traveling circuses and often slipped around "back" to watch. Now, I do remember "seeing" much more than just unloading an animal or an animal trainer "making" an animal perform a trick before "adoring" circus fans. More about those NOW feelings for another commentary!
E) We all three did get circus jobs. "WOW"...I uttered that exlamation over and over moving around and inside the upraised BIG Top. My jo was to help raise the side show tent nearby. That side show boss, around noon, brought us a genuine circus hot dog with "everything!" for lunch. And I, later, was given two (2) official tickets for the circus show later that early evening. Of course, my girlfriend at the time was invited. Since I had no driving license at the time, her father took us waaaay out in the country to the circus!
F) And what an ADVENTURE the entire looooong day was.... That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!!
G) And those CARNIVAL sideshows...this boy soon learned the reality of the "carny life" by heading out to each on an early morning. They were called 'roustabouts.' Once, a gaggle of us boys opened a large carnival truck that had been sitting on the town fairgrounds. We began to pull out rolled-up tents and poles. From the middle of a sideshow tent? Out rolled a 'carny'...alive.
The neatest part of a carnival was the sideshow, with large paintings on canvas signs advertising the acts. I got to go inside, that evening, and see the performers...often polluted.

H) AND WHY DO I HAVE A BIT of SADNESS, though? At that age, had not discovered the wonderful world of cameras, especially since they weren't sophisticated! DID NOT take any pics of this momenteous period of my adventurous life...NONE! However, had, by then, developed that great "memory bank" system of storing visual details and senses. Can "bring up" detailed memories right away for "seeing" experiences and adventures in order to write about them....