Did you know the Shriners put on a circus?

I've held a lot of jobs in my life. I haven't kept such track as to know the precise number of jobs I've had, but I know they've outnumbered almost anyone else I know. I like to think of them as all little mini life experiences - each one benefiting me in some way and helping to shape the person I am continually becoming.
That sounds so deep.

Really, though, I've held a lot of jobs. Some of them have ben a bit - well, shadier - than others. I think the first of those jobs was during my senior year of high school, when I got a job working as a telemarketer for $6.00 an hour. Hey, that was good money then!!

The job itself was in a one room office space, sparsely furnished with folding chairs, folding tables and a number of telephones. The majority of the employees were high school students, that I can recall (okay, I can only remember two of the people I worked with, but they were both seniors too!). We worked for about four hours an evening and cold called people out of the telephone book, asking them to donate money to some obscure charity (I think it was the Shriners) and we would send them complimentary tickets to the Shriners circus when it came to New Britain.
The longer I worked there, the more jaded I became - eventually deciding the whole operation was a scam and that there was no such circus. From what I recall (it was a number of years ago), I was not the only one to come to these conclusions. The "company" packed up shop and left one day without giving us any notice, thereby cementing the idea that it had all been a scam. I never did receive my last paycheck from them.

Fast forward a bunch of years to last month. At a local business I was given some vouchers for free children's tickets to the Shriners circus when it came to Du Quoin. I laughed and then shrugged and accepted a couple - something to do with Alexandra this summer.
This afternoon we made plans with Alexandra's friend Emily and her mom to go to the six pm show. The $12 price tag on the adult tickets was mitigated with the fact that we had free tickets for the girls - it would be an adventure.

Mind you, the only circuses I've ever been to have been Barnum & Bailey's - the concept of "other" circuses made me wary to begin with, the Shriners having a circus compounded that with the memories of that shady job from so many years ago.

As we waited for Emily and her mother to arrive, we were given two free grown up tickets from some girls who had extras and were looking to unload them. Now all four of us had free tickets. Programs were $1; popcorn was $1.


Oh, and guess what - it was a real circus. There were acrobats and clowns and tigers and ponies and dogs and trapeze artists and jugglers and a motorcycle highwire act - and even elephants!


My overall cost for the evening at the circus - $4. It shattered the illusion of the farcical Shriners circus for me and opened Alexandra's eyes to the fact that circus animals may not be so happy (she mentioned to me during the elephants performance that they weren't happy because they were being forced to do things).

Oh what a night.