SETTING:

Another area of the runway. Costume racks line the walls.

AT RISE:

There is no break in the action from the previous scene. TIM has eluded the ROUSTABOUTS at last. HE hides behind a costume rack. As the excitement dies MR. BEANS enters. HE wanders around the runway, playing with the costumes on the costume rack and the props on the prop table. MR. BEANS in a world of HIS own. TERRI, TONI, and SUE, the chorus girls, enter.

SUE

Hi George. What time is it?

(MR. BEANS points at HIS wrist. HE has no wrist watch. A watch chain hangs conspicuously across HIS belly.)

TERRI

Come on George. How are we doing. Fast? Slow?

(MR. BEANS pulls out the watch chain. There is no watch hanging from the end of it. He shakes the chain and then shakes HIS head.)

TONI

That's all right George. I'm sorry. Mr. Beans. We know. You've lost the time.

TERRI

Say something. I dare you.

SUE

You know better than that Terri. George... Mr. Beans never talks during a show.

TERRI

He doesn't need to talk.

TONI

I bet I can make him talk.

SUE

Not before I do.

TONI

Come on George. Talk for me.

(There is a large fanfare.)

TERRI

That's our cue.

TONI

Later George.

SUE

I swear Mr. Beans, someday I'm going to get to you.

(The CHORUS GIRLS exit into the big top. MR. BEANS putters around the runway. HE is in HIS own world. Other PERFORMERS pass through, or stop to check their props and constumes. TIM comes out from behind his costume rack. MR. BEANS back is turned toward him.)

TIM

Hi.

(Italicized words are mimed, not spoken.)

MR. BEANS

What? Who, me? Are you talking to me? What are you doing back here?

TIM

I saw you.

MR. BEANS

You did? Did you laugh?

TIM

You were funny.

MR. BEANS

Thank you. Why don't you go out so you can see the rest of the show?

TIM

I can't go out there. I don't have a ticket.

MR. BEANS

No ticket? They hang little boys who try to get into the circus without a ticket That's what the ropes are for. What do you want to see most?

TIM

I want to see the man on the trapeze. You know, the one on the posters, with the pretty girl.

MR. BEANS

Ah, Angela! The Great Firenelli is something, isn't he. See how he struts out into the ring, how he flings his cape to his assistant, how he climbs the rope hand over hand up to his trapeze. There he stands, high above the ground. Ready to leap out into the air. High above the gr-gr-ground. I think I'll leave that to the Great Firenelli.

TIM

I wish I could be in the circus.

(FIRENELLI and ANGELA pass through the runway and into the big top.)

TIM

Look! It's them. Look!

MR. BEANS

Where are your parents? Does your mother know where you are? Isn't she here with you? Won't she be worried?

(TIM gets as far into the entrance to the big top as he can to watch the "Great Firenellis". MR. BEANS, momentarily forgotten, putters around the runway.)

RINGMASTER

...The Great Firenelli and his lovely daughter Angela!

MR. BEANS

I RAN AWAY WITH THE CIRCUS,

I RAN AWAY WITH A DREAM,

RAINDROPS AND LOLLIPOPS AND GOLDILOCKS,

BRIGHT RED CALLIOPES.

I CAN STILL SEE IT NOW

LIKE THE VERY FIRST TIME,

LIONS AND TIGERS AND ELEPHANTS,

ALL FOR TWENTY CENTS,

AND WITH PEPPERMINT.

OH, HOW FAST IT WENT.

I RAN AWAY WITH THE CIRCUS,

I RAN AWAY WITH A DREAM.

HORSES THAT JANGLE AND COSTUMES, STAR BANGLED,

THE MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE.

I SAT IN THE SECOND ROW

WITH ALL THE SIGHTS AND THE SOUNDS

ALL AROUND.

THAT DAY A DREAM STOLE MY HEART AWAY.

IT'S STILL GONE TODAY.

THAT'S THE PRICE I PAID.

I RAN AWAY WITH THE CIRCUS,

I RAN AWAY WITH A DREAM.

THE CIRCUS IS COMING,

THE DRUMMER IS DRUMMING

A BEAT I STILL RUN TO TODAY.

I RAN AWAY WITH THE CIRCUS,

I RAN AWAY WITH A DREAM,

LIONS AND TIGERS AND ELEPHANTS,

ALL FOR TWENTY CENTS,

AND WITH PEPPERMINT.

OH, HOW FAST IT WENT,

WHEN I RAN AWAY WITH THE CIRCUS ONE DAY.

(DAVID enters.)

DAVID

Come on George. We're on.

(Mr. Beans doesn't respond. HE is looking thoughfully at TIM.)

Mr. Beans! George!

( DAVID drags MR. BEANS off into the big top. Attention focuses on TIM. MIKLOS enters, unseen by TIM, as TIM is singing.)

TIM

WHAT WOULD IT BE LIKE

AT THE CIRCUS WITH MY DAD?

IF WE COULD HAVE GONE ONCE

IT WOULDN'T BE SO BAD.

USUALLY I DON'T CARE,

I'M USED TO HIM NOT BEING THERE.

BUT WHAT WOULD IT BE LIKE THERE

WITH MY DAD?

I WASN'T OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW

WHAT KIND OF DAD HE WAS AND SO

I WONDER WHY THE CIRCUS MAKES ME THINK OF HIM?

IF THERE WAS A WAY SOMEHOW

THAT HE COULD SEE WHAT I'M LIKE NOW,

I HOPE THAT HE'D BE GLAD TO BE MY DAD.

WHAT WOULD IT BE LIKE

AT THE CIRCUS WITH MY DAD?

IF WE COULD HAVE GONE ONCE

IT WOULDN'T BE SO BAD.

USUALLY I DON'T CARE,

I'M USED TO HIM NOT BEING THERE.

BUT WHAT WOULD IT BE LIKE THERE

WITH MY DAD?

TIM

IF I COULD FIND A WAY

TO GO THERE FOR A DAY,

IT MIGHT BE LIKE I WENT THERE WITH MY DAD.

SOMETIMES I SEE A FACE,

I THINK I'D KNOW IT ANYPLACE.

WHAT COULD I WANT AS BAD AS I WANT DAD?

WHAT WOULD IT BE LIKE

AT THE CIRCUS WITH MY DAD?

WHAT WOULD IT BE LIKE THERE

WITH MY DAD?

RINGMASTER (from the big top)

And now, the Great Firenelli and his lovely daughter Angela!

(TIM burrows into a pile of costumes just in time to escape detection by the two ROUSTABOUTS passing through. HE leaves just enough of a window in HIS cave to see out into to the big top and the trapeze act. MIKLOS speaks privately with Jaspar.)

MIKLOS

What is it Jaspar? Who is this boy? You devil. You know who this boy is as well as I do. I am not deaf. I am not blind. Your secret I already know myself. After all these years. Tim Smith. Ha!

(MIKLOS exits. The circus continues with TIM watching from HIS hiding place. Eventually HE falls asleep with the circus still going on.)

FADE TO BLACK

End of Scene 3