SETTING:

The Big Top. A little while later. The trapeze net is set up.

AT RISE:

The Big Top is deserted. A light comes up on TIM, high above the ground on a trapeze platform.

TIM

LOOK AT ME, SO HIGH ABOVE THE GROUND.

THERE'S NOT A SINGLE SOUND,

NO ONE TO HOLD ME DOWN.

THERE'S NO ONE HERE TO LAUGH, OR SHOUT, OR CRY,

AND THAT'S THE REASON WHY

I'VE CLIMBED SO HIGH.

WINGS, I DREAM OF WINGS,

FEATHERY THINGS.

I DREAM OF FLYING.

WINGS. JUST REALIZE

THAT I COULD FLY

IF I HAD WINGS.

LOOK AT ME, SO HIGH ABOVE THE GROUND.

THERE'S NOT A SINGLE SOUND

BUT THE AIR THAT'S RUSHING ROUND.

HERE I AM. I LAUGH, I SHOUT, I CRY,

AND THAT'S THE REASON WHY

I WANT TO FLY.

WINGS. THAT'S WHY BIRDS SING,

FEATHERY THINGS,

WATCH THEM RISING.

WINGS. THAT'S WHAT THEY DO.

WELL I'D SING TOO

IF I HAD WINGS.

LOOK AT ME, SO HIGH ABOVE THE GROUND.

JUST LOOK AT WHAT I'VE FOUND,

NO ONE TO HOLD ME DOWN.

HERE I AM. I LAUGH, I SHOUT, I CRY,

AND THAT'S THE REASON WHY

I FLY!

WINGS, I DREAM OF WINGS,

FEATHERY THINGS,

WATCH ME FLYING.

WINGS. DON'T HOLD ME DOWN.

I'D NEVER COME DOWN

IF I HAD THOSE

WINGS, I DREAM OF WINGS,

FEATHERY THINGS,

WATCH ME FLYING.

WINGS. DON'T HOLD ME DOWN.

I'D NEVER COME DOWN

IF I HAD WINGS.

(The light fades on TIM as LAURA enters. SHE is very tired. SHE sits on a bleacher. MR. BEANS enters. HE crosses to HER and sits next to HER.)

MR. BEANS

How is Miklos?

LAURA

Sleeping.

MR. BEANS

How are you?

LAURA

Tired. Where's Tim?

MR. BEANS

I don't know.

LAURA

Daddy, why did Bobby do it?

MR. BEANS

Do what?

LAURA

Anything he did. --- You know, if I let him, Tim could be just like Bobby.

MR. BEANS

He's a lot like him.

LAURA

He's just like him, --- only Bobby was happier than Tim is. Tim is a lonely boy.

MR. BEANS

Bobby never had time to be lonely.

LAURA

What would it be like if Bobby was alive?

MR. BEANS

Tim would be the next great star of the trapeze --- and you'd be proud of it.

LAURA

But he's not alive, is he? I wonder sometimes why he loved me. I was never anything special, nothing like him. But he did love me. I'm glad he loved me.

MR. BEANS

What are you going to do now?

LAURA

I don't know. Go back to work.

MR. BEANS

Do you really like it so much?

LAURA

It's not important.

MR. BEANS

If it's not important why don't you come back to us?

LAURA

You're as bad as Miklos.

MR. BEANS

He taught me everything I know.

LAURA

About being a clown?

MR. BEANS

About everything else.

LAURA

What am I going to do about Tim? He's going to be impossible to live with. --- What makes a man jump off a platform forty feet in the air? What makes him step into a lions' cage?

MR. BEANS

I don't know. I wouldn't do it. I like my lions on a cereal box.

LAURA

The cereal box has a tiger Daddy.

MR. BEANS

Them too.

(MIKLOS enters. HE moves quickly. HE has HIS whip. ANGELA follows HIM closely.)

MIKLOS

Allez!

ANGELA

Miklos!

LAURA

Miklos!

ANGELA

I couldn't stop him. He saw his whip on the wall and said it was his time. I couldn't stop him.

MIKLOS

Allez! Allez! Come on boys.

MR. BEANS

Miklos.

(MIKLOS cracks HIS whip. MR. BEANS jumps back.)

MIKLOS

Allez! Allez! Kom mit! Sarah! Allez! Allez! Kom mit!

(MIKLOS is deep in the past. HE is back with HIS lions. HE puts them through their paces. FIRENELLI, DAVID, SUE, TONI, TERRI, and OTHERS are attracted by the commotion and enter as the scene progresses.)

Leo. Salazar! Allez! Allez! Come on boys!

(HE gets them up onto their chairs.)

MR. BEANS

Miklos!

MIKLOS

Sit!

(HE cracks HIS whip at a recalcitrant Salazar. MR. BEANS sits at the command.)

Kom her l&oumlwe. Come here lion! Up.

(HE brings Sarah up to leap from one platform to another.)

Sarah. Come on my pretty one. Allez! Go! Go! Good girl!

(HE gets Leo and Salazar down on the floor where they roll and jump over one another.)

Allez! Allez!

FIRENELLI

Miklos!

(MIKLOS looks up. HE sees JASPAR bounding down to meet HIM.)

MIKLOS

Jaspar!! Kom mit! Allez! Allez! What Jaspar?

(MIKLOS turns and points up at the trapeze pedestal bar.)

Bobby!!

LAURA

Tim!

(TIM is discovered on the trapeze pedestal bar. HE is startled by the sudden attention. HE steps back, misses HIS footing and begins to slip off of the platform. HE takes hold of the trapeze and leaps out into the air. MIKLOS stops to watch. TIM swings back and forth. HE is tentative at first but soon HE swings freely and confidently. MIKLOS goes back to HIS lions.)

Get him down!

MIKLOS

Salazar, Leo, Sarah, come here to me.

(MIKLOS is surrounded by HIS lions. HE strokes their manes.)

Jaspar. Jaspar kom mit. Allez.

(Jaspar comes face to face with MIKLOS and stands on his hind legs with his forelegs on MIKLOS' shoulders. Jaspar licks MIKLOS in the face. MIKLOS laughs and turns HIS head.)

Jaspar.

(TIM still swings high above. LAURA has all SHE can take. SHE steps toward MIKLOS.)

LAURA

Stop!

(There seems to be a conspiracy all around HER. SHE turns toward TIM.)

Stop!!

(SHE pleads with the whole circus.)

Stop!!!

(TIM lets loose of the trapeze. HE falls in a graceful arc into the net. LAURA breaks down sobbing. SHE sits on a bleacher. FIRENELLI helps TIM down from the net. The past leaves MIKLOS abruptly. HE sees LAURA crying. HE crosses to HER.)

MIKLOS

What is wrong Laura?

(LAURA is still crying.)

LAURA

Miklos, what are you doing?

MIKLOS

I have had a very strange dream.

(MIKLOS is holding LAURA'S shoulder to comfort HER. HE becomes dizzy and slumps against HER.)

What a dream.

(LAURA helps MIKLOS sit. SHE has one arm around HIM. TIM has come to stand on the other side of LAURA. SHE reaches out one hand to touch HIS. The OTHERS gather around.)

Don't cry Laura. It is much too nice a day for crying.

(MIKLOS' voice is very weak and soft. HE sinks into HER arms.)

LAURA

SHAKE THE SAWDUST FROM MY SHOES,

SHAKE IT BACK ONTO THE GROUND,

HEAR IT FALL, THE QUIET SOUND

OF HAPPINESS I'VE WASTED.

YOU PROMISED ME EVERYTHING, AND THEN TOOK IT AWAY.

SO EMPTY MY SHOES OUT.

SHAKE OUT THE SAWDUST.

SHAKE IT AWAY.

I FELL IN LOVE

AND WE BOTH WERE SO YOUNG

EVERY MOMENT WAS FILLED WITH OUR LAUGHTER,

OUR HEARTS BEATING FASTER AND FASTER.

A QUIET TOUCH

MADE US TOO EAGER TO STOP.

THE SWEET CHILL WHEN HIS LIPS BRUSHED MY SHOULDER.

THE DAYS OF OUR CHILDHOOD WERE OVER.

DAYS TURNED TO NIGHT,

NIGHTS THAT WERE NEVER AS LONG

AS TWO LOVERS TOGETHER COULD WISH FOR,

NEVER SLEEPING UNTIL JUST ONE KISS MORE.

NOW IN MY SLEEP

I HEAR HIS WHISPER GOOD NIGHT.

BUT HOW TENDER CAN ASHES AND DUST BE?

I WAKE UP AND THERE'S NO ONE TO TOUCH ME.

I WALKED BAREFOOT IN THE SAWDUST ALL THE TIME I WAS A LITTLE GIRL.

I NEVER LOOKED FOR IT, IT WAS ALWAYS THERE.

MY SON NEVER KNEW HIS FATHER,

NEVER KNEW THE SAWDUST,

THAT BROUGHT US LIFE,

BROUGHT US LOVE,

BROUGHT US DEATH,

AND LEFT ME ALONE!

BUT THERE'S STILL SAWDUST IN MY SHOES,

SAWDUST IN MY SHOES.

I CAN'T SHAKE IT AWAY. ------

I CAN'T SHAKE THE SAWDUST,

COULD I EVER SHAKE THE SAWDUST?

WHO WOULD EVER SHAKE THE SAWDUST

FROM THEIR SHOES?

(LAURA strokes MIKLOS' hair. HE wakes up. SHE puts one arm around TIM. FIRENELLI moves to the other side of TIM.)

MIKLOS

I'm sorry you are going Laura. I will miss you.

LAURA

I'm not going. I'm staying here.

(FIRENELLI puts HIS hand on LAURA's hand on TIM'S shoulder. SHE takes it and holds it. MIKLOS looks up.)

MIKLOS

Jaspar? What Jaspar?

(HE looks at LAURA and FIRENELLI.)

Yes, you are right. It worked.

(MIKLOS slumps completely into LAURA'S lap. HE is dead. HE smiles. HIS family is all around HIM.)

MR. BEANS

Miklos? Miklos! No Miklos.

(MR. BEANS kneels at LAURA'S feet, holding onto MIKLOS. DAVID holds onto ANGELA as SHE cries softly. FIRENELLI fights back HIS tears as HE puts a hand on TIM'S shoulder, who has both of HIS arms around LAURA'S neck while HE cries. SUE kneels down to comfort MR. BEANS. TERRI and TONI hold each other. LAURA strokes MIKLOS' hair as the lights fade.)

(BLACKOUT)

End of Scene 5