When I was a little girl I desperately wanted to see a flea circus.  Having seen them on various television shows and in the cartoons in the Sunday papers, I couldn’t wait to see one in person.  When I asked my mother where we could find a flea circus, she told me that she didn’t know but that she didn’t think someone could really train fleas to do tricks. She said she thought the whole idea of a flea circus was itself a trick.  I didn’t really understand what she meant, I just knew I wanted to go to a flea circus.

A few weeks ago my husband Steve and I, along with some friends, went to the Sherman’s Valley Heritage Days in Blaine, Pennsylvania.  This annual event features old farm equipment, steam-powered engines, people in period costumes, home-made baked goods, arts and crafts and this year… ta-da…Marty’s Flea Circus!  It took me fifty years, but I finally found one.

Marty, flea wrangler extraordinaire, told the audience, which was mostly children, the names of the fleas and from where they came, including one that he got from Evel Knievel. The trained fleas did all kinds of tricks, from moving steel balls to being shot out of cannons and jumping into cans.  Unfortunately, now that I’m in my fifties, my eyesight isn’t as good as it once was and I had trouble seeing the tiny fleas. But the children, whose eyesight is not yet aged, saw them clearly.  

Daily Prompt:  Tiny 

© 2016 All rights reserved