crowded, but silent..

It's an annual thingy, he knows. And that's why everybody's busy practicing their own tricks, putting all the jokes together, rehearsing the performances, again and again.

When he wandered around the big top, supervising all the practices and checking the position of the fire rings and the safety nets, Mr Clown saw Juggler Monkey sitting alone at the corner of the circus ring, sad and silent in this crowded circus.

"What's wrong with you, JM?" Mr Clown approached Juggler Monkey, "tonight is the night, kids are coming to this circus for your show, I just think you should do your practice now."

Silence ensued. Juggler Monkey did not respond. He was so tired of the bossy Mr Clown.

"He doesn't want to do juggling," Miss Contortionist passed by, with her body squeezed into a bucket, answered for Juggler Monkey.

"Kidding me?" Mr Clown reacted in his clownish way, and then he laughed, in such a wacky style, "...AND THEN what're you gonna do, Mr JM? twisting your body like your sister Miss Contortionist or her littler daughter? HELL~~LO!! YOU ARE JUGGLER MONKEY, the only thing you should do, is juggling.. J-U-G-G-L-L~~ whatever, now grab your Indian club, and go to your position!"

".. but I don't like juggling, I never like juggling!" Juggle Monkey tried to make his point clear, "..and I can do something else, even better ----"

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH UP YOU STUPID MONKEY! You're born to do juggling, your father passed this skill to you, and THAT'S IT! I don't give a damn about what you're capable of!!" Mr Clown started to get pissed off.

"C'mon JM, don't stir up troubles! We're just a few hours away..."
"Hey, that's your responsibility! just do your own job!"
"Hey Monkey, for the sake of conveniences, you should never think about quiting juggling..."
" ...you'd better stop right now, I'm not feeling comfortable about your idea..."

Everybody in the big top started to grouch. Juggler Monkey stood up, walked towards the door and turned to the crowd before he left,

"... that's the whole issue about this circus, I guess," Juggler Monkey cleared his throat and continued, "... you guys never accept new things, you guys only stay inside your comfortable zone for whatever conveniences you guys could think of. This circus, is getting more and more crowded with people of different generations, but with the same mentality inherited, skills would never expand, the circus would never go far... it'll be very much crowded in the end, but you're not going to be able to make any noise to attract the kids..."

Juggler Monkey walked out of the big top. He took out his flute and played a song expressing his freedom. "Look ma! It's the Juggle Monkey from the circus! He can play flute!" A kid shouted out loud, "I've never seen this before in the circus! What didn't they show it, mummy?"

"Maybe because they thought playing music is not relevant to a circus..." The mum answered with a smirk.