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Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue Playing Circus, a novel by Laura Lee Hope |
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Chapter 2. Let's Have A Circus! |
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_ CHAPTER II. LET'S HAVE A CIRCUS! "Bunny! Bunny! What are you doing?" cried Sue, as she saw her brother hanging, head down, in such a funny way from the peach tree branches. "Don't do that, Bunny! You'll get hurt!" "I--I didn't mean to do it!" cried Bunny, and his voice sounded very strange, coming from his mouth upside down as it was. Sue did not know whether to laugh or cry. "Oh, Bunny! Bunny, is you playing circus?" she asked. "No--no! I'm not playing circus!" and Bunny wiggled, and wiggled again, trying to get his feet loose. Both of them were caught between two branches of the peach tree where the limbs grew close together. And it is a good thing that Bunny could not get his feet loose just then, or he would have wiggled himself to the ground, and he might have been badly hurt, for he would have fallen on his head. "Oh, Bunny! Bunny! You _is_ playing circus!" cried Sue again. She had finished her first peach, and now, dropping the stone, from which she had been sucking the last, sweet bits of pulp, she stood looking at her brother, dangling from the tree. "No, I'm not playing circus!" and Bunny's voice sounded now as though he was just ready to cry. "Run and tell grandpa to help me down, Sue!" he begged. "I--I'm choking--I can't hardly breathe, Sue! Run for grandpa!" Bunny was almost choking, and his face, tanned as it was from the sun and wind, was red now--almost as red as the boiled lobster, the hollow claw of which Bunny once put over his nose to make himself look like Mr. Punch, of the Punch and Judy show. For when boys, or girls either, hang by their feet, with their heads upside down, all the blood seems to run there if they hang too long. And that was what was happening to Bunny Brown. "Are you _sure_ you isn't playin' circus?" asked Sue. "No--I--I'm not playing," answered Bunny. "Hurry for grandpa! Oh, how my head hurts!" "You look just like the circus man," said Sue. For one of the men in the circus Bunny and Sue had seen a few days before had hung by his toes from a trapeze, upside down, just as Bunny was hanging, with his head pointing toward the ground, and his feet near the top of the tent. But of course the circus man was used to it, and it did not hurt his head as it did Bunny's. "Hurry, Sue!" begged the little boy. "All right. I'll get grandpa," Sue cried, as she ran off toward the tree where Grandpa Brown was picking peaches. "Oh, Grandpa!" cried the little girl. "Come--come hurry up. Bunny--Bunny--he----" Sue was so out of breath, from having run so fast, and from trying to talk so fast, that she could hardly speak. But Grandpa Brown knew something was the matter. "What is it, Sue?" he asked. "What has happened to Bunny? Did a bee sting him?" "No, Grandpa. But he--he's like the circus man, only he says he isn't playin' he is a circus. He's upside down in the tree, and he's a wigglin' an' a wogglin' an' he can't get down, an' his face is all red an' he wants you, an'--an'----" "My goodness me!" exclaimed Grandpa Brown, setting on the ground his basket, now half full of peaches. "What is that boy up to now?" For Bunny Brown, and often his sister Sue, did get into all sorts of mischief, though they did not always mean to do so. "What has Bunny done now, I wonder?" asked grandpa. "He--he couldn't help it," said Sue. "He slipped when he went up the tree, and now he's swinging by his legs just like the man in the circus, only Bunny says he isn't." "He isn't what?" asked Grandpa Brown, as he hurried along, taking hold of Sue's hand. "What isn't he, Sue? I never did see such children!" and Grandpa Brown shook his head. "Bunny says he isn't the man in the circus," explained Sue. "No, I shouldn't think he would be a man in the circus," said grandpa. "He _looks_ just like a circus man, though," insisted Sue. "But he says he isn't playin' that game." Sue shook her head. She did not know what it all meant, nor why Bunny was hanging in such a queer way. But Grandpa Brown would make it all right. Sue was sure of that. "There he is! There's Bunny upside down!" cried Sue, pointing to the tree in which Bunny was hanging by his feet. "Oh, my!" cried Grandpa Brown. Then he ran forward, took Bunny in his arms, and raised him up. This lifted Bunny's feet free from the tree branches, between which they were caught, and then Grandpa Brown turned the little boy right side up, and set him down on his feet. "There you are, Bunny!" cried grandpa. "But how did it happen? Were you trying to be a circus, all by yourself?" "N--n--no," stammered Bunny, for he could hardly get his breath yet. "I--I slipped down when I was reaching for a big, red peach for Sue. But I didn't slip all the way, for my feets caught in the tree." "Well, it's a good thing they did, or you might have been hurt worse than you were," said Grandpa Brown. "But I guess you're not hurt much now; are you?" Bunny looked down at his feet. Then he felt of his own arms and legs. He took a long breath. His face was not so red now. "I--I guess I'm all right," he answered, at last. "Well, don't climb any more trees," said Grandpa Brown. "You are too little." Bunny thought he was quite a big boy, but of course grandpa knew what was right. "I--I won't climb any more _peach_ trees," said Bunny Brown. "No, nor any other kind!" exclaimed his grandfather. "Just keep out of trees. Little boys and girls are safest on the ground. But now you had better come over where I can keep my eyes on you. I have my basket nearly filled. We'll very soon go back to the house." Bunny Brown was all right now. So he and Sue went over to the tree where grandpa was picking. They helped to fill the basket, for some of the peaches grew on branches so close to the ground that the children could reach up and pick them without any trouble. Bunny Brown and his sister Sue had been on grandpa's farm since early summer. Those of you who have read the first book in this series do not need to be told who the children are. But there are some who may want to hear a little about them. In the first book, named "Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue," I told you how the children, with their father and mother, lived in the town of Bellemere, on Sandport bay, near the ocean. Mr. Brown was in the boat business, and many fishermen hired boats from him. Aunt Lu came from New York to visit Mrs. Brown, the mother of Bunny and Sue, and while on her visit Aunt Lu lost her diamond ring. Bunny found it in an awfully funny way, when he was playing he was Mr. Punch, in the Punch and Judy show. In the second book, "Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on Grandpa's Farm," I told you how the Brown family went to the country in a big automobile, in which they lived just as Gypsies do. They even slept in the big automobile van. And when Bunny and Sue reached grandpa's farm, after a two days' trip, what fun they had! You may read all about it in the book. And Bunny and Sue did more than just have fun. The children helped find grandpa's horses, that had been taken away by the Gypsies. The horses were found at the circus, where Bunny and Sue went to see the elephants, tigers, lions, camels and ponies. They also saw the men swinging on the trapeze, high up in the big tent. Bunny Brown and his sister Sue always wanted to be doing something. If it was not one thing it was another. They often got lost, though they did not mean to. Sometimes their dog Splash would find them. Splash was a fine dog. He pulled Sue out of the water once, and she called him Splash because he "splashed" in so bravely to get her. In Bellemere, where Bunny and Sue lived, they had many friends. Every one in town loved the children. Even Wango, the queer monkey pet of Mr. Winkler, the old sailor, liked Bunny and Sue. But they had not seen Wango for some time now; not since coming to the farm in the country. They had seen a trained bear, which a man led around by a string. The bear climbed a telegraph pole, and did other tricks. Bunny and Sue thought he was very funny. But they did not like him as much as they did the cunning little monkey at home in Bellemere. Carrying the basket of peaches on his arm, and leading the children, Grandpa Brown walked back to the house. Mrs. Brown, the mother of Bunny and Sue, watched them come up the walk. "Oh, Sue!" cried her mother. "Look at your dress! What did you spill on it?" "I--I guess it's peach juice, Mother. It dripped all over. But Bunny hung upside down in the tree, just like the man in the circus, only he wasn't." I guess Sue was glad to talk about something else beside the peach juice stains on her dress. "What--what happened?" asked Mother Brown, looking at grandpa. "Did Bunny----?" "That's right," he said, laughing. "Bunny was hanging, upside down, in a tree. But he wasn't hurt, and I soon lifted him down." "Oh, what will those children do next?" asked their mother. "I--I didn't mean to do it," said Bunny. "It--it just--happened. I--I couldn't help it." "No, I suppose not," said his mother. "But you must go and wash now. Sue, I'll put a clean dress on you, and then I'll see if I can get the peach stains off this one. You ought to have on an old apron." A little later, Bunny and Sue, now nice and clean, were sitting on the side porch. It was almost time for supper. "Bunny," asked Sue, "did it hurt when you were playin' you were a circus man only you weren't?" "No, it didn't exactly _hurt_," he said slowly. "But it felt funny. Did I really look like a circus man, Sue?" "Yep. Just like one. Only, of course, you didn't have any nice pink suit on, with spangles and silver and gold." "Oh, no, of course not," agreed Bunny. "But did I swing by my feet?" "Yes, Bunny, you did." For a moment the little chap said nothing. Then he cried out: "Oh, Sue! I know what let's do!" "What?" "Let's have a circus! It will be lots of fun! We'll get up a circus all by ourselves! Will you help me make a circus?" _ |
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