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'Don't be secretive,' she said. 'We all want to know: what's the second advance booking?'

'It's not until summer,' he said. There's a lot of time to get ready for it. We have to concentrate on the Exeter weekend. First things first.'

'It's probably a convention for the blind,' Franny said to Frank and me, when we were walking to our classes in the morning.

'Or a leprosy clinic,' I said.

'It will be all right,' Frank said, worriedly.

We didn't take the path through the woods behind the practice field anymore. We walked straight across the soccer fields, sometimes throwing our apple cores into the goals, or else we walked down the main path that bisected the campus dormitories. We were concerned that we continue to avoid Iowa Bob's backfield; none of us wanted to be caught alone with Chipper Dove. We hadn't told Father of the incident -- Frank had asked Franny and me not to tell him.

'Mother already knows,' Frank told us. 'I mean, she knows I'm queer.'

This surprised Franny and me only for a moment; when we thought of it, it made perfect sense, really. If you had a secret, Mother would keep it; if you wanted a democratic debate, and a family discussion lasting for hours, maybe weeks -- perhaps months -- then you brought up whatever it was with Father. He was not very patient with secrets, although he was being silent enough about his second advance booking.

'It's going to be a meeting of all the great writers and artists of Europe,' Lilly guessed, and Franny and I kicked each other under the table and rolled our eyes; our eyes said: Lilly is weird, and Frank is queer, and Egg is only six. Our eyes said: We're all alone in this family -- just the two of us.

'It's going to be the circus,' said Egg.

'How'd you know?' Father snapped at him.

'Oh no, Win,' Mother said. 'It is a circus?'

'Just a little one,' Father said.

'Not the descendants of P.T. Barnum?' said Iowa Bob.

'Of course not,' Father said.

'The King Brothers!' Frank said; he had a King Brothers tiger-act poster in his room.

'No, I mean really small,' Father said. 'A sort of private circus.'

'One of those second-rate ones, you mean,' Coach Bob said.

'Not the kind with freaky animals!' Franny said.

'Certainly not,' said Father.

'What do you mean, 'freaky animals'?' Lilly asked.

'Horses with not enough legs,' said Frank. 'A cow with an extra head -- growing out of her back.'

'Where'd you see that?' I asked.

'Will there be tigers and lions?' Egg asked.

'Just so they're on the fourth floor,' said Iowa Bob.

'No, put them with Mrs. Urick!' Franny said.

'Win,' my mother said. 'What circus?'

'Well, they can use the field, you see,' Father said. 'They can pitch their tents on the old playground, they can eat in the restaurant, and some of them might actually stay in the hotel, too -- although most of those people have their own trailers, I think.'

'What will the animals be?' Lilly asked.

'Well,' said Father, 'I don't think they have too many animals. It's small, you see. Probably just a few animals. I think they have some special acts, you know -- but I'm not sure what animals.'