I'll never forget the loud stomping of his feet on the wooden floor as he threw the back door open and bolted up the stairs. He nearly crashed into our stepfather as they passed each other on the landing.

"What the hell are you raving about, boy?" our stepfather Bill growled. He was convinced that Billy was a few eggs short of a dozen. "Get a grip, lad."

"The circus is coming, Pa! The circus is coming!"

"What do you want me to do about it?"

I was in my bedroom folding my panty collection when Billy kicked the door open and hurled himself onto my bed.

"Did you hear the good news, Grady? Did you hear?"

"Sure," I said. "The circus is coming."

"Go with me, Grady," Billy said breathlessly. "Will you? Will you go with me?"

"Maybe," I said as I locked the last pair of soiled pre-teen panties in my safe. I always took care of my panty collection first thing Saturday morning. After another week of helping out at the local kindergarten, a haven for fresh cunts, I always had plenty of fresh pairs to file.

I didn't like circuses much, I didn't find clowns funny and I didn't like tightrope walkers who insisted on using "safety" nets. What kind of excitement could be had with a "safety" net strung underneath you? I liked the sound of the old circuses; I'd read plenty about them: Elephant Men, Bearded Ladies, Pinheads, Armless and Legless Torsos, Hairy-Faced Midgets, Chicken Women, Deformed Babies. These were my kind of circus people. Unfortunately, the government had decided that showing freaks was wrong. They'd gone soft - not only that, either. As my buddy Jordy said, they'd deprived good circus folk of a decent living.

"What's maybe?" Billy asked. "You are coming, aren't you?"

"Maybe."

"Why maybe, Grady? Don't you know they've got freaks this year."

I suddenly felt the sun come up behind my big metal safe. It blinded me instantly and I found myself squinting to see Billy through an imaginary haze that had magically appeared between us.

"They've got freaks?"....(cont)