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Show FICTION coavz- iwf I She Floats Through the Air I 1 By JOHN n. HOSE I ' ' Tony silently worshipped the petite trapeze queen but she did not know he existed until his heart and imagination combined to bring about a unique introduction. bars high above the ground. Each day he became more enamored of the beautiful aerialist. But how could a poor youth who scarcely spoke English express his admiration admira-tion for the star of the show? In the early part of the season, Tony began to formulate a plan whereby he might show Annette how he felt for her. During the hours when he was not exhibiting his puppets, Tony carved furiously, creating new properties, scenery, and characters. The triumph of this frenzied activity ac-tivity was a beautiful doll the very Image of Annette. Soon the trappings trap-pings were completed. It was samble In the side show teiit after' dinner tomorrow." "Fine," replied Annette. "I have often watched your charming show. I would be delighted M'sieur Fra-giotto. Fra-giotto. Perhaps you would be so kind as to show me how to make them work?" This was even more than Tony had dreamed migh bs possible. "Indeed! Indeed!" he shouted enthusiastically. "I shall expect you then tomorrow." The next afternoon, Tony was ready with the puppets long before the dinner hour. He talked to them affectionately as he put them through their paces. To Beppo, the clown, he chuckled: "And now, leetle fonny man, you make the boys and gurls to laugh, no?" The beautifully carved wooden wood-en horses pranced and danced as gracefully as their real counterparts counter-parts in the big tent across the way. But the truly artistic masterpiece master-piece was the replica of Annette. Tenderly, he placed the tiny puppet pup-pet into place on the aerial swing . in his miniature arena. ' "My beautiful one," he almost whispered, "we shall see if you can do the triple soubresaut, reesking your lovely life!" As the graceful puppet tumbled through space at the behest of Tony's nimble fingers, he became entranced in his work. He did not see Annette slip into the tent. He was startled when she exclaimed, "But ... it Is perfect!" She scampered behind the scenes to examine ex-amine the trappings of the new show. She oh-ed and ah-ed at the beautifully wrought details of the tiny circus, and when Tony handed her the tiny duplicate of herself, she was utterly speechless. Finally she said: "Oh, Tony, It's beautiful . . . too beautiful. I don't really look like that, do I?" she queried, looking coquetishly up into his eyes. The blood rushed to Tony's face, and he stammered weakly: "Oh, Tony, show me how to make her work," pleaded Annette, dancing danc-ing up and down excitedly like a child with a new toy. "Can you really make her do a triple somersault somer-sault like myself?" "Yes," laughed Tony, "but it TONY had Just emerged through the rear flap of the sideshow tent when he heard the steady rumble of the snare drums sounding from the big top Just a few feet away. He hurried across the straw-littered areaway which was the actor's entrance en-trance to the circus. The gayly colored col-ored pennants floated in the breeze high above the mammoth canvas. Performers In gay costumeslounged liesuroly about the rear of the tent awaiting the grand finale. Lumbering Lumber-ing elephants pushed and heaved to move the animal :agcs into the menagerie tent. The big, tawny cats snarled viciously in anger at hav-1 hav-1 Ing been returned to confinement again after their performance. 1 But Tony was oblivious to all this activity as he moved Intently into the tent, and slipped quietly onto the grass near the end of the hippodrome hippo-drome track. His position gave him a commanding view of the space directly di-rectly over the center ring. Multicolored Multi-colored spotlights played upon the spangled figure of a dainty lady silhouetted against the tent top. The gentle music of a waltz now wafted through the tent from the bandstand. Poised upon the tiny platform, 80 feet above the ground, stood the petite Annette queen of the aerialists. Many said she was the greatest since Langtry. The swinging bar floated rhythmically back and forth as she swung it gently and evenly away from her. Far across the space atop the tent, her assistant swung a similar bar back and forth. Annette was readying herself for the highlight of her performance the feature attraction of America's greatest circus. She was about to norfnrm her trinle somersault, defy- . j 7 ' -' . ! i ,. t I 'i i w . s I v ' r ' 1 f r ' ; ' A ,4 L A Lfeuti jsai sirt 4 Ing death, as she swung her lovely, slim body through the top of the tent. There were no nets beneathl The slightest mlscue would spell Instant death for the intrepid Annette. An-nette. With the 4.000 spectators, Tony stared upward as the drums again began their ominous roll, and Annette An-nette floated out on her swinging bar. A silent pause! Then the drums Increased their pace furiously, and the leading lady of the big top hurtled out and up toward the roof, her body revolving once "Tah-ah-a h-a h-a h-a h-a h-r u m pi " beat the drums. Twjoe "Tah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-rumpl" Three times "Tah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-rump!" She met the bar swinging out to her with perfect precision, and in a trice, stood upon the platform on the opposite side, smiling down on the vast sea of faces below. A great "Ah . . . ." of relief es-' es-' caped from the crowd, and then the applause resounded throughout the tent. Tony sat entranced as Annette acknowledged the plaudits of the multitude. Then she quickly slid down the rope to the ground, took several graceful bows, and scampered scamp-ered toward the exit. Already the performers and horses were pouring pour-ing into the tent for the grand finale; but Tony watched only the movement of the raven-haired beauty, beau-ty, AnnetteC Twice each day he came to the main tent to watch the star of the high swings. How his heart yearned for the little French actress, but Annette was entirely unaware of his affection for her. Tony was billed as Anthony tpT-oointt.-i frpntor and maniDulator Ti e leading lady of the big top hurtled out and up toward the roof. Tony's plan to assemble the miniature minia-ture circus on a Sunday when the show would be laying over. He had planned how he would invite Annette An-nette to see his new act! "What if she won't come?" he thought. But surely she would not refuse this simple request. The thoughts raced through his mind as he watched the object ot his affection leave the tent. Slowly he arose from the grass. He would wait until she had changed her costume. Then he would go to the mess tent. He knew the exact moment when she would enter for her evening meal. After an interval that seemed literally hours to Tony, Annette came into the dining tent. Shyly he approached her, iTTXCOOS, please, Signorina An-nette An-nette ..." "Oh, M'sieur Fragiotto," trilled Annette, "and how are you today?" Tony was pleasantly surprised that the circus queen knew who he was. "If the lady has the little minute," min-ute," he stammered, "I Antonio-have Antonio-have created the new poppets. They are the pairformairs of circus," he mouthed the words carefully in his broken English. "I would like, please, the advice of the Signorina about them!" "How very charming," laughed Annette with a toss of her dark hair, and a merry twinkle of the sparkling, blue eyes. "I would be delighted, M'sieur Fragiotto. Perhaps Per-haps you could show them to me tomorrow when we have no performance?" per-formance?" "That is what I was theenking," said Tony. "I will have them as- is not easy. You must practice. Now see," he said, placing the toggle sticks in her hands as she clambered clam-bered onto the platform beside him. 'When you move thees one so, the arms and legs do your beeding. When you move thees one so," he Indicated the other stick, "the head and body move at your command." Annette moved the sticks awkwardly, awk-wardly, and the little doll gyrated wildly in her hands. In her effort to disentangle the puppet, she became be-came involved in the strings. Tony reached around her shoulders to straighten up the entanglement, when she raised her face, brushing brush-ing his chin with her soft hair. Her lovely feminine fragrance held Tony entranced, and acting impulsively, im-pulsively, he kissed her upturned lips. "Plees, forgeev me, I ... I . . ." he stammered. But Annette was not angry. Rather she seemed pleased. Ever so tenderly, she cuddled cud-dled against Tony, and speaking softly, she said: "But, Tony, little Annette is still all tangled up. She will surely never nev-er make the somersault if you do not help me." Tony's heart was making the somersaults now, as once again he put his arms about her. Then the words came pouring forth . . . the words he had whispered to the puppet pup-pet Annette. "Oh, my beautiful Annette," he sighed, "these long months I have loved you. I never dreamed . . ." but his words were lost, for Annette's An-nette's lovely face was lifted to his, and her warmth and beauty engulfed him as he kissed her long and tenderly. And Annette the doll somersaulted somer-saulted again and again at the end of her tangled strings. of FRAGIOTTO'S MARIONETTES. He was part of the sideshow, and bad been with the circus about six months, joining them two months before they left winter quarters. Tony was in love with Annette. But the shy lad from Vicenza Euganea province in far-off Italy scarcely dared speak to the star of the show, let alone declare his feelings feel-ings for her. Tony had been a farmer's farm-er's son, working in the fields of those rolling plains when a boy. But Guiseppe Fragiotto was no ordinary ordi-nary farmer. He was the village wood carver, and for years had delighted de-lighted the peasants in the Vicenza region with his puppet shows. Naturally, Nat-urally, he taught his son, Antonio, the art. When Tony was big enough to assist as-sist his father in the manipulation of the gayly-costumed dolls, they traveled to Vicenza, Como, and even Padua to present the Fragiotto Fragiot-to puppets at the street carnivals. Then the war had come! The Fragiotto family had gone underground under-ground when the Germans flowed into in-to Italy. Eventually Tony had come to America. And with him he had brought his precious puppets. He found work as a farm hand in Pennsylvania Penn-sylvania where he exhibited his puppets one evening at a Red Cross benefit show. Not long after that night, the circus agent had contacted con-tacted him, and he was on his way to ths. circus quarters. There he became part of the strange conglomeration con-glomeration which comprised the ' side show. During the months in winter quarters, quar-ters, Tony had seen Annette practicing prac-ticing her feats on the rings and |