Charles Richards - A Kingdom Of Love

Myrna's patient teaching and at the same time grueling insistence on maintaining the same, careful procedures for dealing with the lions had enabled Joan to become a great help to Myrna in the circus ring.

Myrna's lion taming act was simplicity itself. A pasteboard library front stood at the back of the large, barred performing cage in the middle of the main ring. Andy and Mae, the two biggest of the cats, would come snarling into the cage and Joan would use Myrna's whip to direct them up onto the stands at the sides of the library doors. The two lions then sat still as the bronze statues they were supposed to represent until Myrna entered the cage in a silver flash of her metal studded leather costume. As the lions yawned in trained boredom Myrna stuck her head into their mouths and, with the care of a dentist, inspected their gums and teeth. This oral daring was the signal for the library doors to open and allow six more large cats of various exotic species to come roaring into the performance.

Myrna then jumped them all through hoops and over jungle gyms while Joan learned to hold the hoops and arrange the stands and, perhaps most important, to keep a firm eye on the cats that were not going through their paces with Myrna in the center of the cage. In this way, Myrna was able to add more animals to her act and to include a daring leap of three tigers through a burning hoop.

Joan was well aware of Myrna's gratitude for the expansion of her act in the ring (as well as out of the ring with Clyde!); and therefore, she resented the older woman's continued insistence on mundane details and what Joan now considered menial tasks in her training.

This insistence truly rankled the impatient girl's pride, and by the start of the second week when there still seemed to be no change, Joan had decided to take matters into her own hands.

Instead of feeding the lions in their respective lairs, she would let them both loose into the smaller performing cage that was used for training. She would feed them a trick of her own. She resolved to surprise Myrna into complete respect for her. And since Andy and Mae were the mainstays of Myrna's act, they were therefore the most dependable; Joan simply allowed her eagerness to overcome her good judgment. She was sure she could handle any situation that might arise.

So, with an excited, almost childish, word of caution to herself she set out eagerly this afternoon from her rooming compartment for her usual chore of feeding Andy and Mae.

The walk across the circus grounds usually took her about ten minutes, and she smiled confidently to herself as she decided to go over in her mind the personalities of the two lions and how she would handle them.

She thought first of the older lion, Mae.

'Mae' was Myrna's solution to the problem of naming an old trouper that had formerly been called 'Mack'-until another lion had ripped out his intestines in a fight. After saving his life the vet had assured Myrna she could still use him in the act, if he were neutered. They were sure that by neutering the beast they would keep him from nurturing any grievances against the young lion who had beaten him. So, Mack became Mae.

Second, there was Andy. He was a young male in his prime with a full pride of mane that surrounded his handsome face arrogantly. Andy was a friendly rogue who, unlike Mae, genuinely liked people. Joan had fallen in love with him immediately. Now, she told herself that he would probably give her less trouble, if she watched out for this massive playful paws, than Mae. She would just have to make sure that the older lion had enough raw meat to make him agreeable to learning a new trick.

It was really too bad that one had to be an amateur psychologist on top of being a true animal lover in order to teach a lion a simple trick.

Joan's mind wandered over the problem as she pictured Andy's sweet noble face. The lion held a curiously sensual resemblance to Justice and Joan felt the comparison enriched them both.

The thought of Justice brought a tingle to her loins and she remembered that night when she had been with Justice and Myrna and the pony, to say nothing of Oliver and the ewe. That had not been the only time of blissfully frenzied sex. There had been many more wonderfully full nights of Justice as they filled her tiny compartment with him on his back and Joan's cock-loving mouth sucking him off. Or times with the pony-without Myrna-when just she and the steel grey horse had fucked for hours.

The summer had been like a roman holiday so far for Joan; everything had been so good so far. Except for the fact that her room had no key, and she had to go in and out of the minuscule train window. That was a bore.

When she bad found Justice the morning after her first wild night, she had asked him if he still had her key. However, he could not remember picking it up. Something in his face made Joan doubt that he was really telling her the truth, but she accepted his words as part of her fate and climbed in and out of the train window without another word.

The only visitor she would entertain was Justice and she kept even Myrna from knowing of the missing key and the foolish consequences of its loss. When Justice asked her why she did not question more people about the key, she said she would rather not discuss it and that she wished to keep the missing key a secret-just because she wanted it that way.

Joan was becoming a trifle bored having to enter and leave her tiny compartment through the even tinier window. Fortunately however for her, the elephants were washed nearby, and after making a friend with their keeper and with several of the elephants, she took a chance on bucking circus protocol. With a careful dispensation of peanuts, she trained a young female elephant to place a long and heavy ladder near the cat window. Joan had explained to Myrna that sometimes claustrophobia due to the compartment got to her and she needed to get out of it the fastest possible way. Myrna did not question the motives of the ladder any further.

Neither did Joan's neighbors in that section of the circus grounds that Joan and the crew came to call 'Amateurs Ark.' On one side of her was Lawrence, the apprentice sword swallower. He could manipulate the cords of his neck in such a way as to strut like a turkey within a circling crowd and lower a double-edged sword down his throat at the same time.

On the other side of her compartment was Gloria, a blind girl who was training for one of the side shows. She was a genuine seer or psychic prophet, if you will, who still spent all her time with a crystal ball.

She claimed she did not need it but the customers always seemed to demand a prop. Rather than exploit the world with her talent, she had chosen to just get along. So, she had joined the exciting but quite anonymous life of the circus.

Joan mused what a truly amazing person Gloria was to know. She did not really have enough time to spend with the blind girl and she regretted it, since Gloria was as beautiful in the flesh as she was spiritually.

And besides, Joan thought ironically, I'd like to fuck her.

As she reached the tent Joan heard a lion cough and moan, and she knew Andy had sensed that she was coming.

The sides of the tent had been raised and the late afternoon sun had slanted corridors of light rays filtering through the dusty air. As always the mixed smell of the animals overcame her as she entered the tent. Joan had fallen into a regretful mood as she passed through the square of cages toward the training ring. She did not really have enough time for many things. The other animals, for instance. They passed her by without notice and she felt it was because Myrna would not let up on the dull routine of only allowing her a few responsibilities.

But, Joan knew it was important to form good work habits around something so dangerous as lions-so Myrna was probably right. Joan would just have to cut down on her sex life a little. After all, every night was a bit much.