PARENTHOOD
Chapter Eighty Five After spending the day at the funfair, the Doctor and his family headed over to the big top for the circus. Thanks to his and Alan's efforts, Chaska had a large stuffed elephant and Sokanon a large stuffed unicorn. All the stuffed animals were stowed in the TARDIS before they headed to the circus tent. When they reached the entrance they showed their blue bracelets to one of the stagehands and he beckoned for them to follow him around the back to a smaller tent that had been set up. Beside the tent were several cages on wheels that housed some of the circus animals. Next to them, the elephants roamed around in a huge paddock made out of a force field. The stagehand let them look at the animals first. While they were staring at the lion in the cage, Namid saw her father in her mind's eye get in the cage and begin to beat up the lion. "King of the beasts? Ha! You're a furry git compared to me!" he said as he pummeled the lion. Namid giggled as he dragged the lion out of the cage by his tail. Using the tail, he spun him around and around over his head and then letting him go, he watched as the lion sailed away into the distance until he was a speck. The moment the lion hit the ground; there was a tremendous explosion and a huge mushroom cloud as the Doctor walked away whistling. The real Doctor patted Namid's head when she giggled at that. They saw tigers and giraffes and a couple of horses before they reached the elephants. Namid giggled when the Doctor projected an image of himself beating up the elephant and then twirling it over his head before he let go and the same fate happened to it that happened to the lion. "You love abusing animals in your fantasies, don't you?" Rain said as everyone else laughed. "Just showing the furballs who's boss," the Doctor said, shrugging his shoulders. The stagehand took them into the smaller tent. Inside was a dressing room where the performers were getting ready. In one corner there were three lighted vanity tables where the clowns and other performers were putting on their makeup and on the other side were several folding screens where people were changing into their outfits. While they looked around, several more people wearing blue bracelets came in behind them. Everyone walked up and observed the performers putting on their makeup. The Doctor showed Namid what they were doing while he, his family and the other people stood nearby and watched. Rain noticed a huge grin spread over the Doctor's face and she raised her eyebrow. "Ought-oh, what are you thinking about?" she said. "Just wishing Mingxia could be here with us to see this," he said wistfully. Alan sniggered as Rain swatted his arm. "What's so funny about that?" Namor asked. Alan looked at him. "Mingxia has a fear of clowns," Alan said. "And my husband thinks he's cute by cracking jokes about it," Rain said. "The way I see it, the best way for her to get over that fear is to expose her to it which is why we should go back and get her. I think she'd love being here," the Doctor said. "No, leave Mingxia alone, dear," Rain said to him. "Blast," the Doctor said as Alan sniggered and patted his shoulder. The stagehand led them out of the tent and back around to the big top. Inside, he showed them some props and explained how some of the performers trained for their acts. While they were doing that, Rain noticed people without bracelets were beginning to come inside and find seats on the wooden bleachers on the right side of the tent. "I hope by the time this is over with, we'll still be able to find good seats," she said to the Doctor. He glanced at the people filing in. "Nah, we'll find good seats. We paid extra for these bracelets, surely that entitles us to seats," the Doctor said. "I don't know, sometimes people like to rip others off," Awinita said. "You know, pay extra for something and then they say well thanks, bye now!" "Nah, surely not," the Doctor said. "They wouldn't be that cruel. Besides, if they did, our children would beat them senseless." "Yes, we would," Sokanon said. "I wanna see the show." The stagehand finished up the tour and reached into his pocket, passing out fake gold coins. Each coin had an engraving of a tiger on the heads side and Farnum and Bros. Circus on the back with a small big top above it. The Doctor showed Namid what it looked like. "Can we spend it on something?" Namid asked him as they headed towards the bleachers. "No, I think they give those to us so we can make our friends jealous that they didn't take the tour," the Doctor said. "Not much of a tour," Tara said. "Yeah, is that all they have because if they do, this is gonna be a quick show," Awinita said. "Maybe they didn't show us everything, just the main things," Dex said as they climbed the bleachers and found a spot near the top. They sat together on one long seat while several people began to climb the bleachers selling popcorn, sodas, hot dogs and souvenirs. They ordered some food and four circus flags for the children. The flags were blue with a tiger, elephant and clown on it and a Farnum and Bros. logo near the back by the long plastic straw that served as the flag pole. The children waved the flags and ate their food while they waited. Namid munched on her hot dog and drank her soda while he flag lay across her lap. While she ate, she saw her father in her mind's eye wave at her. Namid smiled and snuggled against him as the real Doctor rubbed her shoulder. "Still want my version of the show?" he asked her. Namid giggled and nodded. The Doctor gave her a firm kiss on the top of the head while Namid ate. "Can we see the penguin person after this?" Namid asked, looking up at him. "You're just bound and determined to meet Frobisher, aren't ya?" he said to her. "Yes, I wanna say hello," Namid said. "What was he like?" "He was a nice chap. He was a detective and he was dating a woman named Francine before he met me. They broke up but Francine was a penguin first and Frobisher imitated her and stayed with that form. He traveled with me and for awhile he traveled with another companion of mine called Peri." "Did he poop everywhere?" Chaska asked as he leaned over and looked at him. Namid giggled as the Doctor raised his eyebrow. "He wasn't an actual penguin, he just took the form of one," the Doctor said. "He did know how to use the lavatory so no; there was no poo all over the TARDIS." "Did he bite you?" Sokanon said, leaning up. "Once again, he wasn't an actual penguin," the Doctor said as Alan giggled. "Although, there were times when he certainly acted like one. I think he enjoyed being a penguin a bit too much," Alan said. "He rarely turned back into his true form." "What was that?" Namid asked. "Oh, about your height, sorta yellowish skin and a face that didn't have any features on it," the Doctor said. "Truth be told, his true form was odd to look at and I preferred the penguin." Namid suddenly giggled and the Doctor stared at her. He tapped into her memory and noticed Alan was projecting a dancing penguin into her head. "Oh ha ha," he said as he watched the penguin leaving massive hills of poop around his TARDIS console while he danced. "Just entertaining the child," Alan said. Alan glanced over when Rose leaned her head against his shoulder. He gave her a kiss on her head while she squeezed his hand. An evil smile spread over Alan's face and he projected the TARDIS into the Doctor's head after putting a privacy block up but this time, he panned away from the dancing penguin to the jump seat where he was sprawled on top of Rose snogging her brains out. He grinned when the Doctor looked at him and raised his eyebrow. "Oh yeah?" he said to Alan as he put up a privacy block around his mind. Alan grimaced when he saw his brother and sister completely naked and having sex on the floor of the TARDIS. "Okay, really didn't wanna see that," Alan said aloud. "And I wanted to see you and Rose?" the Doctor said. "What are you doing?" Rose said, looking at him and Alan. Both of them gave her innocent looks while Rain studied her husband. "I know that look, you're up to something," she said to the Doctor. To the Doctor's relief, the ringmaster came out and announced to everyone that the show was starting. He relaxed and put his arm around Namid and Rain as he thought of ways to amuse his daughter during the show.
Back Home Doctor Who Main Page Next