Spotlight

Note: This has two parts. This is the first one and A Three Ring Circus is the second part.
Spotlight
January 29, 1926
Denver, Colorado
“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls”, boomed the ringmaster’s voice, “for our final act of the evening. Put your hands together for Riley the stunt wolf. Riley here will walk across this tight rope thirty feet from the ground and trough a ring of fire and safely make it to the other side.”

All spotlights moved on to a quivering Riley and all eyes stared. He started to walk across the tight rope. He went through the ring of fire and then lost his balance. He would have fallen if he hadn’t grabbed onto the rope with his teeth at the last second. The audience gasped, some even screamed. Riley put a paw on the tightrope and pulled himself up. He finished the tightrope and sighed. He had made it, this time. Everyone in the big top cheered and whistled.

“Wasn’t that a great show?! We thank everyone for coming to the circus and we wish you a good evening.” yelled the ringmaster again.
The big top emptied out and everyone went home, except for the ringmaster. “You do that again and I’ll send you on a cruise into the Pacific Ocean you mutt.” the ringmaster said to a cowering Riley. “I want the next performance to be perfect.” the ringmaster said this and then left.

“He can’t treat you like that Riley.” said one of the wolves named Daisy.
“Of course he can.” started a wolf named Jerry “He has the keys, so we can’t really do anything about it.”

The conversation ended with that and they went to sleep. Three days later the ringmaster was trying to think of where to perform next. That’s when he saw it. A newspaper article reading

“Balto Saves Small Town of Nome From Epidemic!”

“Balto eh, he would be a nice addition to my circus.” chuckled the ringmaster and he planned their next destination for Nome.

Meanwhile, back in Nome,

“Please, daddy I really want to see It.” pleaded Rosie.

“I already said no and I mean no.” said Rosie’s father.

“But.” started Rosie.

“No” repeated her father.


“What does Rosie want?” Balto asked Jenna.

“The circus is coming and she really wants to see it but her father won’t let her.”

“The circus, eh” began Balto “I had a best friend that wanted to join the circus. His name was Riley but, I don’t know if he made it or not.”

“Well I hope he did.” said Jenna.

In one week the circus had arrived. They needed an extra day to set everything up for the big show tomorrow. While they were setting up, Balto took a look around the big top when he saw three cages with wolves in them. He went over to the first cage and got an unsuspected greeting.

“Hey there Balto, how long has it been, a couple of years?” said Riley.

“Ra-Riley is that you?” stammered Balto.

“Yup” replied Riley “I finally made it to the circus.”

“I honestly thought you wouldn’t make it.” said Balto sheepishly.

“That’s all right.” said Riley, “Besides I’ve made some new friends. My best friends are Daisy and Jerry; they’re timber wolves like me. Those two in different cages are Lenard and Suzie. They’re white wolves.”

Balto introduced himself to the other wolves and just as he was about to talk to Riley, when the ringmaster came in.

“Well if it isn’t the hero?” chuckled the ringmaster, “How about you see our performance tonight, but, until then, be off with you.”

So with that Balto left.

The Next Evening: “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to Anderson’s Wolf Circus.” boomed the ringmaster. The crowd cheered in anticipation. “For our first act of tonight, we will see Daisy being shot out of this cannon and she will land perfectly on this pad, nearly fifty feet away.” the ringmaster said again, trying to excite everyone.
All eyes watched as Daisy climbed into the cannon. “Now will the audience help me count down?” said the ringmaster, “Five, four, three.” The crowd took it from there, “Two, one, Zero!”

The cannon fired and Daisy went spiraling into the air and landed perfectly on the mat like the ringmaster had said. The crowd roared with excitement. After a couple of hours it was the final act.

“Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, for our final act of the evening, its Riley the stunt wolf.” the ringmaster said like he had rehearsed, “Riley will walk over this tightrope nearly thirty feet above the ground, through this ring of fire and will safely make it to the other side.”

“Yes, I finally get to see Riley perform” Balto thought to himself.

Again, the spotlights focused on Riley, and all eyes stared, as Riley started to walk across. He made it past the ring of fire and nearly lost his balance but, he caught himself just as he was about to fall and then walked proudly to the other side. The audience roared and cheered, it was the best performance they had seen. The ringmaster continued with his speech and the wolves walked back to their cages to wait for the ringmaster. After the show Balto went to congratulate Riley but, when he got to where the cages were he heard the ringmaster talking.

“What did I tell you Riley? I said no mess-ups. You’re lucky you saved yourself or I would have had to send you on your cruise. If you mess up in Juneau, it will be your final curtain call. Got it?” The ringmaster started to turn away when he saw Balto.
“Well who do we have here? Balto come in, boy. Would you like to speak with the star of the show.” The ringmaster opened up the cage and Balto walked inside.

Balto began “Riley you did great out there I just wanted to congradula…” just then the cage door snapped shut.

“Ha!” the ringmaster sneered, “I got you wolf-dog, your joining my circus... permanently.”

The ringmaster walked back into the tent, laughing evilly. He didn’t know that Kaltag had followed Balto to see what he was up to. Kaltag had heard what the ringmaster had said about Balto. He knew it was too late in the evening to tell anybody about this, so, he decided to wait until morning. The next morning, the circus had left without a trace. Kaltag rushed over to Jenna’s house and asked her to step onto the porch. Kaltag told Jenna about what had happened to Balto the previous night.

“You do know where the circus is heading to next, right Kaltag?” asked Jenna hopefully.

Kaltag started sadly“ I’m sorry to say that I’m clueless, stupefied, confused...”

Jenna broke down crying right there.
“What are we going to do?” cried Jenna, “He could be anywhere and.” Just then a flyer hit her in the face.
“What’s that?” asked Kaltag.
“It’s a flyer...from the Circus” said Jenna.
They read the flyer and found out where Balto and the circus were headed.

Kaltag stuttered “Ju-Juneau, Alaska. Isn’t that at the bottom of Alaska?”

“Yup,” started Jenna, “and I think we’ll need some backup. Kaltag, you get Nikki and Star and I’ll get Boris, Muk, and Luk. We’ll meet at the boat at noon.”

When noon came Kaltag arrived with Star.

“Where’s Nikki?” asked Jenna.

Kaltag started his rambling, “He is the most feverish, diseased, most under the weather…”

“He’s not feeling good.” Star interrupted.

*BONG* As usual Star got hit on the head for interrupting. Jenna couldn’t help herself from laughing.

“Back to matters at paw.” began Boris, “When we are leaving to save Balto from ze evil ringmaster, hmm?”

“We just have to wait for..” Jenna had been cut off by a shout.

“Uncle Boooris!”

“Well here they come” said Jenna.

“Uncle Booooris!” repeated the voice.

“Oh, no I must take cover” yelled Boris.

He dove behind a box just as Muk and Luk came onto the boat.

“Where’s Uncle Boris, Jenna?” asked Muk.

She pointed to the box and Muk ran behind it.

“Stay away, and none of ze hugging or licking!” said Boris as he backed up into Luk.

Luk gave Boris a bear hug and everyone on the boat except for Boris laughed.

“Well, now we can leave to find Balto.” Jenna said, still trying to hold back laughter.

By: Walto Disney