When the entertainment fails to show, Loretta and Marie's birthday party on the prairie looks set to be ruined .

But then a wagon of circus players passes by.

"Music, Magic and the Human Cannon."

full-length story
29 pages
The Life and Death Performance of Tony Bedowie
The jangling sound was starting to make Carl Melhouse nervous.
      He had been dancing a jig with one of the Jennings women when the rhythm had all fallen apart. She stood staring at him like she didn’t know him. Other folk wore patient smiles or confusion on their faces, waiting for the band to get their act together.
      It wasn't happening.