Someone walks across the highwire far above a circus audience.

Question

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It takes years of effort to achieve balance on the highwire!

I can't remember the first time I walked the wire, but it feels like I was born knowing how. Poppa got me started when I was three (not long after I began walking, he says), and it was as simple as putting me on the kiddie highwire he constructed, a foot or so high off the ground. Just like that, I started balancing my way across it and back, and when he took me off (so says Mom), I cried, "More! More!" until he put me back up.

It's been that way ever since.

Guess you could say highwire is in my blood—we've been a family of aerialists since the 1880s—and it's now 1930, so we've been at it a long, long while. My name is Luke and I'm 11, Alma's my sister and she's 14, and Poppa put us into the act as soon as Mom would allow it. Our last name is Torrence, but we call ourselves the Incredible Torinos because my great-grandpa said that the greatest aerialists are all Italian. (That's showbiz for you.)

So far, I can walk the wire backwards, forwards, sideways, balancing on one leg, jumping up and down, and even blindfolded. One of these days—I'm talking like any day now—I'm going to be able to spring up off the wire, do a somersault, and land sure-footed as Poppa. (He can't do it anymore—but few can do it at all.) I'm SO close, but I keep losing it on the landing, and whoosh, I end up dropping into the net. Still, I'm going to keep practicing cuz Poppa won't let me do it during a performance 'less I nail it three times in practice, and I'm determined.

There's a knock on our trailer door—

"Ten minutes, folks."

It's Eddie, the company manager. He lets the acts know when it's time to head to the big top. Ten minutes means the tumbling clowns are on, and then—Tada! It's time for us—the Incredible Torinos.

"How's the house tonight, Eddie?" Poppa asks.

"Worse than Cleveland—less than half full—McKinney's not going to like it one bit."

Mr. McKinney owns the circus, and his family has been running McKinney Circus for as long as my family has been walking the wire.

"Why aren't people coming, Poppa?" I ask. "We always sell out."

"Not this year, Luke," Poppa says with a sigh, "and maybe not for a long, long time. It's this depression—all these banks failing and nobody working—people are just trying to make ends meet, and if anyone is lucky enough to have a few extra nickels, they're likely to spend it at the movies or at a big circus like Ringling Brothers. We're just small potatoes."

It always irks me hearing Poppa talk that way, like we're second rate. Yeah, we're not Ringling Brothers, traveling the country, but we do just fine in the Midwest—'til this depression hit anyhow.

"Honey, I know times are tough," Momma says, "but I also know we'll get by. We always have, and if things get really bad, we can open that acrobat school like you've been talking about."

"Lucy, nobody's got any money to send their kids to acrobat school. Those days are over, and we've just got to hope and pray that the circus doesn't fold."

"You think it might, Dad?" Alma asks, looking scared.

"It's possible, honey," he says gravely. "If Illinois is as bad as Ohio, McKinney may have to close down."

Poppa's words hit me like a hard smack in the face.

"The circus can't fold," I say, holding back tears. "It just can't, Poppa, not when I'm this close to landing my somersault. I can't quit the highwire—not now—NOT EVER!"

"That's my Luke," Poppa says quietly, and I run into his arms, crying.

Another rap shakes the door, and Eddie's voice booms, "You're on!"

"Well," Poppa says, looking us each in the eye, "we're still wire walkers, so let's give 'em a show they won't forget."

Question 4


4 / 8

What is the main problem in this story?

Alma lost her footing in the act and fell into the net.
Luke fell when he attempted to land a somersault.
Poppa has an injured leg that endangers the act.
Mom gets dizzy when she tries to walk the highwire.

Answer 1

The main problem in this story is that Poppa has an injured leg that endangers the act. While the story discusses the challenges of the depression and the potential for the circus to fold, the immediate concern that affects their performance is Poppa's injury, which could impact the family's ability to perform.