Lux couldn’t believe her foster parents had kicked her out of the house. She just had her eighteenth birthday and was informed that she had to leave the foster home she had grown up in. She knew this day would come, but she was hoping for at least one more month before a decision would be made.

She travels down the highway in her rebuilt 240Z Datsun thinking about where she was going to go. She had seen an advertisement on the job board in the counselor office at school for a performer at Chaplin's Circus. She was funny and comical, plus she was very acrobatic and loved animals. Even if means cleaning up after them.

She had contacted the owner of the circus and was willing to give her an interview and see what she had to offer. So, here she was driving to where they were currently performing in her ugly looking Datsun. The body of her Datsun was ugly looking where she had patched and sprayed primer on the car. She had body parts from several different models that she had managed to salvage from several junkyards over the past four years.

The motor had been completely rebuilt, along with the transmission and rear axle. The old carburetors under the hood had to be rebuilt from the ground up and came from two different years. She found them buried in a junk pile and was full of gunk. It took her a whole two weeks to clean them and rebuild them. She thought about putting an old style fuel injection system on the engine, but she wanted to keep the car original.

Lux reaches into the cooler sitting on the batter passenger seat and grabs a sandwich out. At least her foster family allowed her to make a few sandwiches and take a few snacks with her, before she left. She couldn’t blame them for not adopting her. She has been a handful since she came to live with them.

No one knew who her parents were or where she came from. She had been found abandoned wrapped in a tatter greasy blanket in an old Pennzoil box at the sheriff department in Waxahachie, Texas.

It was a nurse at the hospital she had been taken to that had named her. The nurse would have adopted her, but another couple had wanted a newborn and didn’t care if the baby was a boy or girl. A smirk appears on Lux’s face when she thinks about how life had thrown a curve ball at them.

Lux covers up a yawn as she pulls into a rest area and gets out to stretch her legs. She raises her hands above her head with her fingers interlaced and stretch. She feels the muscles in her back tighten as her back cracks. She winces when that happens. Her back still gives her problems every once in a while.

She shouldn’t had never helped Robert moved a heavy piece of furniture that was older then her and made of oak. They had to move it up three flights of stairs and she had the heavy end. She managed to throw her back out doing that and it hasn’t been the same since then.

After stretching for a few minutes, she walks around the parking area and then head into the women’s bathroom to pee. It was a good thing she passed for a girl, otherwise the new laws covering gender would cause her to be arrested or fined for using the wrong bathroom. She exits the stall and washes her hands. She checks her appearance in the mirror and adjusts her ponytail and leaves the bathroom. She still had another two hours before she arrived at the circus.

Lux walks out to her car and gets in. She adjusts the seatbelt, and start the engine. She installed a remote start to make things easier, but she loved turning the key to start the car. Once the car was running, she backs out of the parking spot and leaves the rest area. She looks at her cell phone gps and it was saying she still had two hours and fifteen minutes left.

For the next two hours Lux follows the direction on her phone. By the time she arrived at the circus, it was six in the evening. She locates a parking space and grabs her small backpack that held her wallet, rapid charger and other personal items a girl would have.

As she walks towards the entrance, she is amazed by all the attractions and the crowd. She pays to enter and calls the owner to let him know she had arrived. She listens as he gives her directions to his office. A few times she makes a wrong turn, but eventually finds the trailer that acted as the owner’s office. She knocks on the door.

“Come in.” Rossi looks up when he hears the knocking sound.

He watches as the door to his trailer opens and a young short slender teenage girl with short purple hair comes walking into his trailer. She was wearing a long sleeve blouse that came down to her mid-thighs and black tights. A pair of purple tennis shoes covered her feet and she was carrying a small blue jean colored back pack with her. She had silver stars earrings in her earlobe.

Lux turns and spots a middle aged man that was around her foster father’s age sitting behind a clutter desk. A smile appears on her face “Hi, Mr. Goldman, I’m Lux Dax. Sorry, it took me so long to arrive.”

Lux walks over to Mr. Goldman’s desk. She extends her hand to shake Mr. Goldman’s hand.

Rossi stands up and shakes Lux’s hand. “Please have a seat my dear.” He motions to the kitchen chair sitting next to her.

Lux sits down and put her backpack down on the floor next to her feet. She looks at Mr. Goldman and couldn’t believe he was the owner of the circus. He had an aura about him that said he would rather be somewhere else or would feel more comfortable in a high power business office.

“Now, Ms. Dax, why don’t you tell me, why I should hire you?” Rossi wanted to see why this girl drove so far from home to join his circus.

“Well, besides liking the circus, I think I would be a benefit to you. I know how to sing, dance, ride a unicycle and I nearly won state with my acrobatics skills. Plus, I can act, I was a member of my drama club and I love to show off.” Lux knew her foster parents got a lot of complaints from her school about her clowning around and tricks she would pull on students who picked on others.

Rossi was making notes on a sticky pad to add to Lux’s file. He stops and looks up towards her at the note he put down about her age. “I see you just graduated from high school and that you just turned eighteen years old. How do your parents feel about you joining the circus, instead of going to college?”

“Well, actually Mr. Goldman. I was just told this morning before I left to come here that I couldn’t live with my foster parents anymore. It seems that I have aged out of the system.” Lux couldn’t believe the foster family she has lived with for the past eight years would kick her out.

“So, you have nowhere else to go, then?” He looks at her.

“No sir. If you don’t hire me, I’ll have to find a shelter or something until I find a job to earn enough money to find a place.” Lux crosses her fingers for luck.

“I see that you drove all the way from Texas to get here. What type of vehicle do you own?” Rossi was curious.

“I’m restoring a 1972 240z car, sir. Right now she looks ugly, but purrs like a kitten.” Lux was proud of it.

“You’re a mechanic as well?”

“Yes sir. I took three years of automotive training. I was working on getting some of my ASE certifications.” Lux liked working on machines.

“Why don’t you show me some of your moves?” Rossi motions his hand to her.

“In here, sir?” Lux was curious.

“I see what you mean, dear. Let’s go outside, so you’ll have more room to perform.” Rossi stands up and watches as Lux walks in front of him.

Once they exited from Rossi’s office. Lux stretches before she starts and puts on a little show for Mr. Goldman. After she is done, she twirls on one foot and look at Mr. Goldman.

“Very nicely done, Ms. Dax. Do you have a problem embarrassing yourself?”

“What do you mean, sir?” Lux was confused.

“I’m going to place you with the clowns and if you don’t mind having cream pies and such thrown at you.”

“No sir, I don’t mind.” A smile appears on Lux’s face.

“Good! Now, let’s go back inside and do some paperwork, and afterwards I’ll introduce you to our head clown Slappy. He’ll get you all set up.” Mr. Goldman turns and leads Lux back into the trailer.

She follows him to his desk, and is handed a bunch of papers to sign. She doesn’t sign them right away; she scans them first before putting her signature on them. Once the paperwork is signed, Mr. Goldman takes Lux to another tent.

When they walked into the tent, there were various people changing into their clown persona. Mr. Goldman looks around and spots who he wanted to talk to.

“Slappy, I have a new recruit for you to train.”

Lux looks towards the man Mr. Goldman was talking too. He was an older gentleman dressed as a hobo clown. The clothes he was wearing looked like they came from an actual hobo.

Slappy looks towards Mr. Goldman when he hears his voice. He was almost done putting on his makeup when he heard Mr. Goldman’s voice. He noticed a teenage girl with shoulder length purple hair following beside him. The girl was a foot shorter than Mr. Goldman.

“I see, and does she have any experience as a clown?” Slappy hopes the girl has some talent.

“Does acting like a fool in a Shakespeare play, count?” Lux looks up at Slappy. He was a foot taller than her.

“Depends. Can you juggle and do tricks?” Slappy liked the spunkiness of the new girl.

“Yes. I can juggle flaming batons and I’m very acrobatic too. Lux could think of a good routine for the circus.

“Well, I’ll let you two get ready for the performance.” Mr. Goldman looks at Lux “break a leg, kid.” As he walks off.

“Gail, I have a new recruit for you to train.” Slappy looks over towards a woman dressed as a doll.

Gail looks over at Slappy when she hears her name. She spots the teenage girl standing before him.

“Okay, send her over and I’ll get her ready for tonight’s performance.” Gail hated doing last minute makeup, but the girl looked like she was going to be easy to do.

Slappy looks towards Lux “go ahead and get ready. You’re going on tonight.”

“Thanks.” Lux walks over towards Gail to start getting ready for the performance.

Gail motions Lux to a chair “take off your makeup, so we’ll have a clean slate to work with.” Gail hands Lux some wipes to clean her face.

Lux takes a few sheets of tissues and cleans the makeup she had put on before she left home. She also takes her hair out of a ponytail. She straightens her hair out.

“Okay, let’s get you ready. Just do what me and Gofer do tonight, and do you have a problem being hit in the face by cream pies?” Gail looks into Lux’s purple color eyes. She couldn’t believe how they looked like sapphires.

“No ma’am. I don’t mind.” Lux wonders why people keep asking her that question?

Gail is quick as she does Lux’s face and picks out a clown suit for her to wear. She turns Lux around “what name would you like to call yourself?”

“How about Yoyo?” Lux liked the name.

“Yoyo is fine.” Gail continues making Yoyo makeup.

After Gail is done, she leads Lux out towards the big tent and keep Yoyo near her and Gofer.