The past four days have been hard on Lux. She barely got any sleep because she spent most of the night rebuilding the diesel engine in the FedEx delivery Van. Not only was she rebuilding the engine, but she also replaced the current transmission with a new one she purchased from a transmission shop when she purchased the van. It was a custom build that a client hadn’t picked up. It was a deal, and with her towing a trailer behind the delivery van, she needed the extra torque. She also replaced the drive axle and differential. All the brakes and the brake line were in good shape

One morning, when Lux didn’t show up for work. Frank and Victor went to check whether Lux was inside the Federal Express van, but didn’t find her there; instead, they found her under the van, still in her greasy coveralls, sound asleep on top of a cardboard box. She had a wrench in one hand and was resting her head on some dirty rags she had been using.

An evil idea pops into Frank’s head. He looks towards Victor, “Grab her right foot and get ready, and pull her out.”

“One, two, three!” Frank and Victor pulled Lux out from under the van as quickly as they could.

“Wake up, sleepy head.” Frank and Victor watch Lux as she scrambles to get up off the ground.

Lux wakes up and tries to stand up as she hears laughter from in front of the van. She slowly stands up, feeling extremely tired, and looks towards Frank and Victor, laughing their heads off.

“That wasn’t funny, guys.” Lux was so tired from pulling long nights with little sleep. She had to get the van ready to pull out in two days, and she still had a bunch of work to do.

“Yes, it was. You should have seen your face.” Frank looks at Lux with a smile still on his face.

“Look, we know you are staying up late working on this van.” As Victor puts his hand on the front of it, “but you still have work around the circus to do, and you still have several performances. How much do you have left to do?”

“I still have to make sure everything is running right and make sure there aren’t any leaks. I torqued everything down to specs, but you know how that is.” Lux picks up the tool she had been holding in her hand when she got pulled from under the van.

“Look, there's not much that needs to be done this morning, but Gail has you down for two performances tonight. Why don’t you clean up and take a nap for a few hours before you go on tonight?” Frank knew they didn’t have much to do. He and Victor could handle what they had to do.

“Are you sure? I told Mr. Goldman I wouldn’t slack off on my responsibilities while I was working on my van.”

“We’re sure. Get some rest and go see Gail at five this afternoon.” Frank turns to walk away.

“Thanks.” Lux picks up the dirty, greasy rags she needs to wash.

Frank just waves his hand as he and Victor walk off towards the job, which they were going to have Lux do. They were surprised she managed to get as much done on her own as she did. He knew the kid was good with her hands, but she had done a lot to the van since she started working on it.

Once Lux cleans up the mess she made last night. She wiggles out of her mechanics coveralls and takes a quick shower. She was using a makeshift camper's shower she had put together using a five-gallon bucket, a handheld sprayer from a sink, and a plastic tray. She had attached a hose to it so the water drained out away from the back of her van. Once she starts working on the inside, she plans to install a shower.

Once she takes her shower, and was clean. She puts on a pair of shorts and a muscle tee, then crawls into her van. She puts up the screen she made to keep the rolling door from coming all the way down. This way, she could get airflow going inside the van.

Lux sets her cellphone alarm to wake her so she can get ready for the performances. She lays her head down on the pillow, and in no time, she is in la, la, land. Nothing was going to wake her.

Lux is woken later in the afternoon by the alarm going off on her cellphone. She smacks the snooze button and finally wakes up when the second alarm goes off. She turns it off and gets dressed. She was still feeling tired, but not as bad as she had been.

She grabs a granola bar and a soda out of the cooler in the van. She removes the screen and closes and locks the back door completely. She goes out the side door and locks it. She trusted the people in the carnival, but not anyone else.

She heads towards the tent where all the clowns get ready. She waves to everyone as she walks in. Freddy, one of the clowns, watches “Where have you been all day, Lux?”

“Getting some sleep. I’ve been burning the candle at both ends.” Lux yawns as she starts selecting her clown outfit.

“You know were leaving in two days, don’t you?” Freddy knew Lux worked with the maintenance crew to put everything away.

“Yeah, I know. I’ll be ready by then.” Lux hopes she’ll be ready.

When Lux is done changing and ready. She follows Gail and the other clowns out and starts acting goofy. She does a few cartwheels and other acrobatic tricks. Throughout the performance, she does the routine that Gail and Slappy have put together for her.

When the performance was over, Lux went to grab a sandwich from one of the concession stands. She had meal tickets from several concession stands for work she did for them. She grabs a meatball sub, a bag of potato chips, and a large fountain drink. She was still in costume, so she headed back to the clown tent and ate quietly in the corner behind the costumes.

She finishes the meatball sandwich in no time and munches on the chips. She takes her time with the soda because she needs it to last. Lux waits for the next performance to start. She hopes she can get everything done by the time they have to leave.

She never thought she would be working for a circus and living out of a vehicle. She still had a bunch of things to do to her Z car that she wanted to get done. She hasn’t made up her mind if she wants to sell it or keep it. She’s leaning more toward keeping it because she's put a lot of work into it.

“Yoyo, it's time.” Gail finds Lux hiding in her corner behind the costumes.

“Alright, I’m coming.” Lux gets up and leaves her drink on the makeup table.

She follows the rest of the clowns out into the main tent and starts her performance. The kids in the audience love her silliness and her act. Lux pays special attention to any children who look to be disabled or hurt. She loves watching them smile. She always leaves behind a little clown of herself that she had specially made.

After all the performances are done, Lux changes into her coveralls and gets back to work on the van. She manages to get everything dealing with the motor, transmission, driveshaft, and differential. All she had left to do was run the wires and connect the second alternator she installed to power the inverter. She was planning to install solar cells to power the inside items, but for now, she’ll have to run the inverter and fill two separate tanks with fuel to power the van when camping.

She finishes by three in the morning. She changes out of her work coveralls and takes a second shower. She shivered from the light chilly wind blowing. She had no idea what she was going to do for the winter when the circus went to its winter camp. Mr. Goldman said a few of the performers either stay there or go home.

Lux lies down and reads for a while before drifting off to sleep. She had her alarm clock set to wake her.