Resumé af novellen 'The Last Circus'

The short story, The Last Circus, which takes place in the 1950s, is a tale of the boy, Douglas. He lives in a small town, where not much happens. The big high light of the year, is the circus arriving. So one cold October morning, Douglas and his best friend, Red Tongue, went to observe the circus coming. Douglas is amazed how fast the before so bare land becomes alive, everywhere men and women are working on arranging the circus’ opening. Douglas returns home for breakfast, and his father is reading the newspaper horrified by the shocking things happening around the world; atom bombs etc. Douglas refuses to believe anything could happen in their town, and is amazed by his father’s story of how much sweat the town has claimed, and how fast it again can disappear. Douglas is kidding around with the thought of having an atom bomb after seeing a film, but his parents quickly makes him leave the subject. But on the way to the circus, he listens to his father’s ideas to leave the country. Enjoying the show of the circus that evening, he notices a hole in the circus tent, from which he can see the bare land. Suddenly he froze, everybody around him was laughing. At the end of the show, Douglas and Red Tongue sat still, watching the crowd leaving the tent. They didn’t want to leave; they didn’t want it to be over. An hour later, they stood on the top of a hill, watching the now again bare land, where the circus for only a few moments ago was. That night Douglas cried him-self to sleep, knowing the circus would never come back.