The rats return part2

3 days later the circus was one hundred miles nearer the French coast and had set up at a new site. Near the entrance to the big top I had a booth built with a glass front window and half a dozen rats inside in separate small rooms, each one with a plentiful supply of paper. The whole effect was rather like a post office counter, except that the rats were sitting on the inside of the counter at waist height. On George’s recommendation we had two positions each for English and French speakers, one for Spanish and the last one for Italians. The notice outside asked the crowd to “Talk to one of our rat geniuses in your own language, 5 Euros for 5 minutes.”

After a hesitant start the queues lengthened as word got round that the offer was genuine. On the other side of the big top entrance I had another notice saying ‘Come and see our fabulous circus acts including further evidence of our resident rats abilities.’

The show ran through its normal course until at last I entered the ring in my ringmaster’s outfit to mounting anticipation and announced, “Ladies and gentlemen Alfredo’s amazing circus are proud to present our group of intelligent rats who will repeat any number up to 999 at your request.

Our props boys had made up a turntable painted white and tilted at an angle of 15 degrees and placed it in the middle of the ring. The table could rotate slowly so that every member of the audience could see the rats perfectly clearly even from the back row. The small band struck up the ‘Flight of the bumble bee’ and 21 rats trotted into the tent in time with the music, every one of them in perfect step.

The rats had been dressed in black coats for this part of the show and looked rather like a black snake as they wound their way across the ring eventually climbing onto the turntable. After one revolution I cracked my whip and every one of them vanished. The effect was tremendous, then some of the sharper members of the audience noticed that they had remained in position but just rolled over. Every rat’s jacket had a white front, so as they turned they blended into the background colour of the turntable.

“And now, members of Alfredo’s Amazing circus will pass among you to collect any number up to 999 that you may wish to write on the slips provided as you came in.”

These were then passed down to me and put into my hat. The first number I called out was 736. George was on the board and gave the signal to his friends. Those of the rats who needed to show the number turned on their fronts and the black jackets displayed the number in similar fashion to the make up of the numbers on a digital watch.

The board slowly rotated so that all of the audience could see the effect. The volume of applause increased in loudness as different numbers were displayed in turn. It was going so well that when I found a slip reading 37½ I just read it out. I needn’t have worried, George had thought of every eventuality. One of the ‘spare’ rats curled up into a black ball to make the decimal point, so that the number displayed was 37.5.

The big top absolutely erupted at this point. The noise was deafening and believe me I’m used to noise.

With minor modifications the show continued in this manner as we moved across the continent and into England. True to our promise we then began helping the rats look for a place they recognised, but without any luck for some weeks.

Then one night after the show a man came to see me.

“My name is Harvey and I believe the rats you have in your show may have become intelligent in our laboratory. I’m a scientist and we lost a couple of promising batches of intelligent rats about a year ago. Where did you find them?”

He seemed amazed when I told him that they’d approached us in France asking for help. I asked one of the clowns to fetch George to come and see if this was the man he was looking for.

George agreed that Harvey had been one of the team involved with his group, but he wasn’t going anywhere until a proper legal document had been drawn up to protect the whole of his community.

Eventually an agreement was reached. The rats could have access to the raw materials and machinery they wanted. The scientists would guarantee their freedom and help where required in the rats work. When all had been completed to the rats satisfaction, the finished apparatus would be handed over to the scientists in a working condition to use as they wished.

Now the circus has the services of a lawyer in every country it visits, in case of legal problems. Our English lawyer was extremely surprised to see a rat hop up onto the table and sign the copies of the agreement.

Harvey looked very pleased with himself as George signed and completed the paperwork.

They all left the next day and I wonder if we’ll ever hear from them again. The circus is going to miss the rats that’s for sure.

But once again I’m sure I saw George grin as he signed the papers.