Preliminary Feature Writing Practice 5

5. Thomas J. Serle works for Parker Bros. Circus, which is in town this week. Performances are scheduled at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. every day through Sunday, beginning today. Serle, who maintains a home in Fort Lauderdale, is a laborer who helps care for the animals at the circus, including 10 elephants. During a conversation with a reporter, he said: "Some people look on work with a circus as a glamorous job. It ain't. But I been doing it all my life, and it's too late for me to change. I'll be 60 next year. I was born into it. Both my folks were circus people. I started out as an acrobat until I fell and busted a leg. It never healed quite right, so they offered me this job, and I took it. What else could I do? There's all kinds of myths about circuses, like about these elephants here. Some people say they're afraid of mice, but that's crazy. When we pen the elephants up for the winter there's always mice that get in their hay, and it don't bother them none. The elephants never try to run away or stomp them or anything. They share the same cages all winter. And then some people say elephants got a good memory. Hell, some of the ones we got are so dumb they can't remember a simple trick from one year to the next." 
   

    A well conditioned circus worker, Thomas J. Serle, goes into detail about the myths people have about the circus. "Some people look on work with a circus as a glamorous job. It ain't." According to Thomas, the job isn't easy and is very dangerous. He was born into the circus lifestyle and sees no way out of it. His parents worked in a circus and so does he, he feels he is too old to change. "Hell, some of the ones we got are so dumb they can't remember a simple trick from one year to the next." The common misconception people hold about elephants being afraid of mice or having good memory has been proven to be false by Thomas. With his experience of more than 60 years in the circus he felt compelled to be truthful about what really goes on in the circus.