What If You Knew How Long You Had?

A short story; fiction

It was when the circus came to town that I decided to go. Frankly, I had not been since my kids were little, and they were middle aged now.

So, after work one evening, I parked my car among so many others in the dirt parking area not far from the entry to the circus. The air was dusty from the traffic, the floating dust particles seemingly suspended in time by the rays of the setting sun.

I looked for markers which would help me find my car when I exited, which would be almost certainly after dark.

There were none, as is often the case in such situations, so I tried to make a mental note of where I was relative to the entrance and other landmarks such as large trees and a white picket fence which separated the parking area from some adjacent houses.

On impulse, I took a photo with my cellphone.

The circus occupied acreage and multicolored small triangular flags waved in the breeze above the sizable tents which had been erected. Balloons waved in the air above the tents.

After I paid the entry fee, which allowed general access to the grounds, I tried to decide what to take in, and in what order.

The circus itself was not that unusual. I mainly wanted to see if it had changed over the…