Chapter 6

Performance underway

Although Kurt felt better about the running away incident and knew that Amanda and Margali loved him like he really was a brother and a son, he couldn’t bring himself to tell them about the discovery he made while in the church.

Kurt had done some research in the old books Margali kept in the basement and came to terms that his newly developed technique was called “Teleporting, the act of vanishing and reappearing in a different place.”

Kurt spent most of his time at night when everyone else was asleep to find the limits of his teleporting. Although he did find one thing out that he promised he’d never attempt ever again: he couldn’t teleport if he didn’t see where he was going.

One night when the circus was in Spain, Kurt decided to venture out to the tent to practice. He spent a good hour or more, jumping in and out of the alternate dimension he passed through to teleport from one place to another, and he was very confident that he knew what he was doing. When it was time for him to get back to the trailer he shared with Chester, Kurt decided to teleport instead of walk. But he soon found out that it was a big mistake.

Kurt knew he was able to go about two or three miles in the open plains without problems, so going to the trailer wouldn’t be any different. Unfortunately, when he tried this plan of action, he found himself falling literally into a wall. Kurt couldn’t thank the Heavenly Father enough for helping him think straight and teleport out before he got stuck in the solid mass of the wall.

After that incident Kurt never teleported again without seeing where he was going.

Some time passed, and summer finally came around once again. By now Kurt had bugged Trent enough to teach the young mutant how to use the trapeze bars. After a long while, Trent finally gave in and agreed that Kurt should be strong enough to carry his own weight.

“Its all about the time, Kurt,” Trent explained once they were on the platform above the ground. “The net is there to catch you if you miss, so don’t be paranoid about it. If you’re paranoid now, you’ll never get over it.”

“Okay,” Kurt said, anxious to get started.

Trent let go of the bar and let it swing back and forth above the heavy-duty net that hung below. “Alright,” he said. “When you’re ready. Jump when its about half way back, otherwise you’ll miss—”

He didn’t have a chance to finish his own sentence. His mouth hung open in amazement when he witnessed a first timer jump into the air, grab the trapeze bar and swing himself up so he was now sitting on it, as if swinging on a swing in a park.

“How was that?” Kurt called over his shoulder.

It was a moment before Trent was able to find his voice again. “Kurt,” he started still appalled at the ten-year-old’s accomplishment. “That was amazing. To be honest, I didn’t think you’d make it on the first try.”

“Oh, I’ve done it before,” Kurt said with a smile. “I was just never able to get the other bar moving at the same time this one was.”

Trent felt like he was in a dream. “You’ve…done this before? But…you rolled the net and everything out by yourself?”

Kurt smiled, mostly to himself. “No,” he said. “I teleported when I missed.”

“You what?”

“Teleported.”

“Kurt, I have no idea what you’re talking about. What the hell is teleporting?”

No answer came from the young blue mutant. Instead, Kurt chose to demonstrate his mutant power for the first time. In a BAMF and a large puff of dark blue smoke and the lifting odor of burning brimstone, Kurt disappeared. In a heartbeat he stood next to Trent, almost making the aerialist fall over.

“That’s teleporting,” Kurt finally responded.

Trent stared at the young boy before him. Never in his life had he seen someone with so many gifts; it was nothing less than remarkable.

“Kurt, with such a talent like that you can become the best trapeze artist in Germany,” he said. “Between your tail and now your ability to ‘teleport,’ you can do virtually anything.”

“I want to learn everything you know,” Kurt told him.

“You’ve almost mastered the skills in fencing, so I don’t doubt for a moment that you can’t do this.”

By the time the rest of the circus was up and about for the start of the day, Kurt had learned how to balance himself so he could hang from his legs, tail, and arms on the bar as it swung in the air. Trent was about to call it a morning, but Kurt was determined to go on.

“I don’t want you to do too much, Kurt,” he tried to reason with the mutant.

“I want to do it,” Kurt replied, holding the bar. “Please, Trent? Let me try just once.”

Trent nodded in agreement and made his way down the ladder. After climbing back up opposite of Kurt’s stand and taking hold of the twin bar, he gave a last minute instruction to warn Kurt that timing was everything. Kurt rolled his eyes, confidence flowing through his body.

Kurt let the bar fall from his hands and waited only a moment before leaping forward and grabbing it. He hung from it and waited for Trent to let the other bar go; once it was released, Kurt’s tail wound itself on the bar, freeing his hands.

“Whenever you’re ready!” Trent called to the center where Kurt hung like a monkey.

God help me, Kurt though as his tail untangled itself and he reached out for the bar. Kurt saw the bar coming towards him and his three fingered hands reached out for it; but his timing had been off by a fraction of a second. The tips of his fingers skinned the cold metal of the bar, but it wasn’t enough to grab hold of it. Gravity took over and pulled Kurt’s blue form towards the net below.

BAMF!

With the same force he had been falling with from the bar, Kurt’s body bounced on the net like he was jumping on a trampoline. Although his head was spinning from the jump, fall, and bamfing all at the same time, Kurt could hear Trent calling down to him.

“He better be okay after a stunt like that,” a woman’s voice said.

Kurt looked up to see Margali walking towards him, her arms crossed and her face stern. “Margali, I…”

“You were doing a very dangerous stunt up there and could’ve gotten yourself killed,” she lectured, although her tone was barely rough.

“I’m sorry, Margali,” Kurt said, his head bowing down.

“It’s my fault, Margali,” Trent said as he made his way down the pole. “I let him.”

Margali merely held her hand up. “Kurt…” she started, “how long have you been able to move with such natural agility?”

Kurt looked up, surprised at the sudden change in her voice. “I…I don’t know. A few years?”

“Except for the last stunt, I have never seen such a young person perform like it was part of their everyday life. It was incredible.” Her mouth curled into a smile. “How long have you been practicing for this?”

“A few years…” Kurt admitted.

“What about that…disappearing act?”

“A few months ago,” Kurt said putting a hand on the back of his head and a smile drawing over his face.

“Kurt, I never knew you could do something like that,” Margali said while watching Kurt hop down from the net.

“Do I have to stop?”

Margali laughed. “Stop? Why would I make you stop perfecting a natural talent like that? You could become the circus’ greatest hit!”

“Really?” The mere thought of becoming a star made Kurt’s tail curl behind him with excitement.

********

No Author’s notes, and no translations…aren’t you lucky. :-)