“So what did you think of that kids?” I said as we walked.

“That was a great punch Dad!” my teenage son replied.

“I don’t like seeing people getting hurt,” said my daughter. “Bullies do that sort of thing to some of my friends at school.”

“Ah, but it’s not bullying in this case you see — it’s justice. The government has given these rebels a fair trial and found them guilty. For the good of society they must be seen to be punished and I think it’s good that society now has ways to do that — bringing back public executions for example. Everyone gets to see justice done, and in this case have a hand in it if they want, and they are regularly reminded of the perils of being a criminal, rather than forgetting when criminals are merely whisked off to prison, out of sight and out of mind.”

“I want to go on the Waltzer,” my daughter replied simply. I think my longwinded explanation went over her head!

“Okay, darling, you three do that and I’ll wait for you in that circus tent over there. I get dizzy on spinning rides – hell; I got a bit woozy just watching Daisy spin!”

There was quite a crowd in the circus tent, and I was only able to stand at the back. But since everyone was looking up it didn’t matter. What they were looking at was a young woman in a shiny blue sequined leotard up on a platform around one of the tent poles, clearly about to do her high wire act across to the platform on the opposite side of the ring.

She looked very serious as she prepared to walk, and no wonder as there was a thirty foot drop to the ring and I couldn’t see a safely net.

As the music swelled and she began to move, I noticed something else: What I first took to be a safety cable around her waist was in fact secured around her neck.

“Wow, that’s some bravery just for an act!” I exclaimed.

“It’s no act,” said the woman next to me. “You came in late. They told us that she is a rebel spy. If she makes it across the ring, she’ll be free to go home. They call it the ‘Walk of Freedom’ — she’ll be free one way or the other.”

The girl was doing well for a novice, holding out her arms for balance, the ‘safety’ cable trailing behind her from a wire above as she walked. The crowd hushed as she gained confidence and made it two thirds of the way across the wire.

Suddenly there was a loud pop from a child’s balloon in front of me. The distraction was enough — the girl lost balance, fell a few feet and the steel safety cable tightened around her neck.

Panicking, she put her hands up to try to loosen it, but it was too late. Her legs soon stopped thrashing and she spun limply from the cable, struggling to breathe.

My wife tapped me on the shoulder just as the music ended. “What did we miss in here?”

“A rather novel high wire act, but I expect there’ll be clowns on next,” I replied.

But what came on instead were a couple of mimes, who acted out the whole high wire ‘act’ again in a comical way, drawing many laughs from the crowd as one mime stood directly behind the other and burst a balloon over his head.

As we walked out I mused over the nature of coincidences, it being the same style of balloon that the child in front of me had held.