1 BUG CIRCUS

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CHAPTER 1 BUG CIRCUS "What is it, Sassafras?" I crouched down and ruffled my cat's fluffy fur. He was trying to flip over a heavy, mossy rock with his paws. Something good was definitely under there. I gently tipped the rock over on its side. Yes! I clapped my hands together. This rock was hiding a treasure. A billion roly-poly bugs! OK... maybe not a billion. But at least twenty.

Sassafras took a step forward. "Meow?" "No! Don't eat the bugs! That's gross." My cat loves bugs as much as I do. But we love them for different reasons. I love to play with them. He loves to eat them. Hmmm. Now I just needed to think of something super amazing to do with the roly-polies. I held one in my hand and its tiny feet tickled as it walked. Sassafras trotted over to my pile of stuff and pawed at my Thinking Goggles. "Ooh, good idea," I said as I put them on my head. Most scientists wear goggles over their eyes, and I do too when I need to keep my eyes safe. But when I need to think of brilliant ideas, I wear my Thinking Goggles on top of my head. That way they're closer to my brain. The roly-poly on my hand walked across a bridge I'd made by touching the tips of my two pointer fingers together. "I've got it! Let's make a bug circus!"

I bent some thin twigs into hoops for the bugs to crawl through. Then I set up some small, round rocks for them to balance on. Next, I tied some grass on either end of a flat piece of bark to make a swing that I held low to the ground (in case any of my performers fell). My favorite part was a tightrope I made by balancing a long twig between two flat rocks. One of the biggest roly-polies crawled up to the twig tightrope. I got down on my elbows in the soft grass to

cheer him on. "Come on, little buggy! You can do it!" Almost... almost. No! He tumbled into the grass. And then another one followed. The bigger roly-polies were having too much trouble. Hmmm. I carefully plucked the smallest of the rolypolies from the ground. "OK, little guy. You might be the smallest, but I think you can do this. Show me what you've got!" I placed the tiny roly-poly on one end of the twig. As he crawled along, I held my breath and didn't let it out until he was across. He made it! I jumped up, cheered, and looked around for my mom. Then I remembered she was inside packing. I was so used to her being out here with me.

"Mom is gonna love this. Let's get her, Sassafras. Come on!" I glanced over my shoulder just in time to catch Sassafras creeping toward my circus performers. "No way, kitty. You're coming with me. I do not trust you out here with my bugs. My new little friends are not snacks!" Sassafras gave me a stinky look, but he gave in and followed me. As we got close to the house, I spotted my mom in the window. But she wasn't looking at us. She was looking at our old barn. And holding a photo.