Paul takes his niece Helen to the circus, hoping to relive his childhood through her own sense of wonder and exhilaration at the marvels she sees. In her company, he finds that he can forget his own age and enter a world of innocence as a 'child-citizen' rather than an adult intruder. At first, the circus fails to thrill him the way it thrills Helen. She is taken aback by the monkeys and elephants, but he only feels a sense of disgust and disappointment. As they traipse through the side-shows, he feels worn out but forces himself to make sure that Helen enjoys herself. The main show, however, catches his fancy. He enjoys the antics of the seals and the clowns as much as his niece does, but as the minutes crawl by, his emotional exhaustion grows, and he is certain that something will go wrong. The audience members beside him share his thrill at first, but he feels lonely in the certainty that something terrible is going to happen. Then the Gallos, a balancing act of six members, walk out on the rope at an impossible height without a safety net to catch them. Paul feels as though they are tempting fate - and at the very height of their performance, all six of them hurtle towards the ground and injure themselves. The audience is horrified at the sight of blood and bone, but Helen is childishly confused. As they leave, she looks up at her uncle and asks if the gruesome accident was all part of the act. He reassures her that it was, but everywhere he looks he can only see 'freaks' from the circus haunting him.