Read Sebastian for Free Online Page B

hammering and shouting and singing: and flapping noises like sails in the wind. Of course it was the tent. We must have arrived at the next stop of the circus.
    Perhaps they would have my name in lights (Diddy was always wanting his name in lights, but I can’t imagine D-I-D-D-Y looking very good all lit up). But I could just see
    SEBASTIAN THE WONDER BEAR
    Roll up! Roll up! See the most fantastic bear in all the world! Fantastic at what, though? I would have to think of what I could do best. Walking the tight-rope, perhaps. Or diving off a hundred-foot high pole into a dish with a wet sponge in it. Or jumping through a blazing hoop. Or being fired from a cannon.
    SEBASTIAN THE HUMAN CANNONBALL!
    Although I suppose I couldn’t very well be a human cannonball. I might even fly up to the moon and have to live for ever on green cheese. What could I be in the circus?
    â€œA clown,” said Sandro, looking in through the window. “I think you would be a good clown.”
    â€œNo, no. The trapeze for him. SEBASTIAN THE FLYING BEAR,” said Alberto, coming in and grabbing a bread roll. Soon all the brothers had squeezed into the little caravan, all talking at the same time and pushing and jostling for the jam and more cups of coffee.
    â€œThe mayor is coming to the performance tonight,” said Luigi. “We have to put on a good show. How is Ludo?”
    â€œStill on bread and milk,” said Vittorio sadly. “And the moths have been at his coat again.”
    Luigi shook his head. “We must have something different,” he said. “Every year we bring back the same lion, same chimp, same seal.”
    â€œSnoopy we don’t have any more,” said Alberto. “Last week he followed a little girl home, and when he found she had a swimming pool in her garden, he wouldn’t come away.”
    â€œWell, he could never balance a ball on the end of his nose anyway,” said Luigi. “Besides, he always ate enough fish for two seals.”
    Sandro picked me up and put me down in the middle of the table among the crumbs and coffee cups.
    â€œHere is something much different from seals or moth-eaten lions,” he said. “Here is the only stuffed bear in captivity.”
    Luigi was not impressed. “No, Sandro. He is only - well - only a toy.”
    Only a toy! What a thing to say about a stuffed bear! Didn’t he know that stuffed bears could think? And add things up, and do long division too if necessary.
    â€œListen. You’ve heard of stuffed tigers and stuffed lions, no? Even stuffed elephants. Well, what were they doing before they were stuffed?” I’d never thought of that. “They were real tigers and elephants, of course,” went on
    Sandro, thumping the table with a bread roll. “So we put Sebastian in a cage and we say The only What-ever-it-is to be seen by mortal eyes.”
    â€œWhat’s a What-ever-it-is?” asked Vittorio, becoming interested.
    â€œNothing, of course. It’s whatever we think it is. Whatever people will believe it is.”
    Ugo slapped Luigi on the back. “I got it. He can be an abdominal snowman. A Yeti. Those hairy things like bears that live in the Himalayan mountains in India, and leave big footprints and carry people off at dead of night.”
    â€œAbominable snowman, you mean,” corrected Luigi. “But that’s ridiculous. The Yetis are enormous. At least everybody says they must be at least eight feet tall.”
    What a pity. I liked the idea of being a Yeti.
    â€œHe can still be a Yeti,” said Sandro triumphantly. “He can be a baby Yeti!”
    All the brothers looked in admiration at Sandro.
    â€œRight,” said Luigi in a businesslike way. “Ugo, you can make the cage. Sandro, you do his make-up. Aldo, you paint a signboard for him - and Vittorio, you can be his keeper.”
    He clapped his hands smartly and everybody leapt up to go about their various