In the entire nine years that Frankie Tantalus had spent living on Planet Earth, he was facing the most formidable challenge of his career: how to get to California and join the circus. From where he lay inside the aluminum Salvation Army drop-off box in the Kroger's parking lot, he knew there was an array of obstacles in his way. But in spite of circumstances that might seem dire to the guardians of children the world over, Frankie knew he could not turn back. His reputation in the fourth grade was on the line.
Frankie had faced tough challenges in the past. For one thing, he had made it through an entire year of third grade with Mrs. Thornside as his teacher. That was not an achievement for mere lightweights. Mrs. Thornside was renowned for her stern instruction. It was said that Mrs. Thornside had not smiled in years, some saying as far back as the grim and mournful day Prohibition was repealed. However long it had been, Frankie was certain she had never smiled at him. On several occasions she’d even come close to administering several high-impact blows upon what she called his "hard and empty head." But somehow he had scraped by, and this year he found himself in the fourth grade with a new teacher, Miss Gingrich, who, when she did manage to force a smile, looked as though the effort might shatter her ancient and brittle body into a million shards of Babylonian pottery.
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