The entrapped artist
There was a circus east of nowhere with a truly unique act unlike anything the world ,or you for that matter, had ever seen. It was because of the act that the circus was able to stay afloat and became popular. It became so well known that when the circus went on tour all the cities where it arrived shut down, schools gave the children the day off and the businesses closed for the day, just to go watch the show. This act was performed by a thin man who could fit himself into any cage, trap, box, or container.
While there were many who had the talent of escaping, this man had the ability of getting into any and all types of binding or confinement. He could be the prisoner of any cell, the hostage of any criminal, the captive of anyone’s gaze. You could restrain him with chains, rope, and even the wind. People from all over the world created and brought all kinds of contraptions to trap him.
More than one person had asked the artist for his hand in marriage, but he was trapped by his own loneliness. Still everyone at the circus loved him. The clowns thought he was funny, the lion tamers thought he was brave, and the magicians thought he was mysterious. His wagon was the biggest in the train, and it was filled with his favorite traps. The billboards that announced his act were the most striking, and they were placed everywhere. The most popular toy in the circus gift shop was his toy, all the kids loved to fit the small plastic figurine in all kinds of tiny boxes and traps. Hundreds of movies were made about him, and thousands of books that captured his essence.
Regardless of his lonely bonds he continued to perform and his act was the most versatile of the whole circus. Every show he got into a different kind of prison. One day he could get his leg stuck in a bear trap, and the other found himself bound to his own mortality. No performance was ever the same, and no one saw the same act more than once. He was trapped in the consistency of his own inconsistency.
It was all of this that made the show of February the 31st so bizarre. Before the trapeze artist but after the tightrope, the ringmaster took a pair of handcuffs and placed them in the middle of the stage, after which everything went dark, and from the shadows came out the thin figure everyone was waiting for.
Everyone was still as the man took the handcuffs and closed the first ring around his right wrist. No one dared to breathe when he did the same with the second ring and his left wrist. Just a second before everyone applauded, as the man raised his arms to show the audience his incredible achievement, the handcuffs slipped from his arms and fell into the floor.
For a single moment everything went silent. No sound was heard until a little kid in the front row started crying. After the sobs of the innocent child a thousand sounds followed. Some were cursing the performer, others shook in anger, and others simply started throwing food. After some time, people started leaving and soon the whole tent was empty, with just the man standing on the stage. The ringmaster came and slapped the artist, kicking him out of the circus.
For a while no one heard or knew of the man, after the mess that had been his act he had disappeared. What happened to him was a mystery. Many rumors spread at first, but with the passing of time people begin to forget all about the man who could escape any trap. There was no one who knew his name, and only a few remembered his face.
One of the few who did was a bartender at the edge of the world. One day she saw the performer enter her bar, asking for a gin and tonic. While she made the drink she asked if he was indeed the famous artist, he nodded slowly. “How is it” she asked “you could get yourself trapped in so many ways?”.
The man looked at her and spoke slowly. “It’s all about safety and comfort. For me, being bound was the best feeling in the world. Little else could compare. When I was restrained I didn’t have to worry about making a mistake, or go in the wrong direction. When I fell into a trap I was the safest man in the world. It was all so easy because I practically didn’t have to do anything”.
Confused, the girl set the man’s drink down and asked another question. “If it was so easy how did you ever mess up that fateful performance?”. The man laughed and looked her directly in the eye. “When I was putting on those handcuffs my left wrist itched a little, I felt uncomfortable, and I liked it. That is why I made the handcuffs slip right out of my hands.”he said softly “You see, I had never felt that feeling of annoyance, I had spent my whole life trying to be safe, to be comfortable. I had never allowed myself to feel something different, to get out of my comfort zone. In all my life I had never felt like myself. When I felt that itch everything changed, that’s when I decided that I couldn’t keep living safely and comfortable. That is when I stop binding myself in the prison I had built”.
The artist left the bar not long after and the bartender was left to reflect on what she had just heard. It wasn’t long before she finally realized the truth. After years of entrapment, the performer had finally escaped. He was finally free.
