Valorie Fant says:

When the circus came to town in 1957, I was just a little girl. Back in those days the television was in its infancy and a cardboard box was all there was to play with, so a circus was a big deal. For many of us, it was the first time we had ever seen an elephant, not to mention lions and tigers and bears. I remember that day as if it was yesterday. The morning sky was as blue as I had ever seen, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. My cousin John, who was two days older than me, but much shorter, climbed to the top of the old oak tree in front of our yard. We had climbed that tree a hundred times. But this day John climbed higher than ever to see above the crowd of people gathered to see the parade.

I wasn’t far behind when I heard a loud cracking noise and saw something big falling toward the ground. It was my cousin, John. A tree branch had broken and before he could catch himself, he spiraled down like a ripened apple. Horrified, I screamed and everyone looked up to see John coming their way. Then, out of nowhere, a large trunk of an elephant plucked my thrashing cousin out of the air. One of the giant beasts walking in the parade saved John in the nick of time. The large grey animal adorned in ostrich feathers and golden tassels around her feet, reacted as any mother would when a child was in danger. And without missing a step, she placed him behind her ears as if he was part of the show. My lucky cousin John became the star of the parade that day. What a way to join the circus.