Chap­ter VII opens with Phil For­rest sprint­ing through the streets, fresh from his unex­pect­ed act of brav­ery ear­li­er in the day. His clothes torn and dusty from the inci­dent, he rush­es home to change, eager to return before the cir­cus begins. Mrs. Cahill meets him with con­cern but pride, insist­ing he wear his best and prais­ing him for his courage. The moment feels monumental—not only had he saved some­one, but he now held the atten­tion and respect of an entire com­mu­ni­ty. With his heart pound­ing from more than just the run, Phil makes his way back toward the lot. This wasn’t just about see­ing a cir­cus any­more; it felt like the begin­ning of some­thing much big­ger. He’s pulled not only by the promise of spec­ta­cle, but by the strange pull of pur­pose.

When Phil arrives at the cir­cus grounds, the ener­gy in the air is elec­tric, yet there’s an under­cur­rent of awe around him. Peo­ple in the crowd whis­per his name, eyes glanc­ing in his direc­tion as sto­ries of his ear­li­er feat rip­ple through the atten­dees. Despite the atten­tion, he remains ground­ed, smil­ing awk­ward­ly when noticed. Before he can be over­whelmed by the crowd, one of Mr. Sparling’s assis­tants ush­ers him qui­et­ly toward the menagerie tent. Inside, the atmos­phere shifts from noisy excite­ment to hushed rev­er­ence as Phil steps into the pres­ence of the great cir­cus ani­mals. With sug­ar cubes tucked in his coat pock­et, he ten­ta­tive­ly approach­es Emper­or and Jupiter, two ele­phants with soul­ful eyes and immense grace. They wel­come his offer­ings with gen­tle curios­i­ty, trunks curl­ing gen­tly around his hands. In that moment, Phil feels deeply seen—not by the audi­ence, but by the ani­mals them­selves.

A con­ver­sa­tion sparks with the ele­phant keep­er, who is both amused and impressed by Phil’s com­fort around such mas­sive crea­tures. He shares tid­bits about ele­phant behavior—how their ears, pos­ture, and vocal­iza­tions reveal their moods. He points out the dif­fer­ence between their calm demeanor and the errat­ic ener­gy of the “cats,” as lions and tigers are com­mon­ly called. Phil lis­tens with rapt atten­tion, absorb­ing each detail like a stu­dent before a mas­ter. The keep­er, see­ing gen­uine inter­est, offers him a few safe­ty rules and even lets Phil observe from a dis­tance as he tends to the ani­mals. This moment shifts some­thing in Phil. It’s not just the thrill of the per­for­mance that draws him—it’s the con­nec­tion, the trust, and the rhythm of life back­stage. His eyes now hold a new spark, one not born of awe but of aspi­ra­tion.

Drawn toward a near­by pen, Phil finds Wal­lace the lion being worked by the head train­er. He watch­es how the train­er bal­ances com­mand with cau­tion, nev­er turn­ing his back and nev­er let­ting his voice fal­ter. The lion, regal and unpre­dictable, responds with both defi­ance and obe­di­ence. It’s a dance of con­trol and respect, one that Phil finds both ter­ri­fy­ing and cap­ti­vat­ing. He imag­ines what it might feel like to earn such trust from an ani­mal, know­ing that at any moment the line between per­for­mance and dan­ger could van­ish. While he’s not yet ready for lions or tigers, he dreams of per­haps start­ing with dogs or ponies—animals with less risk but still enough chal­lenge to feed his hunger for cir­cus life. The idea lingers in his thoughts even as he thanks the keep­er and walks away.

As the call for the show rings out and the crowd begins fun­nel­ing toward the big tent, Phil real­izes he’s no longer just an out­sider look­ing in. The world behind the cur­tain has opened to him, reveal­ing not only thrills but also dis­ci­pline, knowl­edge, and unspo­ken bonds between per­form­ers and ani­mals. He moves with the crowd but feels sep­a­rate somehow—as though he already belongs to some­thing more than just the audi­ence. Tak­ing his seat qui­et­ly, he watch­es the show not as a wide-eyed boy but as some­one who might one day step into the ring. The sights and sounds stir him, but what echoes most are the silent lessons he’s gath­ered behind the scenes. Phil doesn’t yet know his path, but he sens­es it’s wind­ing some­where beneath the cir­cus lights, and he’s ready to fol­low it, one per­for­mance at a time.