Walnut Grove, Minn.-Recent reports indicate that the manager of the circus currently in town may be toxic.
Annabelle, the fat woman in London’s Circus, recently found herself downtrodden when her brother, Oleson’s Mercantile proprietor Nels Oleson, ignored her as she dined at the restaurant his family owns and runs. As she quietly mourned the lackluster treatment, her circus colleagues reported to their manager, London, that Annabelle felt down. Upon hearing this report, London and the rest of the circus gang entered Annabelle’s room in the tent to comfort her. Urging her to share what made her upset, London reminded her that they are all family. Now, some of the circus folk have come forward anonymously to complain that this is just one mark of the toxic environment that London has created at work.
“I personally have never felt comfortable with London just throwing around the word family like that,” the man who lifts fake heavy weights reported anonymously. “I don’t think there’s a good way to use words like ‘family’ at work. For most of us in the circus, our families have disowned us at one point or another. This is just a painful reminder of that. Even if someone has a good relationship with their family, it seems harmful to think that the people you work with hold that same status. It’s just bad news no matter how you look at it.”
The elephant trainer secretly shared similar complaints, commenting that it “is bad enough having a strained relationship with my actual family. Isn’t it enough to just call them coworkers?”
Hearing of this toxicity made others wonder about London’s other traits and if he could really be trusted. The dog trainer, for example, wonders if his name really is even London.
“Just one name? No last name? Not sure I believe that,” she wonders aloud as she preps the dogs for that evening’s performance.
At press time, Laura was reflecting on how London had told her that everyone in the circus had no secrets from each other. Thinking a complete lack of boundaries is normal, Laura decides that if she ever has a baby she will tell her husband in front of her parents instead of letting him savor the news privately first.
