Part 11

At night, Cat and Scarlett chose with the crew all the cities they would visit: Paris, Mumbai, Moscow, Tokyo and New York. They decided to spend from two to three days in each city.

Actually, the leaders convinced some circus artists from these cities to join their show, and their crew if they won the competition. Then, they had drawn the show.

In each city, Cat was buying some stuff and sent them to her uncle who got very happy by these presents, while Magnus was angry of not getting a present but he was happy anyway for the happiness of his sick friend.

Also, Magnus was all the time contacting with the circus. And he refused completely to tell Catherine that Sebastian's health was going worse, neither Catherine nor the crew; it was only Scarlett who kept this bad news from them to not discourage them...

Anyway, at final, the crew came back to Paris, where the ICC would begin. And with help, cooperation and understanding each other, the two women and the squad created the best show anyone can imagine...

On the first days of the fourth week, the competition began. And after many circuses' shows - that indeed, they stole some ideas from TEC - our circus started its show.

Well, I won't describe again what happened in the show. But I need to mention that a lot of changes happened and many new ideas appeared. And that the public and the Committee were jumping and clapping of happiness and excitement.

Now, after performing all the shows of circuses, it was the moment of announcing the winner. It was the hardest moment for TEC; of course, their loss would lead them to lose Sebastian and the train.

Before this, Scarlett talked to Cat:

- Catherine, I want to tell you that... in case if we didn't win the competition... it's ok... we'll find another way... we'll find another solution... ok?

Then, the committee screamed the winner: "The Extraordinary Circus"!

Cat got shocked and she started yelling happily and crazily. Scarlett smiled and sighed deeply. Angry smiled for the first time in his life but he came back to his angry face. And the crew yelled and hugged each other, celebrating their winning...

Cat got a black bag which contained the money. And then Scarlett invited all the crew to get a drink on her expenses.

In the French café which turned into a noisy English one cause of the crew, the latter was singing, drinking and dancing. It was only Cat who was just looking at the bag, as she didn't believe their success. Thus, Carter noticed her reaction and she sat next to her:

- What's the wrong?

- (smiling) Nothing... just I couldn't believe that...

- We succeeded?

- Yes... we can rescue the train now...

- Yeah... rescue the whole circus...

- Right...

- Come and enjoy your time with us!

- I know... I'm coming...

Abruptly, a postman got in the café, gasping, and he asked George, with the French accent:

- Are you a member of TEC?

- Yes, what is it?

- You have a message from London.

- London?

He got the letter and he found out that Magnus was the sender. He gave it to Scarlett and she opened it after that Smith refused to get it. She started reading loudly:

"My friends,

First, before you start reading the letter, give it to Scarlett, and do not give it to Cat. Read it loudly.

I heard about your winning. I can't express how much I'm happy. But, Sebastian couldn't even hear it: he is in a very hard situation. His health is getting worse. Imagine that after he finished vomiting, he told me that he doesn't want to die! I have never seen Sebastian talking so pessimistic like that; the disease is affecting him so much. Now, he can't move. He's sleeping for more than a day. Doctors put the oxygen mask on his mouth and nose. His skin turned so yellow like corpses'. In this morning, they told me that the month is going to be over and Seb is not going better: the tumor is not killed. They need to do the surgery now... or we lose him forever...

Scarlett, Cat, what should we do? Seb and I need you here right now!

Love,

Magnus"

When Carter finished reading it, she noticed that members' faces turned very sad. Catherine was just gazing the bag; she could no longer cry. The postman said goodbye after listening to the letter and then he left the café.

Scarlett put the letter on the table. The café became so calm. The crew looked at Scarlett, asking her "what to do next?" but she even was looking for the answer from Smith, who stood up and spoke, looking at her crew:

- Ladies and gents... here, in this bag, we have a full million dollars. And outside, we need two millions dollars to rescue our boss, and to keep the train. But we have just one million dollars, our boss is dying and the month will be over; means we'll say "bye bye" to our beloved train. In this case, we need to sacrifice one thing, to keep the other: either we sacrifice by Sebastian to keep the train, or we sacrifice by the train, to keep Sebastian. The latter ordered us to make just one million dollars to keep the train. But, just to see what we have... we can replace the train by another one, at anytime, whenever and wherever we want. However, Sebastian Smith is a soul, irreplaceable; if we lost it, we'll never replace it or have a substitute for him. So, will we let Sebastian go? Or the train?

- (Everybody screamed) the train!

- Which one will be replaced?! Sebastian?! Or the train?!

- (they yelled excited) The train!

- Whom will we keep?! A beloved soul? Or a beloved train?!

- Sebastian!

- For whom will we spend this money? Sebastian? Or the train?

- Sebastian!!

- So why are we that sad? We will really be sad when we lose Sebastian. We'll feel regret when we lose a beloved soul. Nobody will feel too much sad for losing the train, more than losing our darling Sebastian. For whom will we spend this money?!

- For Sebastian!

- For whom?!

- For Sebastian!!

Catherine looked at the bag. She took it and she finished her exciting speech:

- Gather the belongings now, go to the port and take the ship from Paris to London once you finish.

Angry asked her: "And you?"

- I'll come back to London right now.

She caught the bag well and she ran from the café toward the port. And Scarlett followed her while the crew understood... nothing.

While her running, her short skirt got opened and became long. And luckily, she found the ship from Paris to London getting ready to go.

The two women arrived finally to the hospital in the next morning. And they found Sebastian as Magnus described. They found also the latter sleeping and catching his friend's hand. Cat got in the room calmly without making noise but Magnus woke up and smiled, happy to see his other friend here.

The girl sat next to her uncle, looking at him and catching his other hand and so the latter woke up. He said hardly:

- ... Catherine?

- Yes, uncle... (teary eyes) I'm here... Look (she showed him the bag) we won the competition... we won the million dollars, uncle... but we decided to use this money to rescue you instead of keeping the train.

- But...

- Uncle, we can buy another train at anytime. But we can't buy another "Sebastian Smith"... you're irreplaceable...

He smiled and his eye shed a tear. Then, he nodded as he was saying: I accept to have the surgery.

Indeed, Cat and Scarlett paid the doctors to make the operation.

The surgery spent many hours. During them, the crew arrived and they sat with our three friends, asking the God to help them and rescue their beloved boss.

Finally, a doctor got out of the room. And he announced after that all the members stood around him:

- To reassure you, Mr. Smith will be in a good health: he'll get better. We cut the tumor and some cells around it to be sure that the tumor won't grow up again in the liver. We discovered that it grew up too much more than the first time we've seen it. Anyway, Mr. Smith is taking a rest now. You can visit him after a half hour. However, in the future, he needs a check-up each month in case of.

- (very glad) Thank you doc. Thanks!

After a half hour, the crew got in Seb's room where the latter was just looking at the roof. He got very happy to see his crew, and the latter became happier to find their boss fine after a hard month.

Sebastian: My crew! You're here! All of you!

Cat: Uncle! Thanks God! You look very well and... healthy!

Magnus: We're so happy you came back to us as our Sebastian we've known.

Sebastian: But the train...

Scarlett: We decided to buy another one later. Actually, that was Cat's decision.

Magnus: Really?

Angry: Yes... She said that we can't redress a soul we love, but we can lose something even valuable that we can restore it at anytime.

Smith looked at his niece, very touched by her reaction. So, he hugged her tenderly, and murmured:

- You grew up, my darling. You became a tender responsible woman. And I love you so much.

- Me too, uncle...

***