I hadn't thought about Mrs. Morgan for years, until I read in the paper
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that she had died. When I was a boy, Mrs. Morgan played solo with my
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mother every Tuesday afternoon. There were two other women there, but
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I can't remember their names anymore. Monkey, Magda, something like that.
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Mrs. Morgan collected opals. Her husband Ted owned a circus, which kept
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him away and out of the picture most of the time. I'd come home from
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school and the women would be hard at the cards. I liked Mrs. Morgan, she
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always had a little chip of opal for me, and said that I should save it
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for a sweetheart. I came home one day and Mrs. Morgan was crying in our kitchen.
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My mother told me to leave them alone. I learned later that a boy from the
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circus had fallen and died. He used to ride the trapeze. Mr. Morgan went out
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of business and they moved away. I've still got the opals.
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It's funny how someone you've never met manages to stay with you.
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Trapeze Boy
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Steve Kilbey |