The first time that Jean assisted with a dental procedure, the problem tooth was four feet long - even with the tip broken off. Seven-year old Jean's job was to hold the tray of tools for her father, resident veterinarian for the Lievel Circus, as he whittled and filed the broken tusk back to a tidy point. Perfect teeth are essential for any performer, after all. Panju the elephant, pampered star of the Big Top, was no exception.

On hectic days in her job in Dr. John Patterson's dental office, Jean is sometimes reminded of her childhood years growing up in the circus. She has never mentioned them to her boss or co-workers, though. For one thing, those days are a long time past. For another, she doesn't want to take the inevitable razzing.

Jean's mother was Hungarian, from a long and respected line of trapeze artists. Raven-haired, dark-eyed and stunning in the form-fitting sequined leotard she wore for her act, she looked the very type of a tempestuous femme fatale. In fact, she was even-tempered and placid, with a warm, low voice and abiding love for flowers. It was Jean's father, a stocky and bespectacled French-Canadian, who had the fiery temper in the family. Its hottest blaze was reserved for anyone he ever caught mistreating an animal.

Jean enjoyed her childhood within the close-knit community of the circus troupe. They were all family to her. It was like living with a hundred talented, hard-working and wonderfully eccentric relatives. She loved helping her father care for the animals. It was fun to learn tumbling skills from her mother, and exciting when she became good enough to play minor roles in the clown acts. It was certainly an excellent way to learn the geography of North America.

Still, there were times when she deeply envied the town children she saw along the way. Their homes never bounced along a highway as they slept, and had trees and lawns around them instead of concrete lots that changed every few days. They went to school with lots of kids their own age, instead of doing lonely correspondence courses on the road most of the year and mixing with an ever-changing group of other show children for the few weeks the circus was in its winter quarters in California.

She didn't't argue at all when her parents decided that she should have a more normal education than was possible in their nomadic existence and sent her to her grandmother's home in the small town of Milborough, Ontario to attend Junior High school.

It didn't take Jean long to discover that the settled life was for her. She loved waking up to the same view outside the window every morning. It was a joy to help plant the seeds in her grandmother's small garden and know that she would be there to watch them grow all summer long and to harvest the vegetables in the fall. Circus life had given her the knack of getting along with people of all sorts and ages, so it didn't take her long to fit into the school and find her own circle of friends.

One summer day when she was sixteen, Jean was walking home from her job as a Candy-striper at the local hospital when she passed a house under construction. Idly watching the men at work as she went by, she noticed a boy she knew slightly among them, shirtless and gleaming with sweat as he sat astride a rafter and swung his hammer with easy skill. He must have felt her eyes on him, because he paused to look down at her. For a long moment, their gazes held. Then he gave her a grin and unleashed an exaggerated version of the classic construction-worker wolf whistle. Warmed by the compliment, she laughed, waved, and went on her way.

The first day of school in September, Jean walked into her English class and heard a soft wolf whistle from the back of the room. There was her construction-worker, this time with his shirt on, grinning at her with the same teasing good-humour as when he had been perched thirty feet in the air.



By Christmas, she and Mark Baker were going steady. How could she resist a guy who not only had a great physique and loving heart, but was also planning to spend his life building houses, the ultimate symbol of settled life?

The years of assisting her veterinarian father had left Jean determined to find a career in some part of the health care profession. But Mark was eager to marry right after graduation. He was already working with his father in the family construction business on his holidays and would have a decent income as soon as he was done school. It was hard for Jean to think of leaving him to go away to university for the time it would take to get a medical or nursing degree.

She compromised by taking a 10-month course as a Dental Assistant. When a job opening came up in the little dental clinic in her home town, she jumped at it.

Late in 1984, after eight years of marriage and fading hopes for a family, Jean was delighted to discover she was pregnant. She gave notice from her job, planning to be a stay-at-home mom. But much as she loved her beautiful new daughter Brittany, she found herself missing the camaraderie and sense of purpose of her career. When Dr. Patterson begged her to come back to work in 1986, Jean agreed to go, at least for a little while, part-time. She has been happily working for him ever since. A good listener with a genuine interest in other people's problems and a healthy measure of common sense, she has always been the one her co-workers turn to when they need to vent.



As the practise expanded, Jean took on more and more of the paperwork until now she acts as the office administrator and only assists occasionally. This suits her fine, since she is also doing most of the bookwork for Mark's contracting business and can use the same skills in both. Every summer, she takes a short course to keep herself up to date with new administrative software and office procedures.

Jean and Mark bought a wooded three-acre lot on the edge of town as soon as they could come up with the money for the down payment, and built themselves a lovely colonial-style home in 1983. Jean has a large vegetable garden of her own now, lots of flower beds, and bird feeders everywhere. It's the settled life at its best, and she never tires of it.

She and Mark have their suspicions, though, that her daughter may have inherited the wandering gene.

Jean's parents retired when the circus closed in 1993, but still spend most of their time travelling around the world. Sometimes, however, they come to visit their daughter and enjoy a bit of the quiet life of suburbia.

Brittany loves it when her grandparents come, and can't get enough of their stories about the circus. When she was small, she went with them on the road for part of two summers and loved every minute of it. Now she is at university taking a Commerce degree and working on summer vacations as a roustabout with a small circus in the U.S.

Mark and Jean are not quite sure where their daughter will go with her life. But they will support her decision, whatever she chooses to do. And she can be sure, whenever she tires of the wandering life, that they will always be there in Milborough to welcome her home.