The circus is one of the settings in "The Leap." In this story, the narrator says that she owes her life to her mother three times. The first time her mother has given her daughter life (or made her daughter's life possible) occurs before the narrator is born. Prior to the narrator's/daughter's birth, her mother was part of a two-person trapeze act called The Flying Avalons. This act traveled with a circus. At the time, her mother (Anna) was married to Harry Avalon, the other member of the trapeze act. Anna was pregnant with another child (not the narrator) at this time.
A freak accident occurs when lightning strikes the main circus tent pole. The tent buckles and Harry and Anna fall to the ground. Rather than trying to save Harry or reach out to him, Anna thinks of her unborn child and tries to save herself. She succeeds but Harry is killed and the baby is born "without life." Anna survives, meets another man, and from that marriage, the daughter/narrator is born.
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