Friendly Francis

When we traveled with a family-run carnival for a whole season, there were many game owners who traveled with the show (as it’s called)…they owned their games and made a pretty good living, paying the carnival owners a ‘nut,’ which is what they call the fee for setting up with the carnival for the week.  They were in the carnival business because they’d grown up doing it and had either worked their way up to owning their own games or took over their parents’ games.

One of the couples who owned their own game was Bob and Francis.  They were both characters, but Francis shined as the character to top all characters!  Her real name was Friendly, but she couldn’t stand being called that, so she had people call her Francis.  She was the most tell-it-like-it-is person I have ever met!  She and Bob would invite us into their RV some evenings, and Francis would get going with her stories.  She’d grown up in carnivals when they were shady, side-show, cheating set-ups…she’d been a woman without a head, a woman without a body, the world’s tiniest woman, and on and on!  She told us the illusions and tricks they used for the side shows.

Francis had some sad stories too, about her children, painful things that had happened to her in her life, and medical and personal situations, and sometimes tears would roll down her cheeks as she talked.  She came across to me as someone who wasn’t used to being listened to and valued, which is so sad, given all that she’d seen and experienced.  How many other Friendly Francis’ are out there, with a rich history and wisdom, just waiting for someone to listen….to take the time to listen?  I urge you to find your Francis and learn. 

“Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance.“  ~Proverbs 1:5