Excerpt from The Circus Comes to Town by Lebbeus Mitchell

In this excerpt, Jerry, a boy who lives with the Mullarkey family, spots an interesting billboard.

"What're you lookin' at?" called Danny.

Jerry did not answer. Instead, he squatted down on the grassy bank between the sidewalk and the billboard and feasted his eyes on that delightfully extravagant elephant which seemed almost to wink at him. Jerry half expected to see the elephant grab the moon and balance it on the end of his trunk, or toss it up into the sky and catch it again as it fell.

"El'funt!" shouted Chris, when he was near enough to see the poster. His shout started the whole Mullarkey brood galloping towards the billboard.

"The circus!" cried Danny, from the superior experience of his nine years. "The circus is coming to town!"

"It doesn't say the circus is coming," Nora observed, pointing to some lettering in one corner of the poster. Nora was nearly eight years old and proud of her ability to read print, if the words weren't too big—an ability shared by none of the others except Danny.

"It does, too!" contradicted Celia Jane, wrinkling up her nose preparing to cry with disappointment if the circus were not coming. "There's some writin' on it."

"What does it say, Danny?" eagerly asked Jerry, going close to the billboard as though that might help him to make out what was printed on it. "Ain't it coming?"

"Read it quick, Danny! Please! I can't wait!" cried Celia Jane.

Danny read somewhat haltingly:
Ask your mother for fifty cents
To see the elephant jump the fence,
He jumped so high he hit the sky
And never came down till the Fourth of July.

"Is that all?" asked Celia Jane, very much disappointed.
"Didn't I just read it to you?" was Danny's rejoinder.
"Then the circus ain't comin', is it?" said Chris.
"It don't say so," replied Nora. "It don't say whether it's comin' or whether it ain't."
"It doesn't say it's a circus," said Danny. "It might be just an 'ad' for--for any old thing."
Jerry had returned to contemplation of the elephant jumping the fence, when a youthful voice called from across the street, "Look at it good, kid. I guess it's about all of the circus you'll see."
Jerry and the Mullarkey children turned and faced the speaker. It was "Darn" Darner.
"Is the circus coming?" asked Danny.
"Of course it is. What do you suppose they've put up the posters for?"
"It don't say so here," said Nora. "All it says is —"
Darn interrupted. "Where've you kids been? That old poster has been up for a week. Two new ones were pasted up today—one at Jenkins' corner and the other on Jeffreys' barn. It's Burrows and Fairchild's mammoth circus and it's coming a week from Thursday."
"Are you going, Darn?" asked Danny.
"Am I going?" he repeated. "I should say I am going--in a box seat."
"Is it a big circus?" asked Chris.
"It's one of the biggest there is," replied Darn, "with elephants and clowns and everything. I'll tell you all about it the next day."
He began to whistle and continued on his way. When he was out of sight, Jerry turned back to the billboard, and the Mullarkey children lined up at his side and stood in silent contemplation of the delights forecast in the picture. They felt a new respect for that elephant.
"I don't suppose we can go," said Chris at length in a voice that invited contradiction. His remark was met by silence and they continued to stare at the elephant.
Jerry was puzzled. "Why does it want you to ask your mother for fifty cents?" he asked Danny.
"To buy a ticket for the circus, of course," Danny said.
"Will she give you fifty cents?" Jerry asked.
Danny set out towards home on a run without having answered the question.
"Where're you goin'?" asked Chris, with a twinge of suspicion in his voice.
"I'm goin' to ask mother and see."
"That's no fair!" cried Chris. "You can run the fastest and you'll get to ask her first."
"She can't give fifty cents to all of us," replied Danny and kept on running.

Why does the author establish that the Darner family will have box seats at the circus?
a. to suggest that the Darner family has some involvement in the circus
b. to indicate that the Darner family has more money than the Mullarkeys
c. to prove that Darn Darner knows the purpose of the advertisement
d. to hint that the Mullarkey children hope to be invited to the circus by Darn Darner