Clowning Around

I put the over sized costume on and look in the mirror...uh I was ugly, I was a clown. A clown's curly multicolored hair, strangely painted face, and abnormally large nose, can be scary for a young child- it was scary for me! A clown, that was my job for the neighborhood fall festival, I was going to tie balloons and juggle for all the local kids. In my neighborhood fall festival is a big deal, it's like a giant Halloween party, except most of those who attend are under the age of seven. The only problem with this joyous even was that the person that they elected clown, was not very good at clowning around.

From my house I walked nervously to the festival, and when I arrived I sat at the table that held host to a large sign that read 'clown.' I sighed, opened a large bag of balloons and then glanced fearfully at a small group of children playing nearby. Hopefully they liked clowns, I thought to myself as I began to stretch and pump up a long, blue balloon. Just as I was thinking about how terrifying I must look little, when a boy in an over sized t-shirt ran up to me. "Will you make me a dog?" he asked in almost a whisper.

I nodded. "I sure can," I replied tying the blue balloon that I had just pumped up off so no air would come out.

As I began to twist the balloon in to shape I began to get nervous. So nervous in fact that I began to make mistakes. First it was the ears, they were lopsided. Next, I made the feet and body; only I made them too small, so the tail was now huge. I blushed under my pale makeup as I handed the dog to the little boy, "Here you go."

Not too long after that, a group of rowdy looking six year old's came up to me. "Can you make me a gun?" one boy asked.

"How about a bear?" another boy inquired.

I looked at them nervously, "Er, no," I replied. "But I can make you guys a sword."

"I want a sword!" the boys cried with glee and then lined up excitedly. I had lived through the boys.

Thus far I hadn't done too bad. Sure I couldn't make a bear or a gun out of a piece of expandable latex, but a sword was a good compromise. I thought I might be okay at this clown thing that is until a little girl, about three years old walked up to me with her parents.

"Hi, how are you?" I asked her gently. The girl looked at me and began to back away.

"Just something simple," her mother told me as I began to pump up a pink balloon.

I quickly decided on a dog and began folding it in to shape; I had made about fifty dogs by now and was well practiced. When I was done I stooped down to the little girl's level and handed her the balloon. That's when it happened, my bright red clown's nose, fell off. I couldn't hide it, it was too late, the little girl had seen. She looked at me with wide eyes and began to cry. I quickly covered my face and replaced my red nose; the girl stopped crying, but continued to eye me suspiciously.

I'm not a very good clown, I don't even like clowns. And it's too late to fix the fact that on that autumn day not too long ago I ruined the clown experience for several children. They may never look at clowns the same again! If I could do the neighborhood fall festival again, I would have learned how to make more than just a dog and a sword or even better I wouldn't have agreed to be the clown. I should have told the parents of the neighborhood to, "skip the clown all together clowns are scary don't give your children (or myself) nightmares by taking them to see one of these bright haired anomalies!"