The Guild of Fallen Clowns (29 page)

“Geno, isn’t the Dumpster out back?” Alan
said.

Geno turned back as he continued walking.
“Just follow me, Alan,” he said.

They continued on to one of the guest trash
barrels on the opposite side of the midway. Geno tossed his bag,
then took the bag from Alan and added it to the barrel. He looked
around like a paranoid police informant.

“What’s wrong, Geno?”

Geno moved so that Alan’s body blocked his
line with the Labyrinth. “Be careful, Alan.”

“Careful of what?”

“Did you notice the change in him
today?”

“In Peepers? Yes. What was that all about? I
didn’t want to say anything, but I was really getting concerned
that he wasn’t being honest with me.”

“I don’t know about that, but something is
different. I can’t put my finger on it, but you should be
careful.”

“I will, Geno, but what do you know that you
aren’t telling me?”

Geno peered around Alan. “Oh no, not
now.”

“What? What is it?” Alan said as he turned
to see what caught Geno’s attention.

“It’s The Ringmaster. I just saw him
sneaking into the Labyrinth. That guy better be careful or he might
just get what he wishes for.” Geno looked back at Alan. “Look, I
gotta see what he’s up to. I probably shouldn’t have said
anything.” With that, Geno sprinted back to the Labyrinth.

At the top of his stairs, Alan stopped.
Still made up as Boogy, he turned to look at Lyle’s door. The box
he dropped off hours earlier, with the Spanky figure inside, was
gone. Lyle must have retrieved it. He wondered what happened when
people got the figures. His own experience with Peepers had to be
much different because there weren’t any sculpted figures involved.
He experienced Peepers in the home of the Guild of Fallen Clowns.
The only way for Peepers to make his presence known was to appear
in the mirrors of the Labyrinth. But how did the small figures help
people? Up till now, he just assumed the mere presence of the
figures changed people for the better. The clown spirits might be
similar to other good luck charms, and their owners unknowingly
benefitted from their hidden powers.

These were his assumptions all along, but
after leaving Peepers, and getting the disturbing warning from
Geno, he wasn’t sure of anything.

At the risk of getting pummeled by Lyle, he
decided to search for answers by knocking on his neighbor’s door.
Clown shoes in hand, he approached the apartment and knocked. He
waited, and when there was no answer he raised his hand to knock
again when he heard heavy footsteps approach the door from inside.
They stopped and the peephole went dark.

Through the door, Lyle asked, “What do you
want, Alan?”

Alan wasn’t expecting this response for a
number of reasons. First, it wasn’t like Lyle to stand behind the
door rather than flinging it open. If Spanky wasn’t working on him,
Lyle might take the opportunity to do some clown bashing. If, on
the other hand, Spanky were successful in taming Lyle’s bullying
ways, Lyle would likely be cordial toward him.

Standing behind the door wasn’t one of the
options he envisioned; however, the explanation could be a simple
one. Maybe Lyle wasn’t dressed. As a bachelor himself, Alan was
quite familiar with the comfortable freedom of lounging in one’s
underwear.

The closed door was confusing, but
understandable. It was Lyle’s choice of words that baffled him
more. Lyle was looking at him through his peephole. The face
staring back was that of Boogy

or, as
Lyle liked to refer to him, “Booger.” It was the perfect setup, yet
Lyle chose to call him by his given name. This was a good sign that
the Spanky figure was working.

“Uh, hey, Lyle, I don’t mean to bother you,
but earlier I dropped something off for you. I should have given it
to you in person, but…um, I didn’t. Anyway, I was just wondering if
you got it and—”

“Yes—I got it,”

“Oh, good I, uh, I guess. I just thought it
might help to make things better between us.”

“Yes, it’s just great. I really appreciate
the thought. You’ve always been nice to me and I’ve been a real
jerk. I’d let you in, but I’m kind of tied up with something right
now.”

“Oh, that’s okay. I understand. Like I said,
I just wanted to stop by to see if everything was good.”

Light reappeared from the peephole, followed
by the sound of Lyle’s feet stomping away from the door. Satisfied
with Lyle’s pleasant demeanor, Alan crossed the hall to his own
apartment.

*****

Standing in his tighty-whities, with his
arms securely tied to his sides, Lyle opened his mouth. Spanky
inserted his clown nose gag and securely tied it behind his head.
“Well done. Perhaps I’ll reduce your punishment by five
lashes.”

Lyle kneeled and lowered his torso over the
coffee table. His exposed back was covered with swollen red whip
lines, highlighted with random speckles and drip trails of blood.
Tears welled in his eyes and he whimpered in expectation of the
continued torture from his one-legged clown sadist. Tightening his
grip on the rope whip, Spanky hopped into the optimal position and
raised his hand high above his head.

*****

Beep. “Hey, Alan, this is Mary. I just heard
the news about what happened down at the—”

Alan dashed across the room and picked up
the phone before she could finish. “Hi, Mary, I just got in.”

“Oh, good, you’re there. I just heard what
happened with that boy, and I wanted to call to see how you were
doing. It’s such a shame. He had his whole life ahead of him. Are
you okay?”

“I’m okay, I guess. I mean, yeah, it’s
horrible what happened to him. He was just doing what lots of boys
his age do. He wanted a cheap thrill, but he shouldn’t have
died.”

“I know. It sickens me when I hear stories
like this. They said his friends wouldn’t go in with him. I can’t
imagine what they must be going through right now. If only they had
gone with him, they might have been able to save him. And if he
used a flashlight instead of a lighter, there wouldn’t have been
any fire or smoke in the first place. It’s just so sad because it
was so avoidable. It’s as if someone decided it was his time to go,
and all these coincidences were part of a bigger plan.”

“What? Do you think someone planned to do
that?”

“No, well, you know. When God calls your
number, there’s nowhere you can hide. Did you hear about that
couple a few months ago that got killed by a tree falling on their
car as they were leaving a parking lot on a clear day?”

“Oh, right. That was a fluke.”

“That’s what I’m saying. It doesn’t seem
fair—but what can you do?”

“Yeah, what can you do?” he repeated.

“So anyway, are you still okay with our
plans for tomorrow night? I would certainly understand if you
wanted to go somewhere else, or even cancel our date. It’s all
still fresh for you, and I want to be sure we don’t have a dark
cloud hanging over us on our first date.”

Her choice of words pulled him from thoughts
of fate, coincidence, and growing concerns over his relationship
with Peepers, to the prospect of a potentially budding courtship
with Mary.

She said “first date,” strengthened with
words relating to the importance of it being successful and
memorable. At least that was how he interpreted her statement.

While he thought he was replaying her words
in the privacy of his own head, they managed to escape under his
breath. “First date.” Barely audible and spoken in the confusing
area between a question and a statement, the words played in stereo
both inside and outside his head as his hand instantly covered his
mouth.

Without missing a beat Mary laughed. “Yes,
Alan. I said first date. Does that scare you?”

“Scare me? No, not at all. It’s just that I
wasn’t sure if we were going as friends or, uh—”

“Of course we’re going as friends,” she
said.

Friends, just great. Why did I allow
myself to think someone like her could be interested in anything
more?
he thought. It was high school all over again, but the
role of Paula was now being played by Mary Krauss.

“I don’t know about you, but I don’t believe
in dating a guy until I can first consider him to be my friend. My
mother married her best friend. For that matter, so did my father.
Don’t you consider me to be your friend?”

Their date wasn’t until the following night,
yet in his head he could hear the unmistakable ratcheting sound of
a roller coaster being hoisted to the next crest.

“Yes, I consider you to be my friend. And
yes, I’m okay with going to the carnival for our date—our first
date. It’ll be fun going as Alan and not Boogy the Clown. I’m
really looking forward to it,” he said.

“It will be fun. I’d love to see you in your
Boogy costume, but I’d much rather be there with Alan.”

“Oh, that’s right, I forgot to tell you. I
won’t be working there anymore. They decided to keep the Haunted
Labyrinth of Mirrors closed for the remainder of their time in
Riverside. I worked the crowds outside, and now Boogy’s services
are no longer needed.”

“Oh no, I’m sorry to hear that. I was
planning on stopping in to see Boogy.”

“It’s okay. I’m fine with the decision. As a
matter of fact, after what happened, I’m not sure Boogy would be
able to entertain the crowds,” he said. “Boogy won’t be appearing
there anymore, but you’ll always have your memories of Boogy in
Clown World.”

“May he rest in peace,” Mary chuckled.

“Speaking of Clown World, I’m curious. Is
Peepers still helping other virtually addicted players kick the
habit?” he asked.

“That’s an interesting perspective,” she
said. “Actually, no, he isn’t. After killing you and stealing your
powers, he went on a killing spree. He obliterated the top tier of
players. Then he just disappeared. It didn’t make sense. You know
how the game is played. You can’t get to the top without building
alliances and helping your friends.”

“He’s not playing anymore?”

“No, he isn’t, and that’s a good thing. I
know you think the guy was responsible for breaking your addiction
to the game, but honestly, I think you’re giving that creep too
much credit. The only thing he did was destroy your character in
the virtual world. I admire the fact that you are a humble person
Alan, but seriously—if you really think some nerdy twelve-year-old
kid sitting behind his laptop in a small village in Austria is
responsible for your personal success in the real world, then maybe
I spoke too soon about future dates.”

And the clicking sounds stopped as the
mental roller coaster reached the peak. His hands instinctively
rose above his head as the rumbling wheels of the first car spread
and intensified as subsequent links of the train were pulled
behind. This was the most dramatic drop to date on his ride with
Mary. At the bottom of the tracks, there was a split. To the left,
the fall continued another fifty feet and the tracks ended at a
battered concrete wall surrounded by shattered remnants of past bad
decisions.

To the right, the tracks continued for a
long distance, reminiscent of a runaway truck ramp on the downward
slope of a mountain. Those tracks disappeared into a thick layer of
undisturbed crushed gravel.

Finding himself alone and in the front car,
he knew that he had to make a quick decision, but there weren’t any
controls. This was a new experience for him. On one side he could
see his past. The other side was new and untraveled. In front of
him there was nothing but a handlebar. His hands were raised, going
along for the ride. The speed increased. The closer he got to the
split, the more faded the tracks to the runaway ramp became. The
decision was being made for him, but it wasn’t his choice.

At the last possible instant, he leaned
right. His arms hung over the side of the car and the concrete wall
vanished.

“A twelve-year-old kid in Austria? That’s
funny. I can’t say I had the same image in my head, but I get your
point.”

“Really? Because you had me worried when you
asked if he was still in the game, ‘
helping’
others.”

“I can only imagine how big that red flag
looked,” he snickered. “Forget about future dates. You must have
been thinking of ways to get out of our first date.”

“Well...” she said jokingly.

Alan laughed. “Don’t worry. I was just
kidding about that guy helping people. If you haven’t figured it
out yet, I’m not that good at telling jokes. I need to work on my
delivery.”

“Yeah, we’ll definitely have to work on that
before you meet my uncles.”

“Your uncles? Does that mean the red flag is
gone and we’re still on for tomorrow night?”

“I don’t know,” she said playfully. “I’m not
completely convinced yet.”

“Oh no? What do I have to do to prove that I
didn’t mean it the way it sounded?” Alan smiled and waited for her
reply. To his surprise and delight, he had succeeded in changing
the tone of their conversation from a potential crash-and
burn-ending to that of a flirtatious repartee. The fact that
Peepers was the primary subject of their flirty banter escaped
him.

“Hmm, let’s see—what can I make you do?”

“Your wish is my command, milady.”
Oh
no,
he thought.
Did I really say that? And I was doing so
well in repressing my inner dork. Now she’s going to think I’m one
of those Renaissance Festival geeks. Those days, and the red and
yellow tights, are best left in the past.

Fortunately, Mary was too deep in thought to
digest his comment. “The jerk killed Boogy, and now I’m not going
to be able to see Boogy at the carnival.”

“Where are you going with this?” He was
beginning to feel uncomfortable with the amount of consideration
she was giving to the dilemma. He hoped his penance wouldn’t
subject him to embarrassment.