Jason had a been a clown for 12 years. As with most of his other clown friends it was a dream he’d had since he was a child. He wanted to be, and was, the fireman clown with the baggy red pants with red suspenders and a plastic red coat running around with the pail that contained water, and then right before it was going to douse the fans the water turned into confetti. He put his all into it every night. He couldn’t help smiling when he was in the ring because he loved to see the parents and kids laughing with and at them. He and his clown colleagues would do tricks with the little dogs and, of course, get into the little car and climb back out of it. The car was a secret shared by clowns around the world. It was something that banded them together. But lately, he was getting a little restless. It seemed like each city looked like the last city. He used to remember funny little things that happened at each stop of their tour, but for some reason he didn’t seem to care as much. He still loved to get dressed up and wear the big red boots and play with the elephant who filled the water in his bucket. He loved the elephant. Her name was Gert. They all loved Gert and treated her like their little pet. He traveled around with the circus and shared his trailer with Tommy, one of the other clowns, who he liked a lot. They were like brothers. He kept pretty much all of his money because he didn’t need to spend it on anything. In fact he’d read a lot of books about investing and was doing really well financially. He got Barrett, the circus accountant, to create a 401(k) fund for everyone so the whole gang was doing well. The circus had always fed them their meals. The woman who was the head chef, Helen, had trained at Le Cordon Bleu and she had, literally, run away and joined the circus. Every year there were a few “Helens.” People who had always wanted to be in the circus, but they weren’t true circus people. He was a lifer.
But he was feeling uneasy these days. He was almost 34. He had a nice amount of money, which was relaxing. He wouldn’t mind settling down and getting a condo, a place of his own. Dixie, one of the dogs, was getting old so maybe they could retire together. Try something new.
Something that piqued his interest was clown supplies, especially shoes. The shoes required special machinery to make and repair them and there were only so many manufacturers left. They had a hard time finding the shoes, so, mostly, the clowns wore the same old shoes over and over and over. He wouldn’t make a mint, but it could be nice to have a little shop where he could make and repair clown shoes. There were a couple of guys, Graham and Saul, who did just that. Saul was in Nebraska on Lake McConaguy and Graham was in Gulf Shores, Alabama. When they were close to either shop the clowns would take a road trip and get their shoes fixed. Graham had a had shoe repair machine that he had tooled to adapt for clown shoes. People would send him shoes from all over the country to repair. He loved going to Destin, it was beautiful with white sand beaches and low taxes. Graham was an older guy, maybe he could work with him. He sold a few clown supplies in his shop like makeup and wigs, but they were a little lackluster and old. Maybe he could rev up that side of the business for him. They could also sell proper clown wigs. He could use the wigs made out of human hair and do a custom color job. The acrylic hair looked artificial and pointed out in funny directions. Even though a clown is silly, a clown’s hair doesn’t need to look cheap. The ideas kept rolling: he could sell the face makeup that all of them preferred. Again, sometimes it is hard to find because it’s imported from Japan. Maybe they could start selling on the internet. He didn’t know a thing about computers, but he could certainly learn. He had enough money to hire someone to get them started. That night while he was in the ring he was excited, happy and inspired. It boosted his performance. As always, everyone in the seats startled when they thought they were going to be doused with water. When it turned to confetti, they laughed with relief. He loved that moment. He would always love that moment.
betty blatt 
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