Larry the Clown

 

 Larry was feeling out of sorts. His issues with John had taken it’s toll. He was too tired to even feed the birds. What worried him most were the strange thoughts going through his head these days. Thoughts like, “Let them die”. Those weren’t thoughts, or words, Larry normally heard in his head. Oh he heard things, some days more than others. But he had never felt the numbing prescence of fear, such as he did, when he heard those three little words, “Let them die”.

 

 It was time, Larry knew that, time for a change. He could dress up as a woman but what fun would that be. And fun, that’s what Larry really needed right now. Something to make him laugh. And then it hit him, a clown, a clown always made Larry laugh. Larry could dress up as a clown and make everybody laugh, though he wasn’t too good with jokes. Normally, Larry was the joke. He did his best to just laugh it off. If Larry was going to be a clown he needed to have some jokes. He headed off to his favorite store, the Goodwill, and there he found a used book on jokes called, "Truly Tasteless Jokes". Larry did his best to memorize two or three of the jokes by reading them outloud. People on the bus were not amused, no one was laughing. At least not until the driver told Larry he had to get off the bus for being offensive to blacks, women and priests.

 

 It took him most of the week to decide what type of clown he wanted to be. For reasons he could not explain Larry liked the ‘John Wayne Gacy’ look. It looked good on fat middle-aged men. 

 

 It was his neighbor, Bessy, who first noticed Larry in costume.“You look... different Larry.” And Larry smiled. She was a sweet girl, pretty in a way, but much too young for him.  Nonetheless he made it a point to be 'working' in the yard when Bessy would get home from work. Sometimes he watched through the curtains in his costume rehearsing two or three of his jokes. Maybe someday he would tell Bessy a joke. He hoped she would laugh.

 

 One night Bessy was late and Larry was puttering around in the yard when three tough looking young men approached Larry. To Larry's relief they started to laugh. "Tell us a joke clown!" said the stringy, blond haired man. The request caught Larry off guard, he'd never told a joke before. Before he could, Bessy arrived home. Instead of going inside she ran straight towards the stringy haired man and gave him a big kiss.

 

  Larry was crushed and his tears hard to hide. Bessy and her friends noticed Larry's tears and began to laugh. "They look so real", "How's he do it?"

 Larry escaped to his apartment stunned, broken and oddly mad. Larry didn’t get mad very often but when he did it was not a pretty picture. Even dressed as a clown it was nothing to laugh about.

 

 With pen in hand, Larry quickly scrawled a short note, “Meet me at Playland, 9 p.m., Tuesday. Bring your friends.” He signed it ‘Larry’ hoping she’d know who Larry was. He then taped the note to Jenni’s door and quickly stepped back upstairs without ever being noticed.

 

 On Tuesday, Larry painted himself up perfectly. John Wayne Gacy would have been proud. He left early for the amusement park, he knew he needed a little extra time to set up his ‘show’. At a little after nine, Larry’s mascara was beginning to run. He started to hear some whispering close by. He listened close, “Let them die, let them die, let them die”. The voice sounded familiar. It was then he saw Jenni with her evil friends. They were all laughing, looking so cute. He presented all of them with a balloon upon their arrival and then surprised them even more when he pulled out a gun. He told them it was all part of his show, to shoot the balloons.

 

 Before they could react there was a loud pop and a balloon drifted slowly high into the air. “Damn I missed”, laughed Larry. “Should I try again?” But before he could take aim a struggle began. When it was over Larry lay dead on the ground. Jenni later told the officers that, bizarre as it sounds, it appeared Larry had gotten into a fight with himself when the gun accidentally went off.

 

 A few days later, Larry’s funeral was held and attendance was sparse.. John, that sonofabitch John, was one of the few that stopped by to pay his last respects.

Reviews

[Gideon Jacob]

I liked this a hell of a lot. There was a sort of dark humour to it that you pulled off wonderfully and the characterisation of Larry was fantastic; I loved how you helped develop it with lots of little touches. Technically it was great too. Also, somehow you made me feel a little sorry for Larry, almost as if he was some kind of victim; certainly he seems like a tragic character. All in all, one of my favourite pieces I've read in the Cafe! Well done!