Moving Up

What happens when the opportunity to fulfill your dreams presents itself is what befalls a certain entertainer. Is it going to be what he expected and will he regret the decision that he made to reach

For as long as I can remember I have been funny.  I never have any trouble bringing out a joke for entertaining a single person or even a fantastic crowd.  I started out small, bringing laughs to children in their homes and then moving into the classrooms.  I have been brought along to hospital rooms and always bring a smile to someone’s face.  If there were ever a day that I was left alone then it was probably for my own benefit; for rest of my weary mind and to regain my strength.  It is not easy being funny all of the time, but for me it is demanded.  I don’t stress over it though as others that has tried to uphold my qualities of life have done; I simply do what is necessary.

To be an entertainer of my caliber one must have an endless supply of material; which I do. I am the world’s best entertainer and if you don’t believe me, just ask me and I will tell you that it is true.  As a matter of fact it says that on my jacket,” the world’s best entertainer.”

My jokes have been copied and used by some of those that are trying to be the best in the business.  I would mention a few names but then I wouldn’t want to cause any embarrassment to those men and women out there.  They have to make a living too, and if something they got from me helps, well then I consider it my good deed for the day.

What does my portfolio contain?  I’m glad you asked and if you’ll allow me a few moments of your time you would be honored to hear what I have to say.  I love to do jokes, elephant jokes are my favorite.  Then there are those that you always hear about that fly that gets stuck in the soup.  Those are extremely funny though they are quite improbable for any one that knows anything is aware that an uptown fly would never get into a bowl of soup.  Flies are salad eating creatures and any fly that is found in a bowl of soup is either one of two things, an imposter, or a traitor.  Don’t let that fact ruin the good time that you have when you hear one of those jokes and please don’t tell anyone that I revealed that piece of information to you for I will just deny it and you will look the fool.  Where was I? Oh, yes, my material; school jokes, bus jokes, teacher jokes, kid jokes and on and on; I’ve got a million of them.  I don’t do racist, obscene, religious jokes and I really try to stay away from Bible jokes.  The Bible, now that is a serious book, it is a Holy Book.  I would not want to take lightly or make fun of the things that are written in the Bible.  I do have one dirty joke that I will use occasionally, just to clarify the situation I will tell it to you. “A LITTLE BOY FELL IN THE MUD.”

Have I told you that I am the world’s best entertainer?  Oh, that’s right I am and I did tell you I was.  My knowledge is not limited to jokes, I also know riddles, conundrums, and rhymes, and I promise that I will only tell these things on a day that ends with the letter Y.  I tried to do incorporate poetry into my act but the poems were too long and no one laughed so I stick with what works best.

As great and wonderful as I am, there is one shortcoming though and it is something that I have not been able to overcome.  You see I have no arms or legs that work, and so as great as an entertainer that I am, someone must carry me around.  I have no voice that allows me to speak my thoughts, so I must have a person look into my inner being and translate the words inside me into audible syllables that others can understand. I get carried around in a box or sometimes a bag and Billy lets me come out and meet the people. This is the part where you the reader says, Awwwww, poor little fella and wipe the tears from your eyes.

I have always wanted to be a clown and I have devised a plan to make that happen.  The circus is coming to town tomorrow and Billy is going.  Each year he goes and takes me with him, he sets up a little table with me and some other things on the table and tells the people what I have hidden inside me.  They laugh and toss him come coins with which he feeds himself and buys me things to keep me going.

The moment has come for my plan to go forth.  Billy is not holding me up he has laid me down to rest and is busy talking with a female.  She has blonde hair and blue eyes and is quite young and attractive, and she has Billy under her spell.

 Mustering every ounce of strength that I can find in my body I roll from the table and latch onto the pant leg of a passerby.  Since I am small and very light he doesn’t notice that I am there and he takes me toward the clown tent.  Something happens to my strength and I lose grip about halfway across the lane.  From where I am lying I can see Billy with his hands upon his hips and that female whispering something in his ear.  He laughs and whispers something in her ear, and then she hugs him and leans forward to… Oh, I won’t say what they were doing, but that stuff that was going on caused Billy to take her by the hand and go away from our stand.  He didn’t even look around to see what I was doing or to tell me where he was going.  Billy doesn’t even know that I am not there; I wonder if he even cares.  Not that it matters because you see I am going to be a circus clown.  That is if I can get to the clown tent, surely there is a clown in that tent that can recognize real talent when he sees it.

I must have been a real sight to the clown that picked me up and brought me to the tent.  I remember seeing that white face and big red nose and the bright green curly hair before I passed out.  I do remember reaching out and grabbing a leg to carry me to my destination.  It happened to be the leg of a horse and he did get me to the clown tent.  The path that he chose to follow was not to my liking and the things he dragged me through were not pleasant. I might be the “world’s greatest entertainer” but at this point I don’t look or smell like anything close to that.

 Now I had my chance, I was going to be a circus clown.  No more would the “world’s greatest entertainer” be toted around in a bag and have to hear others call me “the Dummy” now the words that were inside me would be told to great crowds at circus arenas around the world.  No more birthday parties, no hospital visits; I hated hospitals there was always death around there.  He told me that I was his new friend and that I would see things that I had never imagined and go places that I had never dreamed about.

Now I sit here in my new home waiting for my new friend to get back from an errand that he had to run.  I gaze into the mirror and I see a clown looking back at me.  I look grand with my red nose and painted white face, the curly green hair seems to be a bit wild for me and will take some getting used to. The red and white polka dot costume makes me look like the fantastic person that I am used to looking like and the painted on smile reminds me of the smiles of all the people that I made laugh. 

Further back from the table I can see a name written on the big wooden chest that will be my new home.  What a magnificent chest it is, it looks so roomy and it smells of cedar.  I could hear music playing in the background, I believe that it sounded like; Mozart’s Piano Sonata # 525 in C Major.  Yes that is what it was, that song had been playing over and over since I regained consciousness.  I was finally able to decipher what the letters on the box said; it was just a single word that read: B’Zongo.

This story has been published as an eBook and is available  from my website: www.fictionfish.com