The Guild of Fallen Clowns (32 page)

“I don’t want to talk about that, Alan. I
came over here to apologize for breaking your windows. Listen, I
want to make it right. Drop your car off at my shop tomorrow and
I’ll fix them.”

“Are you sure? Like I said, this doesn’t
sound like you. I’m afraid you’re only offering to do this because
of Spank—”

Lyle’s face froze and he found the strength
to meet Alan’s eyes with his own as he cut him short. “Please,
Alan, I’m trying really hard here. I don’t know what you are
talking about, so please—just listen to me and stop with that talk.
I broke your windows and I want to replace them. Can you just drop
your car off tomorrow, so I can do the right thing? Is that too
much to ask—buddy?”

“Okay, I’ll tell you what. Give the clown
figure back to me. If you still want to fix my windows, fine. I’ll
bring the car in. I just want to be sure you aren’t making this
offer due to some sort of spell you might be under from the
figure.”

“I can’t do that,” Lyle said.

“You can’t? Why not? Just go get it and
bring it back to me.”

Alan’s insistence pushed Lyle dangerously
close to snapping and earning himself another round of Spanky’s
punishment. He took a couple of deep breaths to retain his
composure. “Please stop talking about that. I broke your windows,
right?”

“Right,” Alan replied.

“Well, then, why shouldn’t I be responsible
for fixing them? If you broke mine, I would expect you to pay for
the repairs. Why can’t you just leave it at that and let me do the
right thing?”

“Okay, I’ll drop the car off, but I’m still
concerned that—”

“I have to go now,” Lyle said. He turned and
rushed across the hall and through his open apartment door. “See
you tomorrow, bud.” He abruptly shut the door behind him without
leaving Alan the opportunity to respond.

*****

Geno stood alone in the empty parking lot as
Alan drove in and parked beside him. Geno glanced in the back seat
before greeting him. “Is that them?”

“Good morning to you too, Geno.”

“Oh, sorry. Good morning, Alan. I’m just
really nervous.”

“That’s okay. I’m just messing with
you.”

Geno nervously reached for the back door
handle.

“Hold on. I’m still not sure about this,”
Alan said, waving Geno’s hand from the door.

“But you brought the molds, right?”

“Yes, that’s them, but before I turn them
over to you, I need to know if you have a backup plan. If there’s
one thing I learned about Peepers, it’s that he’s always thinking
five steps ahead. When dealing with him, you have to have a plan B.
If this doesn’t work, we’re screwed. Do you have a backup
plan?”

Geno smiled. “As a matter of fact, I do.
It’s drastic, but it should work. I’ll burn the Labyrinth to the
ground. Peepers can’t touch me outside.”

“Burn it down? That sounds a bit extreme.
It’s where you work. What would you do without the Labyrinth?”

“I should have done it years ago, but he was
trapped inside and he couldn’t hurt anyone. Then, when he formed
the Guild Of Fallen Clowns, I felt important. I’m their only
connection to our world. But now there’s the mold of Peepers. If I
can destroy it within the Labyrinth, Peepers will be gone.”

“I’m sorry for that. It’s my fault—”

“No, this is a good thing. You see, before
this, the only way to cast him out was to torch the building. Now,
I can get rid of him by destroying the mold. I didn’t have this
option before.”

“But what if he stops you? Why are you
willing to burn the place down now when you weren’t before?”

“It’s because of you, Alan.”

“Me?”

“Yes. Seeing you stand up to Peepers
inspired me. You are my—hero. And don’t worry about what I’ll do.
You know Cracky. He would never throw another lifer out. There’s
plenty of work to do here.”

Alan blushed. He’d never even been a role
model to anyone before. Hearing Geno refer to him, as his hero was
both flattering and embarrassing.

“I need to get back. I’ve already been gone
too long,” Geno said as he stood patiently waiting for Alan’s
decision.

Alan reached over and opened the back door
of his car.

“Take them, Geno, but please be
careful.”

Geno removed the molds from the back seat
and rushed back inside the carnival, holding them tight against his
chest.

*****

Alan stepped out from the curb in front of
his apartment and waved down the approaching car. It stopped and he
opened the passenger side door and slid inside.

“This is so wrong, Mary,” he said as he
closed the door and buckled himself in.

“What’s so wrong about it?” she asked.

“This is a date. I should be the one
driving.”

“Is that in the rulebook, Alan?”

“What? What rulebook?”

Mary looked at him and smiled. “Is there a
rule somewhere that says the guy has to drive?”

“No, but I just assumed I would be the one
picking you up. And I would have if my car wasn’t in the shop. Like
I said when I called, it’ll be ready tonight, but we would have to
wait another couple of hours.”

“Does it bother you that I’m driving?
Because I was hoping you weren’t one of
those
kinds of
guys.”

“No, it doesn’t bother me. I was more
concerned that it would be a problem for you.”

Mary smiled and put the car in drive. “Good
answer, because the last thing I want in my life is another
controlling man.”

“Is old-fashioned the same as controlling?”
Alan said.

She looked inquisitively at him. “What are
you getting at?”

“Well, one of the reasons I wanted to pick
you up was so I could open the car door for you. But if you think
that’s controlling—well, I guess we might have a bit of a problem.”
He grinned and waited for her reply.

She smirked as she considered her response.
“I’ll allow it,” she said. “But don’t get carried away, mister. If
we go out to a restaurant, you better not get any ideas of ordering
my food for me.”

“Agreed,” he said.

*****

Geno opened the rear door of the cab and
placed two heavy bags on the seat. He closed the door and proceeded
to the other side of the vehicle, where he entered and sat beside
his packages.

He closed the door, and the
estrogen-challenged driver looked at Geno in her rearview mirror.
“Did you get enough this time?” she said.

“Enough for now,” Geno replied.

She put the car in drive and left the
shopping plaza. “Well, if you need to make a third trip, you got my
number.”

“Yes, I do,” he said. He looked at her name
on the license placard. “Regina, that’s a pretty name.”

“Thank you,” she said. “But everyone calls
me Reggie.” In her mirror, she looked at Geno nodding his head. “I
know what you’re thinking,” she said. “A woman who looks like me,
drives a cab for a living, and prefers to be called Reggie instead
of Regina, well, she must be gay. Am I right? Is that what you’re
thinking?” Her eyes bounced back and forth from the road to the
mirror as she waited for his reply.

Geno looked out the side window and casually
said, “I thought that before you said your name.” Then he caught
her eyes looking back at him in the mirror and said, “Tell me you
don’t think I’m a demented carny freak.”

Her eyes returned to the road. “Fair
enough,” she said. “But I’m not a lesbian. Well, that is to say, I
haven’t tried it…yet.”

“And I don’t fit the typical stereotype of a
carnival worker,” Geno said

Reggie laughed. “Of course, based on that
logic, I can hardly call myself straight either.” She looked in the
mirror again, and her chuckle faded as she noticed her uninterested
passenger staring out the window.

The final minutes of the drive were quiet.
Reggie pulled up outside the carnival entrance and Geno exited with
his packages. Through the open window, he handed her the fare and
politely thanked her for the ride. As she accepted the money, she
said, “You’re welcome, honey. And don’t forget, if you need more of
those art supplies, or anything else, call me first.”

Geno glanced at the back seat of the cab
before returning his attention to Reggie. He grinned wide and
leaned intimately close. “You will always be my first, Regina.” She
blushed and giggled as he stood, winked, and disappeared in the
river of guests flowing through the gates.

Although he was a strange little man, Reggie
basked in the unexpected flirtatious conclusion of their
transaction. She scanned the crowd for a full minute before closing
her window and shifting the car in drive. She smiled from ear to
ear, her brain in a temporary love fog that dulled her senses. She
was oblivious to a traffic light that turned yellow, warning her to
slow down. It wasn’t until it turned red that she snapped out of
her haze and slammed on the brake.

Her seatbelt locked as the momentum of her
large body tested the restraints limits. From the passenger seat
behind her, a small figure of Peepers flung forward and fell to the
floor. Safely stopped in front of the light, Reggie shook the
cobwebs from her head and let out a huge sigh of relief. Behind
her, the small figure lay motionless—on the seat.

*****

Geno knocked on the side door of the ticket
booth. Cracky finished up with the last person in his line and
flipped the window sign to the closed position. He opened the side
door and lit a cigarette.

“Ringmaster said you wanted to see me?” Geno
said.

Cracky lifted his head and exhaled the smoke
toward the sky. “Yes, I did. I wanted to know how your repairs are
going.”

“I should be finished tomorrow.”

“Are you sure, because—” Cracky stopped as
he noticed Alan approaching with Mary.

“Hey, buddy, glad you came back,” Cracky
said.

Alan smiled. “I told you I would stop by.”
He looked at Geno standing beside Cracky. “Uh, hey, Geno.”

“Alan,” Geno replied.

Alan desperately wanted to ask Geno how the
destruction of the Peepers molds went, but he couldn’t say anything
with Cracky and Mary there. “So, Cracky, Geno, I’d like to
introduce you to Mary.”

Mary smiled and said it was a pleasure
meeting them.

“Da pleasures ours, Mary,” Cracky said.

“Yea, it’s nice meeting you,” Geno
added.

“So, Geno, how are those repairs going?”
Alan said.

“Cracky and I were just talking about that.
Everything is looking good. As a matter of fact, I was just about
to tell Cracky that I’ve been making some—improvements.”

“Really? So I guess that means you were able
to fix that problem you told me about earlier?” Alan said.

Geno smirked and nodded. “It’s all taken
care of, Alan. Problem solved.”

“Glad to hear it,” Alan said. With both
hands, Mary grabbed Alan’s hand. “Are you the guy who works at the
Haunted Labyrinth of Mirrors?” she asked Geno.

Before Geno could respond, Alan jumped in,
“Yes, Geno here runs the Haunted Labyrinth.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry about what happened. It’s
so tragic,” she said.

Cracky noticed the line building up at the
adjoining booth. “I better get back to work here.” Before closing
the door, he looked at Mary. “It was a pleasure meeting Boogy’s
girlfriend. He’s a great guy and you two look good together.” He
looked at Alan and said, “Same time next year, Boog?”

“We’ll see, Cracky,” Alan replied.

Cracky slipped inside the booth. Mary looked
back at Geno and asked, “So how does it work? The Haunted Labyrinth
of Mirrors. I’ve been in mirror labyrinths before. And I’ve also
been in haunted houses. But how do they work together?”

“Maybe we should let Geno get back to his
work, Mary. I doubt he wants to reveal any of his trade secrets,”
Alan said.

“No, that’s fine, Alan,” Geno said. “I
project spooky images and videos into the mirrors from above.”

“Really, that’s fascinating. So from up
above you can see everyone passing through?”

“Yes, but they can’t see me.”

“That’s so cool! So how do you keep track of
it all? I mean there must be dozens of people going through at one
time. It’s got to be difficult keeping up with all of them.”

Geno smiled. “I have help.”

Alan’s eyes widened. “But you work alone,
Geno. Who helps you?”

“My computer, Alan. It couldn’t be done
without it.”

“Oh, of course, the computer controls the
projections,” Alan said.

“Well, I can’t wait to experience it
firsthand when you come back next year,” Mary said. She looked up
at Alan and said, “You’ll have to go through it with me.”

Geno was humored by Alan’s expression.
“Well, Alan, I have some things to do. It was nice to meet you,
Mary. Enjoy the carnival.” Geno turned and walked away.

“Those guys seem really nice, Alan.”

“Yeah, they are. I just wish Cracky had more
time. He’s an interesting character.”

“I can see that. What’s with his clown
face?”

“You really don’t want to know,” he said.
“Hey, why are we standing here? I’m going to buy some tickets so we
can start the fun.” Before she could reply, Alan slipped out of
sight. She waited for him behind the ticket booths.

*****

The back door of the Haunted Labyrinth
opened and Geno slipped out carrying a bulging canvas bag. He
locked the door and proceeded to the rear of The Ringmaster’s Milk
Bottle Throw booth. He discreetly slipped inside. The tent was
split into two sections by a tarp wall. Geno was in the smaller
rear section where prizes were stocked.

Unaware of Geno’s presence, The Ringmaster
tended to customers in the front. Geno worked his way into the
corner and peeked between the seams of canvas. As he did, The
Ringmaster removed a small prize from a lower shelf to the side of
the attraction and awarded it to a winning customer.