To Serve and Protect

Written for the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge with a word limit of 300.


The prompts: This story must take place in an amusement park


To Serve and Protect


Jonathan Freeze stood looking at the clown that had been impaled by a long metal spoke from the Ferris Wheel; the ride with the “Out of Order” sign newly hung by its entrance.


“I don’t know what to tell you Officer,” he said to the uniform in charge of the investigation. “This type of thing almost never happens.”


Officer Rollins nodded understandingly. Clown accidents were rare and usually involved a really small car.


The park’s activities continued uninterrupted by the incident thanks to miles of yellow tape that kept most gawkers at bay.


“What about that guy over there. I don’t trust him.” Officer Rolling pointed to a clown-like employee that was attempting to engage a family with matching outfits stretched over their well-fed forms.


“That’s Harry,” Freeze said. “No one trusts him. He’s a mime.”


“A mime huh. I think when I finish up here; I’ll go over and take a couple of shots at him.”


“Perfectly understandable officer. Are we about finished? I have a welder and a couple of painters standing by. I need to get this ride up and running again right away.” The Ferris Wheel would be raking in the money once he publicized that it had killed a clown. “Wheel of Death” ... he liked the sound of that one. They were already working on the sign.


“Okay then, I think I have everything I need,” said the officer closing his notepad. “One last thing, about the dead clown…”


“No need to be concerned Officer. We have plenty of those hanging around back in the smoking area. Besides, he wasn’t that funny anyway.”


“Sorry in advance about the mime.”


“Think nothing of it. We go through four or five of those guys a day as it is. Besides, it will be good for business.”


Word count 300