Eccentric Employment

Out in front of the Big Top, Lynn waited patiently for her three newest employees to show up to be shown around. It was early Sunday afternoon and the Circus Circus was closed like it was on every Sunday, the parking lot empty except for her car. She spied an exceptionally tiny car in the distance roaring towards the circus, dust being kicked up by it's fervor. It skidded into the parking lot in a particularly reckless fashion, the tires squealing in protest. 'Hmm... I thought that there were three of them...' thought Lynn, 'Unless...'

The car came to a sudden lurching stop right beside hers, and out popped a petite woman. Out slid a larger man and another woman, clearly quite distressed from the driving. In the distance, Lynn could vaguely make out, "See, I told you we'd make it here on time! And George, I don't know why you thought we'd be cramped, we all fit in so easily! We probably had enough room for one, maybe one and a half more people. You two really need to work on your flexibility!"

"Good, already in character! I like that in my performers!" Said Lynn, who had wandered down to greet them. The one identified as George had picked himself up off the ground and was in the process of helping the second woman up when Lynn startled him, causing her hand to slip through his. She landed seat first with a puff of dust from the parking lot and rolled onto her back and in a ridiculous praftfall, feet dangling above her head. Lynn grinned at her new stooges, "Follow me, I'll show you around!"

Keeping pace with their new boss, Tara introduced the troupe and babbled away in her giddiness. "I'm Trixi, and those two are Pixi and George!" She gestured at the other two. George was busy looking apologetically at 'Pixi,' who was trying to look as dignified as she could while she dusted off her posterior.

"I'm Penny, and she's Tara, but he actually is George," said Penny, in a exasperated tone. They'd gone over this before!

Lynn regarded Penny with a hint of amusement. Clearly Tara was going to be the head clown! "I heard what Trixi said, Pixi! I'm Lynn, the ringmaster of the Circus Circus, and your new boss. Welcome to your new office!" exclaimed Lynn, as she threw back the curtain to the ring. Tara's face lit up with excitement as she ran forward to experience the circus from a brand new perspective, quickly disappearing into the back stage. Even George and Penny were looking a little eager to explore their new workplace. They both wandered to the side of the ring, where there appeared to be remnants of a skit: a long plank of wood suspended between two sawhorses, three large buckets of a thick white paste, a couple of painters brushes and a rolled up bit of wallpaper. "Oh, that was the favourite gag of the previous clown, Frosty: the decorating skit. Feel free to explore while I find your friend. I don't want her to get into any mischief back there!"

Lynn followed Tara back stage, leaving George and Penny to explore unsupervised. 'Trixi' struck her as more of a troublemaker, so she was relieved when she found her staring at herself in the makeup mirror. Having learned to be cautious of clowns from her years working alongside them, Lynn noticed the change in Tara's demeanor, as well as the powderpuff generously dabbed with powder she was clutching off to the side. Knowing Tara's exact evil intentions, Lynn discretely picked up a second powderpuff as she approached from behind. "Admiring the makeup mirror?"

Her grin widening at the usage of her trigger-word, Tara quickly turned to face Lynn, her arm already cocked back to throw her powderpuff. "Maaaaaaake---!!!" she started to repeat the trigger word, but was unexpectedly cut off by Lynn's stealthily acquired powderpuff being slapped into her surprised face. Tara's head vanished beneath a great puff of powder, her body frozen comically in the act of throwing. When the powder finally cleared, Tara was back to giggling, tiny puffs of powder shooting out from her nose with each breath. "You're pretty fast, bosslady!"

"I've learned to be after having every trick in the book pulled on me!" explained Lynn, "Frosty was so unpredictable, you three have a lot to live up to. Do you think you're up to the challenge?"

Tara snapped to attention in a mock salute, her own powderpuff exploding into another big cloud on her forehead, "Yes ma'am!"

Movement on the backstage monitors grabbed Lynn's attention, as it appeared that the two unsupervised buffoons were getting into some trouble of their own. She turned back to the still saluting and powder-covered Tara and said, "Alright, your first mission is to go break up that bickering in the ring. We need all of you in one piece!"

Tara saw the state of the ring and slapped her hands to the side of her face, squeaked out a little, "Oh, no!" and took off running back towards the ring, leaving a trail of powder in her wake.

******

Meanwhile, back in the ring, George and Penny had gotten into a disagreement. "No, George, no!! Leave everything as it was, she obviously put that stuff there for a reason!" cried Penny, worried that George's impulsive nature would get them in trouble with their new boss.

"Yeah, she must want to see us perform another skit! But everything should be in the middle, seeing that we're the only ones here!" reasoned George, who was clumsily attempting to drag the sawhorses and plank to the middle of the ring. Penny only had to watch the buckets of goop teeter for a moment before she was forced to help.

"Hold on, it's too heavy! Let me take these..." said Penny, as she grabbed two of the pails off the plank. This was most unfortunate for Penny, as George did not stop pulling, and the plank separated from the sawhorse at the far end. This caused the final bucket to crash to the floor right at Penny's feet, completely dousing her front half in the thick, sloppy paste. Penny gingerly placed her buckets down and wiped her face free of the slop, glaring angrily at George. Gesturing down at the bucket that coated her, she yelled, "Look what you've done! You splashed me with nearly half the bucket!" She re-armed herself with one of her discarded buckets and said threateningly, "Here comes payback, Georgie!"

George gulped theatrically and took off at a run. It was an accident! He needed to find Tara, or maybe Lynn, they'll explain it for him! Or at the very least, be able to calm her down. He skidded to a halt just before entering the backstage to avoid running headlong into an extremely powdered and worried-looking Tara, who also just barely managed to come to a halt before crashing into George.

Tara, being much smaller than George, was totally obscured from Penny's vision. "Aha! Take this!!" exclaimed Penny, as she launched the contents of her bucket towards George, who had the good sense to duck. Penny was similarly hidden by George's bulk from Tara, and so she had absolutely no warning before the thick wave of sloshy mess flew over George's prone form and straight into her face, splattering incredibly in every direction. Penny gasped and slapped a soap-covered hand over her mouth, comically sending a little spray of cream flying across the ring.

Tara calmly wiped the soapy remains out of her eyes; she knew exactly what to do! She marched past Penny and her stuttering apology and grabbed the half-empty bucket. Penny was distracted by her attempts to explain herself to Tara, and so she didn't notice what she was doing until she grabbed a hold of the back of her pants and started pouring. "Oooooh..!!" yelped Penny, surprised by the cool feeling against her bare skin. Her pants were stretching from the creamy excess!

Once she had emptied the entirety of the pail into her friend's pants, Tara wound up and slapped her across the bum, launching cream all across her back and further down her pants. Penny fell face-first into the ground from the force of the slap where she stayed, utterly defeated by her slapstick superior.

"And you!!" continued Tara, turning her attention on George. She snatched the last bucket and swung it in a wide arc, slamming it down and totally engulfing his head in the cream. She then spun the pail around, dislodging it and disorienting George in the process. A swift kick to his backside sent him sprawling practically on top of the still dazed and defeated Penny. Tara stood triumphantly over the ditzy duo, hands on hip and posed in a heroic fashion... until she, along with her two underlings, was sprayed down by a very powerful water hose wielded by a beaming Lynn. The sudden cold shock of the water took Tara by surprise, and she tumbled on top of her vanquished peers.

Lynn was delighted, clapping emphatically. "What a great spontaneous performance! I had an idea that something like this would happen if I left some materials lying around. If this was your 'off-the-cuff' clowning, I can't wait to see you three perform a carefully planned skit. You're going to be a hit!"

The trio all responded well to the praise of their new ringmaster, some more enthusiastically than others. Tara in particular was excited, and promised that she'd get to writing their first original gag right away!

To be continued...