Laureen loved the carnival. Between the flashing colored lights, the ding of bells of all sizes, and the smells of the sweet treats, she'd lose herself walking down the midway. Despite walking alone, she felt like she was among friends.
Max, Bo, Kelly and Tiffany weren't so easily entertained. They didn't want prizes or take joy in seeing happy faces. They came to laugh at people, and when they found out that there wasn't a freak show for them antagonize, they went to the midway to look for trouble. There they found a dunk tank with a clown in the hot seat. They sought to humiliate him, but their aim wasn't good enough to consistently dunk him, and he playfully teased them each time they missed. This worked them into a frenzy, until they eventually stalked off in disgust. The next booth they came upon was a pie throwing booth. The booth was currently empty, but some pies has been left out. The malevolent group looked around for a victim, and along came Laureen.
"Hi! Would you mind taking our picture?"
Tiffany had an aptitude for appearing innocent when she wanted to, and when she handed Laureen her smartphone, Laureen suspected nothing. The group posed in front of the pie toss booth with Bo sticking his face through the hold in the board and everyone else crowded in front of it smiling their crocodile smiles. Laureen obligingly snapped a few shots.
"Thanks! Hey, let us take your picture too!"
Again, Laureen was oblivious to their true intentions or the melting pies they'd stowed away, so she let herself be guided behind the board and placed her face through the hole. The front of the board depicted a dancing clown, now with Laureen's face where his should be. Tiffany took the picture while Max and Kelly posed with laughing smiles and fingers pointed at Laureen's face. Bo stood unseen behind Laureen. That's when Laureen saw the pies in Max's and Kelly's other hands. Laureen tried to back away, but Bo held her in place with her face exposed through the hole while her hands searched the blank back of the board for some way to escape. The two wicked pie wielders taunted poor Laureen as she begged them to let her go, until they finally seemed about to relent. Then they let her have both pies splattered over her face.
When Laureen sputtered and tried to shake the dripping cream from her eyes, she heard clicks from Tiffany's phone recording her humiliation. Bo weight finally left her back, and Laureen was able to back out of the target board. As she came around to the front of the board, she was clearing her eyes with her fingers. SPLAT! SPLAT! Two more pies hit her, one covering the front of her dress, and the second once again coating her face in sticky whipped cream. As a final indignity, someone poured their iced soda over her head as she stood and shuddered in blind defeat. Mocking laughter departed with her assailants. Gasps came from passersby to see someone in such a state, but Laureen didn't even move until someone else approached her.
"Oh dear," a kindly old voice spoke, "what have they done to you, lass? Come with me, won't you, and we'll get you cleaned up."
When Laureen opened her eyes again, someone had handed her a wet towel to clean her face. After using it, she could see a sweet old lady and the interior of a recreational vehicle.
"Hmmm," said the old woman, "that towel won't do it. You'd best take a shower and we'll get you properly freshened up."
Accepting the truth when she heard it, Laureen was directed to a shower stall in the RV where she stripped off her clothes and did her best to wash the stickiness out of her hair. When she was finished, she came out wearing a towel and a look of concern. Her clothes were gone.
"Nevermind about your clothes, lass. We're washing them now. In the meantime, why don't you try one of these outfits on for size? They may look a bit silly, to be sure, but in a carnival, it's the clown that makes a fool of the rubes. Sure and you've met a few rubes that need to be taken down a peg. Am I right? Well then, choose an outfit and seek your revenge."
Before Laureen lay three outfits.
A belled jester outfit.
A colorful clown outfit.
A masked, black and white striped bodysuit.