…that there were about two dozen people seated around the tables at the tables in the tent. And all of them were clowns like him and Susan.
The one clown who had been standing up turned to look at the siblings. He was a whiteface with blue ovals surrounding his eyes inserted by vertical black bars corresponding to Jason’s own, making his eyes look like exclamation points. He had a red clown smile the same shape as Jason’s own and his blue ovals stretched nearly up to his bulbous bald pate surrounded by curly red hair in the same style as Jason’s own. Three red freckles adorned both the older clown’s cheeks, at the center of his face was an enormous red clown nose. The baggy blue coverall he wore did little to conceal a waistline as wide as a hula hoop and on his feet were work boots with toes nearly as long and wide as canoe paddles.
Jason immediately recognized his father.
“Well, if it isn’t my sleepyhead auguste son, heheyaha!” Dad said in that charismatic yet goofy voice and squeezed his nose. HONK! Maybe it was the acoustics of the tent, maybe it wasn’t, but Jason thought his father’s nose honked louder and deeper than his own or Susan’s.
“Go on, heheyaha,” Dad continued. “Get yourself some breakfast kids, heheyaha, we are just getting started.” HONK!
As he waddled over to the breakfast buffet, Jason looked over the other clowns in the tent. He saw his mother, an auguste like himself but her facial markings and features almost corresponded to Susan’s. And at the various tables were sitting his friends from school and their immediate families, his aunts, uncles and cousins, all of whom were clowns. And dressed in clothes that while colorful, seemed better suited for work than performing.
At least the food was normal enough. Jason filled his plate with scrambled eggs, hash browns, and bacon, then waddled over to an empty seat.
Sitting at the same table were two of his closest friends, Jerry and Eddie. Jerry was a whiteface with outlandish facial markings, a clown noses the size of a peach, a full head of curly rainbow-colored hair and seemed to have tripled in weight, easily being the fattest clown in the room. Eddie, by contrast was a skinny hobo. His pale peachy complexion was contrasted by his dark cropped hair and actual full beard and mustache; his own nose was as black as coal while his white muzzle seemed turned down in a frown.
“Both of them have full heads of hair,’ Jason thought glumly.
While he sat down and ate, Jason listened. His father apparently was the owner of this traveling carnival staffed entirely by clowns. As Dad spoke, his charismatic voice kept being punctuated by guffaws and giggles; he would honk his nose to emphasize his points. All around Jason the other clowns were talking in subdued voices yet still with a silly or goofy lilt. They would even mime honking their noses in the same manner as Dad.
As Dad continued his monologue, Jason learned the jobs everyone was being given in setting up the carnival for tonight would correspond to the type of clowns they were. Whitefaces would be doing the supervising, augustes like himself would be working right below them, while the hoboes and bag ladies would be doing the lowliest and dirtiest assignments, such as cleaning the stalls for the petting zoo, washing the dishes and cleaning the ovens for the food stands, and picking up the trash to make the grounds presentable for when customers arrived in the evening.
“All right now, heheyaha,” Dad said after he finished giving everyone their assignments. “Go out and get the carnival ready, heheyaha. Just remember, heheyaha, even when we go on break tonight, heheyaha, we’re still working by interacting with our customers like the clowns we are!”
HONK! HONK!