After schools out for the day, you head straight home. As expected, the house is now completely decorated, with your parents getting ready to hand out candy to trick or treaters. Your father is sitting on the couch in costume. As you expected, he is in his clown persona.
Although your parents mainly make their living selling items on the internet, their true passion is clowning. They had met in college through their school's amateur clown troupe and had toured with a circus for a year after graduation. Their internet business gives them plenty of free time to perform at birthday parties, hospitals, and nursing homes.
And every Halloween they hand out candy to trick or treaters dressed in their characters Chuckles and Dottie. They even give little performances as they give out the treats.
You'd think for performers they could be a little more imaginative.
Dad sees you come in. "Hello son," he says in that deep goofy voice he uses as Chuckles. He is an auguste clown who wears a bald pate wig with a thick fluffy fringe of orange hair with a red ball the size of a tennis ball glued over his nose. The lips inside his white muzzle are painted black that make his mouth look always open and black freckles on his cheeks. As he's gained weight over the years the look suits your father more and more. "Got any plans for tonight?"
"Yeah, sure dad," Your father just nods as you pass him by and head up to your room. One thing you appreciate about your dad, he respects your privacy.
As you make your way down the hallway you pass by your parents' room. Your mom is sitting at her vanity, having finished putting on her makeup and now glued a golf ball sized nose covered with glitter to her face. She turns to look at you.
Your mother's clown character Dottie is a whiteface with simple elegant makeup in contrast to your father's. Slender black lines arch on her forehead as eyebrows. Her eyes are outlined in black, and her lashes are darkly mascaraed; her cheeks are rouged a soft red and her lips are simply colored like ordinary lipstick. Her hair is bundled under a cap for the curly red wig on a stand beside the vanity and on the bed is the red clown dress bordered with white frills she normally wears.
"So, you got any plans for tonight?" she asks. "Or are you going to help me and your dad hand out treats?"
"I, uh, am going to the school costume ball at the park," you say, you've heard everyone talk about it at school and figured it would be a good place to watch people change. "I'm going as the Invisible Man." Seeing your mom look at you funny you explain. "Remember that old movie? That guy made himself invisible and when he wanted to be seen, he dressed in heavy clothes and gloves, and he wrapped his face in bandages." You figure perhaps you'll actually become invisible underneath the clothes, and use that to watch unnoticed as everyone else changes into their costumes.
Mom frowns a little. Halloweens pasts when you didn't have anything else to do, she'd dress you as a clown like her and your dad, and have you hand out treats with them. You didn't like it; you don't have your parents' love of clowns and you hated how the makeup felt on your face. "Well, have fun," she finally says and puts on her wig. "And take some of my candy apples with you; I'm sure everyone will love them.
You nod and go into your room. You find Ceridwen already there, and tell her what you have planned, as well as what to do with your parents.