Mindy blinked; she had just been turned into a clown, but she still had a job to do. Mr. Gomery the manager was going to be doing an inspection today and wouldn't be pleased if she was goofing off.
She waddled outside the restroom and got behind the cash register; looking out the window Mindy saw four cars filled with people had pulled up beside the pumps.
********
"Alright, I'm going inside to prepay for gas," Bill Wainrite said to his family as he stepped out of his BMW. "You guys want anything?"
"Iced coffee," said his wife Sarah.
"Beef Jerky and a soda," said his teenage son Jason.
"Cream soda and trail mix," added his nine-year-old daughter Jade.
As Bill walked to the station, he noticed the air around him smelled-funny. Almost like gasoline fumes with a faint odor of cotton candy underneath.
He stepped inside, and his eyes opened wide. At first it seemed like a usual convenience store but on the shelves along with snacks and other usual items were joke novelties and props such as fake dog doo, whoopie cushions, joy buzzers, etc...
And the girl behind the cash register, dealing with the other customers, was dressed like a clown.
Bill got the stuff his wife and kids asked for, then walked to the counter. There was another customer in front of him, rather heavyset man in a tweed suit.
"Here you go, heeheeyaha, the clown-cashier hand the customer back his card; her voice was extremely high, like she was breathing helium. She then reached up and took the hair on top of his head, revealing a bald pate underneath, and squeezed her nose., Honk!
The man touched his bare scalp, and cried in a convincingly horrified voice, "How'd you do that! That's not a toupee, and I'm not bald!"
"Here's it back if you like, heeheeyaha," the cashier gave him back the hairpiece, then honked her nose again. The man placed it on his head and turned around. Bill now noticed he had grumpy looking clown makeup on and was wearing checked clown shoes that matched his suit. He waddled out past Bill and out the door to his car.
Bill stepped up to the counter. The cashier's makeup was very realistic, almost like it was a natural part of her face. "Okay," he asked, "what's with you and that other clown?"
"Oh, I just started doing this today heeheeyaha," the clown said and honked her nose. "The other guy-he's just another customer like you heheyaha." Honk!
"O-kay." Bill decided not to ask any more questions. He gave the cashier his credit card, told her what he wanted in gas, and let her ring up the items. He thanked her, she giggled and honked her nose again.
Bill walked out of the station with the drinks and snacks. He gave them to his family then pumped the gas into his car. Today certainly was weird.
After the tank was filled, Bil got into his car and turned the ignition. "I just saw the weirdest thing," he said. "They got a whole bunch of novelty items for sale in the store; both the cashier and the customer in front of me were clowns."
"Yes, we noticed," replied Sarah. "And they weren't the only ones."
"Yeah," added Jason. We saw a whole bunch of people drive by and a lot of them were dressed as clowns too. Then a whole bunch clown rode by on unicycles."
"Maybe a circus is in town," giggled Jade. She always liked clowns, and was delighted whenever she saw them. "If there is, can we go?"
"Maybe." Bill turned on the ignition, and began to drive. The hotel they were planning to stay at tonight wasn't much further, and he needed to get some rest. Right now his nose was feeling a little stuffy, his shoes felt tight, and the rest of him was starting to feel-funny.
****
Jeff and Ken pulled out of there sixth service station. The two clowns had visited every station in town, and had used the Chronivac app to change the gas in the pumps to liquified nerve gas that would in turn clown everyone in town.
"That's the last of them, heeheeyaha," Ken giggled, then honked his nose. "The fumes will spread everywhere; anyone who breathes them directly from the exhaust will be turned into a clown instantly, heeheeyaha." Honk! "As the fumes spread, heeheeyaha, the gas will linger in the air, and people who breath it in will be changed albeit more gradually, heeheeyaha. For at least one week, this will be a town full of clowns!" HONK! HONK!
"I wouldn't mind staying like this, heeheeyaha," Jeff replied. Truth to tell he was getting used to being a clown. He didn't even mind being bald. "We'll just have wait and see what unfolds, heeheeyaha."
HONK! HONK!