Flash
Rick blinked as he lowered the camera. "Well," he said, "we're back to normal now." He gave a small chuckle. "I was actually a girl in all but one of those realities we created."
"Yes, laughed Emily. "You were a little boy in that one. And I was your mother!" She looked at the mall around them. The floors, ceilings, and floors were a riot of colors and polka dots, stripes, and tie-dyed patterns. Circus calliope music was playing in the background. And of the mall staff, and most of the customers, were dressed like clowns. Even the latter who weren't, at least half, were wearing clown makeup or face paintings, or sporting clown noses. The stores were now selling various clown costumes, makeup, props, or novelties. The family they'd used for a test subject now consisted of a female auguste clown fully dressed, painting the faces of a cluster of 6-year-olds and a male whiteface tying balloon animals. The skanky looking teenage who'd been their first test subject was now a shabby looking hobo clown panhandling. At what had been a beauty salon, customers were going in as themselves, and coming out in full clown costume and makeup. "It's a lot better!"
Ever since she was a little girl, Emily had loved clowns. At the age of ten, she began attending various clown workshops and seminars, and put as much as she could into developing her clown persona Sparkles. When she got into college, she immediately joined the school's clown troupe. Her sophomore year, in her economics major class she'd met Rick.
After dating for a few weeks, Emily talked Rick into joining the clown troupe. At first he was reluctant, but soon was as into it as Emily, creating his own persona Beeper. After a couple of years of performing with the troupe, they went semi-pro, getting paid to perform at birthday parties, bar and bat mitzvahs, corporate events, and tour hospitals to help pay for school. They planned to start a party planning business together after graduation, with Beeper and Sparkles as part of the entertainment package.
And now they were at a Clown Mall, in full costume and makeup.
Sparkles-Emily thought of herself as that when in character-touched the red sponge ball glued to her nose, then poked the one Beeper was wearing. The young clown couple looked at each other and laughed.