Mincy immediatly got up, again without making a sound, then walked in that mining way of hers over to a rather sullen looking boy who was sitting in the back with a bored expression on his face. Turning back to the clowns, the mime pointed at down at him and silently mouthed 'this one.'
"C'mon up here, kid!" shouted Tucker. "Looks like you're next!"
"No way!" shouted the boy. "I'm not getting into that thing!"
"Oh c'mon, Billy!" said the boy next to him.
"Yeah!" said the girl right behind him. "Don't be a spoil sport!"
After enough poking and prodding from the other guests, Billy finally got up and walked into the cabinet. 'But I ain't gonna let them put makeup and a stupid outfit on me,' he thought. He hadn't even wanted to come to this stupid party, the only reason he did was because his mother and Jessica's were old friends.
"This one's a real grouch, isn't he," whisped Alex to Miranda.
"Yep," Miranda whispered back, rubbing Alex's pate; Alex giggled at the touch of her fingers on his bald head. "And I've got just the thing for him too," she added as she tapped the keys to the Chronivac.
The door was closed and Billy just stood there, glum. "Well?" he said, but no one heard him; the cabinet had been soundproofed.
Suddenly a bright light flashed over him and Billy saw his clothes change. His normal blue sweatshirt and jeans morphed into a rather good looking black suit-then became ripped and covered with colorful patches. His sneakeres stretched into size thirteen balck high top boots-one with an open to that showed his feet had stretched to match.
If there had been a mirror in the cabinet, Billy would have seen white appear around his mouth and his eyes-then to his surprise, hair fell down next to his oversized feet. Billy touched his head in horror, there was none left, not even around the sides. 'I'm bald!'
Billy wanted to scream, but no words came out. Although he had never been a very cheerful person, his mouth formed down into a permanent frown. His lower lip turned blue-black, and a black, painted on 'beard' appeared around his muzzle.
The final change to Billy happened as his nose swelled up into a big clown nose, only coal black instead of red like the others'. A ridicuously wide purple tie with a sunflower appeared around his neck, and battered black bowler appeared on his bald head, then poor Billy's mind went blank.
Cerimoniously, Jaime and Gigi opened the door to the cabinet. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you," Tucker announceed, "Boxcar Billy!"
Billy stepped out and evenryone laughed at the sight of the new hobo clown. Alex went up to him, then pulled down his pants; the guests all roared to see Billy's oversized boxers that, like the rest of his clothes, was worn and covered with patches.
Billy felt his cheeks go red with embaressment, but what could he do. He was just a poor hobo clown and being humiliated by other clowns was to be his lot in life.