A boy who looked about ten or eleven came into the store. "Uh hi, he said. "My name's Jason Merill, and I'm going to a costume party tonight. The thing is, I figured I'd go as a clown but I couldn't find anything until I came across this store."
"Well, you've come to the right place!" said Lisa in her Minnie-Mouse soprano voice and honked her nose. "We can not only sell you your costume, we can do your makeup right here and give you a professional look, then you can go right to the party!"
"Yep," nodded Haley. "But before we start, we have to ask, what kind of clown do you want to be?"
"Huh?" Jason asked.
Lisa and Haley explained to him the three basic types of clowns-the whitefaces who acted as the leaders and straight men of clowns, augustes like themselves who acted like zany pranksters, and the hoboes who were the butt of the other clown's jokes.
After a little thought, Jason figured he wanted to be an auguste. "All right, come with me." Jason followed Haley to a back room with a chair and several cases of makeup.
"All right, take off your shoes and sit in the chair," said Haley.
Jason dis, although he had no idea why. Haley took a bottle of white makeup and a paintbrush. With a deft hand she painted white patches over Jason's eyes and a white muzzle around his mouth. Next she painted wide black eyebrows over the eye patterns, and a wide black smile inside his muzzle. Then she blushed his cheeks and aded three black freckles to each cheek. While Haley painted, Jason began to feel strange sensations he'd never felt before.
"You like it?" Haley asked.
"Yeah, hiyuck huck," Jason replied. He ended his words with involuntary chuckles and a strange jolliness crept into his voice, but he didn't care.
"Good." Now Haley dabbed a sweet smelling goo on the end of Jason's nose and placed a candy apple red clown nose, even bigger and rounder than her own, on top. Jason felt a strange tingling in his nose as the seam disappeared and the clown nose bonded to his real nose. Haley gave the noses several squeezes. HONK! HONK! HONK! While she honked his nose, Jason now became overwelmed with a desire to make people laugh and a full knowledge of clown jokes, both practical and impractical entered into his mind.
"Now we do your hair." Haley picked up a bottle of hairspray and a giant sized comb. As she combed and sprayed Jason's hair, something strange happened-the hair around his ears and in the back thickened and curled, and became a bright shimmering blue. But on top, it fell out, despite Jason's young age, leaving him with a thick mass of blue hair surrounding a bald scalp.
When his hair was done, Haley sprayed Jason's bare feet. They stretched out to a size 17 and the toes widened eight inches, giving him enmormous clown feet.
Haley applied baby oil to Jason's bald head and big red nose, making them bright and shiny. Next she twirled the chair around to show his reflection in the mirror.
Jason pulled at his nose. HONK! It wouldn't come off. He touched his head and realized he wasn't wearing a wig; he really was bald. He staighted his legs to look at his feet and wiggled his ridicuously wide toes.
Then he laughed. He looked SOOOOO funny!
Jason got up from the chair and waddled-his new feet made walking a little difficult-next to Haley. They entered a nearby dressing room, were the clothes Lisa had picked out lay.
Unembarresed for some reason, Jason took off his jeans and shirt, wearing only his underwear and tank-top. Giggling, Haley helped Jason put on a pair of knee length red stiped socks, a pair of yellow and blue checkered pants two sizes too wide and a couple of inches too short, and a buttoned down collered shirt. Add a blue vest, a wide and puffy blue bow tie, and a pair of high tops with red saddles and yellow wing tips sized to fit his new feet, and Jason's outfit was complete. As a final touch, Haley placed a tiny yellow hat on top of Jason's shiney bald clown head tilted it to the right.
Jason walked out with Haley to the store lobby where Lisa was waiting with Jason's clothes. "You look great," Lisa squealed. "You'll be the life of the party tonight!"
Jason honked his new clown nose. "Thank you!" he said in his deep, goofy clown voice. "Now, how much is it?"
Lisa gave the price. Jason took his wallet from his old pants, counted out the bills, and handed them to Lisa. After thanking her and Haley, he waddled out of the store and gave a little fart. A unicycle appeared out of his butt, and the new clown peddeled off to his costume party.
"Well, said Haley, "ther goes one satisfied customer."