Read Online Magician by Timothy C. Phillips - Free Book Online

fell.
    “But?” I asked the silence that followed. “What happened?”
    “When he first showed up here, we thought, look at this weird, big kid who wants to be a clown. But we had him all wrong. He was cut out for this business. He was a real professional, the kind that you don’t see much anymore.” Sal’s voice had become distant, objective from what he was remembering.
    “It sounds like you liked him.”
    “He reminded me of myself. When I was younger, it wasn’t just a bunch of tired old gags. He reminded me of that. Yeah, I liked him. But we started having problems.”
    “What kind?”
    Sal got up and walked over to the clothes rack. He slid a few garments aside, and pulled out one I had seen before, if only on tape. A big red clown suit.
    “This kind.”
    “I don’t follow.”
    “Well, the color red is scary to some kids, for one thing. It’s not the best choice for a clown costume, at any rate. Same thing with his make-up. Samson’s make up had black around the eyes, and his smile was kind of pointy at the corners. Some adults found that scary. Plus he was a big guy, Joe’s size, but meatier. Strongest son of a bitch I’ve ever seen. Not that I think he would hurt a fly. One time the van got stuck on the way to a gig and he picked the rear end up and set it over, out of the chuckhole.” Sal shook his head, as though disbelieving his own story. He nodded toward the costume. “That’s kind of extreme for an auguste clown.”
    “Pardon me? Auguste?”
    “There are different types of clowns, mister. There are tramps, lady clowns, even cops and clowns in drag. The type we are, what most people go to the circus to see, well, that’s what you call an auguste clown.”
    “Ah. I see.” I gestured toward the costume. “Were those the only problems you had? That trouble about the costume, and the make-up?”
    “No. After a while, it became obvious that he had his own ideas about how the show ought to be run. He wanted to plan everything, run everything. We let him at first. You know, it brought new blood in, and maybe we were a little stale. We were excited. But after a while he got too domineering. Joe’s pretty headstrong, too. He and Joe had some run-ins. Also, Samson’s clown name was Jovius, Joe’s name is Jokey. The kids got them mixed up.”
    “Why did Samson leave?”
    “He and Joe had a really bad run-in, right after Joe came back from the hospital.”
    “Why was Joe in the hospital?”
    “Diabetes. He had a bad episode and was in the hospital for observation for a week. After Joe got back, he and Samson went right back to bickering. Samson had picked up his gigs for him while he was in the hospital, and when Joe came back, Samson told him that we didn’t need him anymore, that he could handle Joe’s work.”
    “I take it Joe didn’t like Jokey’s gigs being run by Jovius, the big evil red clown.”
    “Oh, no mister. What Joe didn’t like was that Samson completely took over his act. Even his costume and make-up. He even did his voice. You couldn’t tell it wasn’t Jokey, if you weren’t one of us. That’s what got under Joe’s skin. A clown’s make-up is his property, and his alone. It’s part of his act.”
    “So Samson dressed up like Jokey? The clown in blue?”
    “That’s right. We all wear a different basic color, so the kids can tell us apart.”
    “Is it possible that he is still using Joe’s make-up scheme?”
    “Well, that’s possible. But I doubt it. Not around here, at least. There are other people around doing what we do, but we’d hear about it. I mean, we all know each other.”
    “So you think Samson isn’t clowning around anymore?”
    Sal gave me a wry frown. “No, I don’t think so. It wasn’t his first love, anyway.”
    “I’m sorry, Sal. Maybe I misunderstood. I thought you said that he loved the work.”
    “Oh, he did, no mistake there. But not just clowning. He’s a funny guy, but he has talents in other areas, besides clowning.