Send in the Clowns

By Fiction Writers Global Authors

From King’s ‘Pennywise,’ to Kelly’s ‘Weary Willie,’ clown characters run the preverbal gamut from horrific to endearing. FWG’s anthology, ‘Send in the Clowns,’ is a collection of stories selected to explore this range of themes and emotions.

Solicited from an international group of writers, all members of ‘Fiction Writers Global,’ we’ve selected nineteen tales which not only highlight the joy or fear these characters elicit in others, but the sadness they may feel themselves.

Whether delightfully happy or frightfully sad, everyone has their own opinion of clowns. We know you’ll find at least one story you can identify with, and hopefully, others which will bring a new insight into how others relate to these characters.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fiction Writers Global
• Release date: Mar 14, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386025498

Book preview

Anna’s Clowns

Anna Renault

Sitting inside the big top, one would expect to see the clown troupe enter with all their antics.  It was often a highlight for many of the children to see the clown on stilts or the midget clowns. People would clap and laugh until they cried as one character would tumble over another. And, of course, it was fun to watch twenty or thirty clowns pile into or out of a beetle-bug car. Where did they all fit?

But Anna’s clowns were special.  These clowns never made it into the center ring, or even the performance rings on the left or right of center. These clowns were most definitely not the ones who performed the crazy-beyond-belief antics that made the crowd roar with laughter.  No, these were most definitely different.

Anna’s clowns had make-up that was not quite as dramatic as those in the performance rings. Her clowns had costumes that were not quite as colorful or flashy. Oh, there were still the size 15 shoes; no one could believe anyone’s feet were that big. And, there were still the cute white gloves worn on each hand–sometimes with pictures painted on the backs or even on the palms of each glove. Those gloves were as special as the clowns’ suits.

These very special clowns had the awesome task of finding that little child in the crowd who was quite obviously scared to death of clowns. It was a mission of mercy for these one-of-a-kind clowns to visit that little one and help turn that fear into smiles and maybe even a giggle or two.  Yes, these were very special clowns.

Anna had visited the circus as a little girl with a best friend who would go catatonic when the clowns entered the big top. Anna tried everything she knew to help her friend overcome that fear, but was never really successful. When Anna had her own children, she strove to ensure each of them had a love of laughter and a love of clowns. She prayed that she never had to witness another child’s fear of clowns.

It was after Anna’s seven-year-old daughter made a comment at the circus that the Anna’s Clowns mission began.  It was the wisdom of a young child that launched the introduction of the special clown into the clown troupe.  With the idea firmly planted in her heart, Anna met with the circus’ manager and the Clown Master.

With the only fear Anna ever felt at seeing a clown, Anna explained her concern for the little children who showed fear of the clowns.  She described her idea for her special clowns, who would try very hard to ease the fears of those little ones to ensure they learned the fun of, and love for clowns.  She was passionate about her mission.

Weeks later, Anna was surprised to receive an invitation to visit the Clown College in Florida to further discuss her idea for these special clowns.  Again, with a little trepidation–after all this would be a meeting at a college full of clowns–Anna eagerly packed her suitcase and hopped a train to Sarasota.  She knew she’d have a ton of laughs throughout her stay in Florida. She was over-the-moon happy to have the opportunity to spread her idea of easing the terror of clowns experienced by many little tots.

After settling into her room, Anna was escorted to the office of the Head Clown Master, the boss of the gentleman she had met in Baltimore. He was as excited as she at her idea that had been shared with him when Clown Troupe 9 had returned from their East Coast Tour.  The Head Clown Master of the Clown College, Mickey, escorted Anna to the Story Board Room where a dozen sketches had been made of Anna’s Clowns.  The illustrations showed the less-than-scary face paint, the toned-down costuming, and most especially the gloves for these very special clowns.

Stunned barely describes how Anna felt at the time, effort, and detail that had been worked into these sketches. 

Mickey walked Anna over to a large circle of chairs. With barely any hesitation, he turned and shouted, Send in the clowns!

With eyes as wide as they had ever been, her mouth agape, Anna’s shock turned to laughter and happiness, which filled the room as the Anna’s Clowns troupe entered the room.  One after another came through the doorway!  There were no loud whistles or shouts. There were no exaggerated gross movements! But, oh my, the costuming was exactly as she had imagined it should be. And yes, they were all wearing those tiny white gloves with cute pictures on them.

Jumping to her feet, clapping her hands; smiling as broadly as she had ever smiled in her life, Anna shouted, Oh yes. Definitely! Send in the clowns!

Jacques Schitte

Don and Nicoda Miskel

As a clown, the worst thing that could happen is losing one’s shoes. For Jesse, that’s exactly what happened. He’d lost his pair of bulbous boots and became an outcast throughout the industry. He was proud of his signature footwear, which took several years to be developed to his satisfaction. Guillare Artista, the infamous graffitist, designed and created the shoes, branding Jesse the Clown as an inimitable character in the world of entertainment.

The king of games, jokes, and balloon tricks, his twisted sense of humor and playing kept going too far. Finally, one day he found himself in clown prison—the last place he’d ever thought he would be. Not him, one of the greatest, who’d been inducted into the Clown Hall of Fame! But alas, it was true. The news rocked their elite world, flooding every form of media for months.

When arrested, Jesse was indicted on 115 counts of various charges. During processing, his mind ran rampant, realizing no jury would be understanding of what it took to set up and perform his flaming shrunken head juggling act. They didn’t know the discipline that went into retrieving cadavers, reducing the heads to the size of softballs, then setting them ablaze and telling jokes the whole time ...

He could handle being fingerprinted, photographed, and strip searched (which he rather enjoyed)—all while wearing his psychedelic boots. It became unbearable when, as he wiped off his special makeup, they demanded he remove his shoes. Tears burst forth like a cracked dam and he boohooed like a brokenhearted baby. The mere image of anyone else having, holding, and touching his shoes made him lightheaded. He fell against the cinderblock wall, his back slapping the cold surface as his naked body