Caprice the Clown

52 Stories in 52 Weeks: 2007 ## 15 Caprice the Clown

By: Mr. George D. Patnoe., Jr's Ambidextrous Brain + Mind.

As Caprice reached out to touch the photo that was taped onto her makeup mirror, she wondered how so many people on earth could have lived for so many millions of years without a camera or recording device to record their lives on earth. All of those individual lives that could have made a difference to future humans, who wanted to quickly develop their own mental tools for learning and living. Caprice wondered, ‘ how many people had progressive ideas and grand thoughts and spiritual and metaphysical inspirations and experiences from other and higher realms, but who could not record those higher visions of life and the universe, so they could be relayed to the future of progressive thinkers.

As most workers who leave their house for their employer, Caprice needed to dress up in her professional attire, so she sat on her special chair, in front of her special mirror, as she transformed herself from an average everyday person, to a performer for the thousands of circus and clown fans who would watch the magical show of the circus. As Caprice touched the old photo, she hoped that it would survive until her last breath on earth. The circus photo was the last photo that she possessed of her childhood, after she had watched her childhood house burn to the ground, the one circus photo had somehow slipped out of the house, and gently floated out of the dark sky into her hand. As she knew that she and her family were all lucky enough to be alive in the cold night air, she wondered how the only item of the house would survive the hot flames, was the one picture; the picture of the circus which her mom had taken, just a few months before the destructive fire.

As the glaring yellow flames engulfed the house, the heavenly stars shone their light from high above their family’s misfortune, but a misfortune with a huge lesson for Caprice. Caprice had soon learned how all earthly and material items could burn up in smoke, and how unimportant they were in the whole scheme of life and the future of mankind. Within the gigantic and lively flames, a message was sent to Caprice that she would never forget, picture or no picture. From high above the roar of the house, which was burning and crashing down to the ground, another message was seen in the specks of stars high above where Caprice stood as a statue; her shocked mind raced from one idea to another idea, almost as if she were jumping from one star to another star, all with their own ideas of what life is and what it should be. But how would she ever know about life in other solar systems?

As she looked into the photo for the thousandth time, she also looked onto a photo next to the circus photo. An astronomy photograph with multi-scenes of different galaxies. ‘If life was different to me, I might have been an astronaut, but here I am a clown, although without a ounce of regret for bringing laughter into the hearts of children.’ She thought to herself. Looking back onto the clown photograph, she saw the huge ring with the two smaller rings on each end of the huge ring. Huge elephants were walking out of the huge ring as the clowns were walking into the smaller ring, as they began to amuse the crowds with funny movements, and acts, and jokes, and of course, their clown costumes.

Caprice had always entered the circle of the circus ring, just as she had entered the circle of life, with a giggling smile and the sense of wonderment that only a few human individuals possess at birth, and fewer still possess as they walk through their earthly life’s trials. But before she entered the circus ring, she needed to prepare herself by putting clown makeup on her face and as she slipped into her clown clothes. Slipping into her clown outfit of the yellow stars on the red clown pants and the red stars on the yellow clown shirt, she would began the normal transformation from being a regular human being, with the everyday problems, to being a silly, yet serious clown whose job it was to make people laugh, so as they too, would forget their normal everyday lives for a few hours, with the hope that their circus memories would linger and pop up every once in while throughout their lives.

Caprice’s own childhood memories of her visits to the circus had carried her forward in her clown life. She own the circus picture her parents had taken and they were taped onto her makeup mirror. Caprice would look at them, to remind her of her mission, just before she stood up to walk out of the dressing room, leaving behind the world of seriousness to enter the world of fun and games. So many clowns worked at the circus for the money, while Caprice worked at the circus for fun and for another hidden reason; a reason that she could not tell a single soul. Caprice had a special gift, some clowns called her gift the special touch.

The sounds of the circus were many; elephants roaring, tigers roaring, horses waiting, men running around as they were taking care of the ring’s needs, as the roar of the ring master yelled to the crowd through the loud speakers, signaling when the clowns were supposed to entertain the crowds, between the major events of the circus ring. And then there were the leaders of the circus. The circus managers who gave orders to this guy or that guy; but mainly, everyone knew what they were supposed to do because each person had performed their individual duty hundreds if not thousands of time before. But in the middle of the ring, the man who held the blow horn in his hand, was the Ring Master.

The Ring Master would usually shout out the words, "Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages, welcome to the greatest show on earth. Today you will see animals from around the world, along with supernatural humans who can perform super stunts of un natural ability. And not to forget the funniest clowns on earth. Leave your problems outside of the circus tent walls, and enjoy the greatest show on the face of the earth." The Ring Master said that just to remind those unformed individuals that the circus was a special place to enjoy people who loved to make people laugh and help them escape their own weird moments of everyday of life.

Because Caprice had traveled all over America, she had seen all of the different types of peoples who lived in America. Talk about weird, ‘Thought Caprice.’ The gay parades in San Francisco, the Indian dancing in America’s deserts, the hip hop dances in the night clubs of New York city and other cities, the country dances in the western bars, the ball room dancers in their secret locations, police officer ball dances in their secret locations, religious dancers in their specific churches, and of course, the man on the moon dance which was performed by only a few human males in their space suits. How could dancing clowns be any different from all of those other dancers. Maybe, it was the colorful uniforms the clowns wore to work. How many people would wear so many funny looking colors with no real pattern at all? Yet some very shy people might start to dance, if they could hide in a clown costume.

But clowns wearing dark business suits would not be fun to watch in the circus rings, would they? How many children would laugh at dark suits? thought Caprice. So, as she finished dressing into her clown suit, she looked into a mirror and looked at the red baggy pants with the yellow stars and she checked out her huge oversized white shoes with its tint blue stars and she looked at the bright blue stiff gloves with the white stars and she looked at her yellow wiggly hat, but then she looked at her face. A face painted white with one eyed circled with a blue star and another eye circled with a red star, and a mouth with a huge red painted smile in it, and at times, she wore clown’s sun glasses when she really needed to hide her eyes from the crowd; because believe it or not, clowns do possess painful feelings located in their life memories. ‘How could one picture bring joy and pain to a person until the day she died?’ questioned Caprice to herself.

‘Show time?’ thought Caprice. Turning around to start her jog to the entrance of the outside circus ring, she joined the other clowns who were also dressed in their professional attire, so they could hide their personal lives behind colorful paint and colorful clothes, in order to make the crowds of children laugh so they too, would forget their own personal lives, if only for a moment of time. ‘For only a moment of time.’ wondered Caprice. How could a single moment of time linger as it is forced into the mind of a single child, stay with that child during their forever land as they walked on planet earth?’ A single moment of time, smaller than the Big Bang Creation of the seemingly physical universe, but more powerful when happens in the mind of a single child. A child with a clear mind, pure as the white snow, but with the start of a few little big bang moments that turn into lasting lifetime memories.

A normal child who has no memories of the Big Bang Creation, but they sure have memories of the little big bangs that are forced into their brains memory processes; little big bangs such as getting hit for no reason. Or watching their parents take drugs and then die on the family couch. Or seeing a family pet die and being buried in the backyard. Or seeing another child suffer in the hospital until they are dead. Or seeing a war on television with real men who thought they were tough, until a single bullet cuts into their soft chicken skin, only to open that soft skin wide open, to let life blood slip to the muddy ground. Or when they see a car accident where two or five or ten cars are smashed up on a wintery pure white snow cover highway, until that pure white cover earth is covered with the red blood of people who died in a single little big bang moment because a stupid moron drove drunk or because they were driving to fast: Or both. Single little moments that never leave the mind of a child, even if they live to be 100 years old. But there are good single little moments too!

The clowns all ran out to the small entrance ring and they all ran to their prepared stations, all performing their prepared specific clown acts. Only Caprice had the gift! All the other clowns knew of her special gift, so they were all watching her as she danced as no other clown could ever dance, nor like any other human being on earth. Caprice danced with the angels and the angels danced with Caprice. But within the dance of a clown was the dance of a purpose, the purpose of saving a child’s soul. Caprice had the gift and she used it wisely. She danced closer and closer to the crowd, as she looked for the one child who was not laughing at all. A single child that had not laugh during her two hours at the circus, the circus of forgetting a child’s pain. She was looking for the saddest child that she could find in the crowd. But Caprice had help from the angels. She knew that one of her guardian angels would point out that saddest child, the child who needed an ever lasting happiest little big bang memory ever, a memory that would last throughout the rest of her earthly lifetime, through a life time of human joy and suffering, even if that life time lasted 100 years.

In a single moment, Caprice saw her. A little girl who was looking down towards the ground, while all of the other children were laughing and carrying on as all little children do at the circus. After the monkeys jumping up and down on the elephant’s backs, after the twirling dancers on white and brown horses and, after those tightrope walkers walking on a thin rope high up in the air, after the trapeze artists who swung on the ropes high up above the ground, after the music raging through the loud speakers, after the Ring Master yelling to the crowd to have fun, after the preparation clowns splashing water on each other, after a man was blown out of a cannon, after a lady blew fire out of her mouth, after the monkeys danced on the elephant's backs, and after so much more.

A little girl was sad! In the circus? A little girl was so sad in the circus that she never ever looked up to watch the circus. A little girl who was so filled with some kind of pain, that she needed help, the help from the magical clown. Caprice danced up to the sad little girl, waving her hands to and fro, smiling at the little girl, and then Caprice whistled at the sad little girl, until she looked up at Caprice. Caprice then whispered some magical words to the sad little girl. The sad little girl smiled; maybe for the first time in her life. Caprice heard the angel’s voice and Caprice put her hands out for the little girl and the little girl looked at her mom. Her mom shook her head yes, and Caprice and the little girl were off to the big circus ring.

Caprice’s mind met up with the little sad girl’s mind, to raced within and through that little girl’s many dream worlds. Caprice was racing like a fighter jet pilot, trying to search out the hidden enemy that had hurt the little girl. All the while, Caprice the clown picked up the now laughing little girl and tossed her up onto a miniature brown with white striped horse. Caprice the clown guided the little girl’s hands to the rope around the neck of that brown and white stripped miniature horse, while she watched the little girl begin to laugh even louder than ever. Caprice searched within the shadow mind of the little girl, trying to find that one memory that might have nearly killed the little girl, or for that one memory that on little girl should never, ever own in the first place. Caprice looked up to the sky, to the invisible airless sky, a sign from the guiding angels to help if they could, if they would. Of course they would! A few seconds later, Caprice had locked onto her target, a mental memory image, hidden within the little girls mind, away from her everyday life, but which had touched the heart of the little girl. Caprice went to work to destroy that bad image with its profound effects of breaking the little girl’s heart and soul. To heal her memory was Caprice’s real job, so the little girl, the little child, would begin a new life, a life that might change the world, one day.

The little girl rode on the miniature horse around one ring, and then another clown guided the miniature horse around the big ring, and then Caprice jumped forward to the third ring to guide the horse back to the first ring. The little girl jumped off the miniature horse and ran up to her mom, as she yelled, ‘Mommy, mommy, did you see me ride the horse?’ Her mommy’s facial expression had transformed into a surprise state of relieve. Her little girl was smiling and laughing and even yelling out the words, ‘Did you see me, mommy? Did you see me riding the horse?’ Another clown jumped up to the little girl and handed her an instant picture that he snapped with an instant camera. He handed the color picture to the little girl and he handed another picture to her mom. Her mom looked at the picture and then brought the picture close to her physical heart as a sign, a sign of approval to the special clown Caprice. Another clown snapped a second picture of the little girl and the mommy and with Caprice in the middle of the two happy people.

Caprice always added a special touch at little big bang moments like this by reaching inside one of her big clown pockets and she took out a mini clown hat. She quickly reached it out to the little girl and put it on her head. Then she again quickly reached into the big clown pocket and Caprice pulled out a big fat red plastic nose and she slipped it onto the little girl’s nose. And for the third time, Caprice reached into her big clown pocket and pulled out a paper clown costume and quickly slipped it over the little girl. Another clown took a picture and handed the picture back to the little girl. The little girl was so happy that she brought tears to her mother. I n the mist of the laughing crowd, the mother rose up and quickly hugged Caprice the Clown. Caprice again went into fighter pilot mode and reached into the memories of the mom who also seemed sad.

In a split second, Caprice had found the single little big bang image that had triggered the bad memory for the mom and the little girl. Because Caprice knew that adults could handle words better than children, she whispered into the ear of the little girl’s mom. "Just remember these words and teach them to her little girl in your own time. The seeming realm of death can not destroy the love between two creatures. In one sense, the seemingly realm of death can bring certain people closer, only on a different level of life. The fires on earth, and in our human hearts can never stop the lights of love and of the lights of the real heaven from being brightly alive, even as they can brightly shine within us too. Just remember!"

Caprice quickly looked into the eyes of the mom with a stare, and then she waved good-bye to the little girl. The Ring Master was yelling through the bullhorn, "Ladies and Gentlemen. Boys and girls of all ages. Thanks for coming to the greatest show on earth. Come again when we return next year, with better memories for all of you. We hope that all of you will ever forget your visit at the greatest show on earth. We hope that you all enjoyed the show."