wordsforhire

A solitary bead of sweat broke through white powder and mingled with red lipstick that spread through the cracks of the aging face covered in the makeup.  I have to make it back... was the only thought.  The man looked back, his large shoes causing him to stumble.  Damn, he though, I should have taken time to switch shoes.  Righting himself before he fell to the ground the man continued to run down a cold damp alley of Manhattan, New York.  He stopped behind a dumpster and crouched down.  He peaked around the green bin as far as he could without falling over.

Knock-Knock

“Who’s there?”

“Bobo!”

“Bobo who?”

“Bobo the clown you fool! Now let me in!”  Bobo said through clenched teeth.

“Not by the hair of my chinnie-chin chin!”  A high, muffled cackle broke out from behind the bin.

SLAM!

“I’m not in the mood for games, Jerry!”

The garbage bin moved and an opening just wide enough for Bobo to fit through was revealed.  Bobo sighed as he crawled into a rather spacious room.  As he straightened out he smacked the back of Jerry’s head.

“How was the party?”  Steven—also known as Blubber the Clown—asked as Bobo crashed on a burnt-red club chair.

“I didn’t make it.  I think someone was tipped off.  There were CETs all over the place.  Either that or their getting wise about our operation.”

“The Clown Extermination Team?  They aren’t smart enough to realize there’s a secret operation of clowns.”

Bobo shifted, the leather chair groaning at his movements.  I hate that things have to be this way. He thought.

*    *    *

Everybody cheered as the announcement was made that Vice President Lucificus was nominated to take office: the first woman president.  The world was about to see greater change than it had ever seen before.

That was nearly fifteen years ago.  President Lucificus did change the world, but not as the world expected.  President Lucificus declared people lived to freely and were having too much fun.  She expressly named Europe as being too promiscuous and felt they needed to be taken care of.  She tried overpowering the rest of the world.  Nuclear war broke out and a man-made apocalypse rolled throughout the land.  Europe then Asia quickly followed by Africa quickly retaliated against the domineering country.  Nuclear weapons—that no country was supposed to have—started appearing and all were aimed at America.  Threats were made.  War broke out.  Life and civilization was ended.  President Lucificus declared that the only way to keep America safe was to keep her as President: Martial law was soon declared.  There would be no more elections.  America became a dictatorship.

Ha, thought Bobo as he started unlacing his shoes, No more elections.  I can’t believe people fell for that one.  He wiped his face with his hankie.  “I’m going to bed.  We have lots of work to do tomorrow.”

“Don’t worry, Bobo, we’ll figure out a way to overcome this troubling time.”  Jerry squeaked from behind the kitchen counter where he was making a PB and J.

“One smile at a time, one burst of laughter at a time: we’ll show President Lucificus that you can’t ban happiness.”