The Jokester

Chapter 4: Longing

Trigger Warnings For This Chapter: Cursing, Hallucinations, Mental Illness Traits, Homelessness, and Desperation

   Pinky walked along aimlessly. 2 p.m. on a Wednesday, and he was already done for the day. All he had to do was dance in front of a car lot for a few hours. Once they brought out the inflatable guy, they said he could go.

   He was wearing some rather plain clothes. Everything was brown and a bit holey. And he was wearing the clown jacket. It was too chilly to go without a jacket. He walked along, looking into shops he knew he could never purchase from, but the fantasy of doing so was there. A pet store stopped him for quite a while. He could see the kitties from the window, which was hard to walk away from. Until the owner came out and told him to leave.

   Pinky sighed. There wasn't much to do when you were dirt poor. You could do a lot of walking, though.

   He kept walking for a few hours, stopping here and there to give his ribs a break. He knew he should probably be resting, but he figured walking wasn't a horrible idea. Plus, there's just absolutely no way he could sit still for more than... well, his record was thirty-two minutes. And it was agonizing.

   He didn't know why he couldn't stay still. He didn't know why he did a lot of things. Other people could sit still. Other people also didn't blurt out things that weren't real words or not know how to spell good or understand things well. Other people also didn't see some of the things Pinky could see. The word he hated the most buzzed throughout his mind. Crazy!

   "Oof!" Pinky crashed to the ground and clutched his sides. "Oh, dear heavens." He groaned to himself and peeked through his eyes to see who he had bumped into. However, no one was around. Then he looked down. He was lying on a sign. "Oops."

   Pinky slowly got up, moaning the whole time. He brought the sign up with him and repositioned it. Thankfully, he hadn't damaged it. He didn't have the funds to pay for a sign as nice as this. It had wood edges and a chalkboard middle! Very fancy!

   Curious, Pinky squinted at the words that were written. "C-come lis-ten?" Ten what? "Lis-ten?... oh! Listen! Open mic! Free to enter! Narf!" Pinky gasped. It was free! There was something to do! Brain's laugh from the other day replayed in his mind. Oh yeah! This must be a universe sign or something of the kind! He needed jokes to make Brain laugh! Maybe he could get inspiration from this?

   Pinky slipped inside the small bar. "Oooo." The lights were dimmed, and the table set-ups were lovely. Someone introduced themselves on stage, and Pinky went and found an empty table. It looked like he was right on time!

   While the man introduced himself as Micheal, a waiter tapped Pinky on the shoulder. "Excuse me, ... sir." He eyed Pinky up and down with obvious judgment. "Would you like a drink?"

   Pinky smiled sheepishly. "Um, I would... is the water here free? Poit."

   The waiter rolled his eyes. "Yeah. It's free." He left with a disapproving head shake.

   Pinky turned his attention back to the stage with eager ears. He was going to do his best to take mental notes.

   The Michael man cleared his throat. "Alright, alright. Enough introduction. So, the other day, my wife fell in the kitchen pretty good. I hear a slam from the living room and rush in. I'm worried she dropped dinner." Everyone in the audience giggled except Pinky.

   Why would someone be more worried about dinner and not their wife? What's funny about that? Pinky leaned in closer as if it would unlock a mystery he didn't understand.