TRIBULATIONS OF A CLOWN: A Carnival Memoir

Part Four: Camaraderie and Kindness from a Clown

We could of course leave the midway and crowds and walk a quicker and quieter route for carnies behind the games, but Randall and his wife and pets seem to be all enjoying themselves a bit too much. Children in the passing crowd kept giggling and pointing at the furry ferret cuties. They seem a show of their very own. Randall is now carrying one, as well as his wife. These creatures are smart, cute, agile, and fast. They seem to relish in delighting the crowds. They run circles around the heads and shoulders of both Randall and his wife, who both play along, laughing.

As I watch the antics of all of them–- ferrets and humans, I can't help but laugh alongside the crowd we walk through. Right now, while lots of midway people watch, Randall has his ferret sitting on his shoulder with a cigarette in its mouth! I lose it at this scene, the smoking ferret.

Going further down the midway, all of us were enjoying ourselves in the various roles that we assumed. Randall and his wife were the true showpeople, part of the act, but not the real draw. That honor belonged to these two charming, happily preening creatures. For now, all eyes were on them, not just for being pets, or even entertaining pets, but most of all for being exotic. The things we as carnies take for granted and common to us are decidedly uncommon for the general public.

Before I ever got shanghaied into being part of the traveling carnival, I had never seen a ferret, and have rarely ever seen rabbits, which are supposedly abundant, almost as common as house cats. When I threw in my lot with the carnival life, it opened my eyes figuratively and literally. To see and exist among such sights is a sure temptation to never rejoin "normal" society again. Who wants normal when there are such exotic SIGHTS to see, taste, and enjoy? Things considered exotic often seem like somehow a more enriching experience. Things seen daily are humdrum and less valued. So we seek the thrill of the exotic. We go after the risk, the unusual, the feeling that because of this unusual thing, surely this day is somehow no longer ordinary.

Finally, we turned away from the public midway to get to Rick's bus, since everyone had to keep their vehicles behind the midway, and customers aren't really allowed behind the scenes. However, I've never seen even one member of the public ever questioned while wandering around the back areas. It does occur more often than you would think.

As soon as we left the crowds, the small furry pair seemed to visibly get less excited, and transitioned from full crowd mode, into home mode. Quieter, meeker, and less rambunctious all around. It seems that these little guys are a lot smarter than I thought. They realize there is a place and time for everything, and indeed, like me, they wear a public mask, and a private one as well.

In public, they are amazing entertainers, but in private, they are happy affectionate pets, with a strong scent and silky fur. Their scent is not a perfume, nor is it unpleasant, but a strong musk, a very animal smell, which is also exotic.

We step between power generators, various plastic temporary pipes, and thick cables of all manner of colors and thicknesses. This is chaos, but practical chaos because It all seems to work. A few carnies are wandering around as well, checking wiring, and connections, and making adjustments as needed. This is the section that makes everything work and perform perfectly, but it's not pretty. It's a technical mishmash, but a necessary one. It makes the lights, the tasty treats, and the games actually run, and all somehow possible, so it's probably more important than the games themselves.

All five of us walk quickly past a line of blue porta-potties, which are unmistakable as well through scent alone, so the quicker we get past them the better obviously. It's probably a good thing that the infamous Doctor Who doesn't use one of these porta-potties instead of the call booth he's famous for using. The good Doctor wouldn't last a single episode traveling dimensions in one of these blue booths! But these are absolutely necessary for the health of the carnival. Maybe the most necessary function, the waste of all, for both carnies and customers.