Point of Disgust

Outside my window a man is being assaulted by a bunch of the rogue clowns from the carnival. The clinking of piano keys echoes from below. Sister Wendy is playing a new hymn as the other nuns sing in a wavering chorus . It's an ugly day and my window's ledge feels familiar and calm. The clowns stand in a very unbalanced way, their faces are glazed from indulging in liquor too often. Easy to overcome, and easy to pity. The man stands with chilling confidence. A gun is pulled and each clown suffers a bullet to the head. I wonder how this man ended up here, under my window. He looks pleased. A twinge of fear stirs in me. Someone should tattoo on his forehead "WARNING - VERY DANGEROUS PERSON". A man's voice shouts "Johnny" while I turn away from the window.

JESUS DON"T WANT ME FOR A SUNBEAM

Today was WEIRD. To start out I bumped into some guy in drag who clomped off in platforms while saying something like "GURL! You best watch where you go, or else I am gonna have to get all up in your face!". Let me remind you this is the second time in a week I've been referred to as girl by a gender defying person. My feet kinda just scritched over the pavement today, and staring down at them I notice I have two different shoes on. Then I notice directly in front of my feet are two ginormous purple blobby things, and located on top of these ginormous blobby things is an even more ginormous blobby thing. BARNEY!! His squishy six foot frame looms over me like a childhood nightmare. On either side of him are two women who look like they smoke 10 packs a day, all dressed up like hoochie mamas. Barney's permanent grin doesn't leave his face as he shoves both women in the limo to his left and ducks in after them. His deliriously cheery voice chirps to the driver to floor it if he doesn't want to get his mother fucking head blown off. I continue to scritch my way to Garret Lanes. My life long dream of being a hot dog eating champion is no longer. Now I realize my true calling is bowling. Upon arriving at the bowling alley a white paper is tapes to it's doors. Written in a scrawl is the word closed. No explanation. I continue to scritch down the street.

ZIPZAPZOT

This morning I woke up on the floor. I guess I never got up after collapsing in a heap underneath the window. Sister Wendy is in charge today. She's a batty old coot who speaks with a lisp but all in all she's pretty nice. After a day of extra good behavior I have managed to get her to take me to the carnival again. When we arrive it's just as it was before, pandemonium and joy. At the ticket booth I'm relieved that there's a different vendor, it would be bad if the one from last time recognized me in front of sister Wendy. Just as we exchange our cash for grubby crumpled tickets a loud eruption comes from the center of the festivities. Suddenly the carnival is more pandemonium than joy as peaks of fire roar over the crowd. Everyone manages to get out in time even though the exits are hard to locate. Later we find out that some guy who calls himself "Brockman" pushed a fire eater into the food cart which is pretty much a barrel of oil and grease. It ignited quicker than a match and caught the neighboring bootleg liquor stand alight in less than a second. I have a feeling the carnival will be gone tomorrow.

FUN FROGS

Today the carnival came. Yesterday I was grounded by Sister Joan till next week. I don't care though. Tonight I can just climb out my window, and down the thick ivy that lines Madeline's House. Once it's dark I proceed with my plan. I can feel little legs scuttling over my fingers as they clench into the ivy. In there it must be a whole other world. The last couple of feet I just jump off the wall and land on the grass with a soft thump. My feet slap down the street, headed towards the pale glow coming around the corner. A wave of sound and smells hits me and joy wells up inside my chest. I only have around ten dollars which won't buy many tickets but the mannish lady behind the both croaks at me that I remind her of herself at my age and throws in five free tickets. I'm just going to assume she looked like a little boy. Inside the carnival is more like a mad house. Men are running about swallowing swords and fire, and a troop clowns keep bumping about in the crowd jostling everyone. The constant swaying and sickeningly oily smells coming from the food cart make me feel slightly queazy. I get out of the crowd as soon as I can and find myself by a small dark shack. a Skittish looking man is selling small bottles marked XXX. I can only assume it's some sort of alcohol. A woman approaches the booth so i quickly slip behind the side and peak around the corner. I'm not all that surprised to see it's Sister Joan slipping him a 20 dollar bill in an obviously sneaky way. After making sure she's well out of sight I decide to hve a few rounds of bumper cars and then head out. The bumper cars are my favorite part of carnivals. Most people complain about how they randomly come to a shuddering jolt but I seem to have some luck and never end up in those. Keezy Le'Breezy gets a crappy car three times in a row which throws him into a rage. He ends up tripping out of the ring while trying to show up some of his dance moves. My time in the carnival is euphoric if not queer, but it's time for me to go. As I leave the bright lights behind me I see that the whole block has lost power. The thought that this is odd doesn't occur to me until the next day, but luckly I know my way around here so well I don't need the light. The ivy is waiting on the side of Madeline's House for me to climb up. At the window I topple in and just lay there still thinking about what it's like between the ivy and the wall.