The Guild of Fallen Clowns Read Online Free PDF Page A

if the trees were reaching for
him in an effort to capture and return him to the Shadow
Spirit inside Krauss House.
    The bottom of his car scraped the street as
he finally reached the end of the driveway and landed hard on
Krauss Drive. He sped to the end of the street before stopping out
of visual range of the property. His heart pounded as he struggled
to catch his breath. One might think he ran the distance
from the house instead of drove.
    “What just happened?” he said. “Was that
real? Did I just see a real ghost at Krauss House?” He
continued asking himself these questions in order to make some
sense of what he just experienced. “C’mon, Alan, why are you being
such a wimp? Mary lives with the ghost, and she’s fine. She must
think I’m a real loser,” he continued as his breathing became less
labored.
    Thinking about his character in Clown World,
Alan wondered how Boogy would have handled the same situation.
Sitting on the safe side of the computer screen, his character
might have tried talking to the spirit. Or, he might have walked up
the stairs for a closer look. He would have done many things, but
the last thing Boogy would have done was run away like a frightened
little kid.
    At that moment, it occurred to Alan that he
wasn’t Boogy from Clown World. This was his life. An
existence where his strong, alter ego, virtual world, Boogy
character was little more than a wish for who he wanted to be.

Chapter 3
     
    Dressed and made up in his Boogy the Clown
costume, Alan stepped out of his car, locked the door, and pocketed
his keys. More than a half hour remained before the Saturday
morning opening of the carnival, but cars already began flooding
into the freshly mowed temporary parking lot. Families and groups
of teenagers herded toward the gated entrance.
    Noticing Alan’s costume, the guard cracked
the gate open and waved him through. Eager guests pleaded with the
guard to let them in early. Since the guard was preoccupied with
blocking the anxious crowd, Alan looked for someone else to direct
him to Cracky. He scanned the area and noticed two men walking
together ahead of him. With nobody else in sight, he sprinted to
catch up with them.
    “Excuse me,” Alan said. The two were in a
heated argument and didn’t hear Alan’s meek attempt to get their
attention. Again, he thought it might be better to find someone
else for assistance.
    As he rounded the first bend of the midway,
he noticed a maintenance worker opening his toolbox in front of the
Bobsled ride. He didn’t appear to be rushed so Alan asked him where
he might find Cracky.
    “The Big Guy?” the man replied. “Last I saw,
he was at the Zipper, in the back corner,” he said, pointing in the
direction.
    Alan now had Cracky’s proximity, but he had
never met the man in person.
    “Great. Thank you. Oh, one more thing. What
does Cracky look like?”
    The grizzled worker didn’t look at Alan and
replied, “The big guy.”
    Puzzled by what sounded like another
question, Alan replied, “Yeah—the big guy, Cracky. What does he
look like? I’ve never met him. We talked on the phone, but I’ve
never seen him.”
    The worker put down his wrench and turned to
face Alan. His eyes moved up and down.
    “He’s the big guy!” he chuckled. “He looks a
little like you. You can’t miss him,” he said as he turned away,
picked up the wrench, and resumed working.
    Still a bit confused Alan didn’t want to
chance angering the man with more questions. He politely thanked
him and walked away. The man proceeded to climb through an open
panel to gain access below the ride. Alan was a good distance from
the Bobsled ride when he heard the worker yell out, “What the
hell?” followed by a long stream of obscenities. Alan was glad he
had decided not to ask more questions, which might have provoked
the guy to snap at him instead of the problem he encountered
seconds after he left.
    The Zipper wasn’t hard to find, and as soon
as Alan saw three men