Red Nosed Happiness

The tiny lights which lined the edges of the square mirror glowed dimly as Jody stared at her reflection. The corner of her lips stung as she wiped the red paint off them with a coarse napkin. Once, twice, thrice—she ran the napkin over her skin and flinched each time until she gave up trying to get the pigment off. She had complained twice to the ringmaster about the new stock of paint, how it made her skin itch once she took it off, that is if she managed to at all but in vain. He didn't listen. He never listened.

Boyle walked into the tent wearing a fresh pair of red pants which were too large for him and the red shirt with white polka dots he had worn during their performance. He looked distraught and when Jody turned around to face him, her heart sank.

"Did you burn yourself?" She asked, concerned. "Does your leg hurt?"

"No," he sighed and slumped down on the mattress next to the dressing table. "I got lucky."

Jody set the napkin down slowly next to the ruby red ball and the multi-coloured clips she had adorned her hair with. She stood up from the rickety chair, walked over to where 

Boyle sat and took a seat next to him in silence. 

The audience's laughter still echoed in her ears. She remembered how her heart had thumped against her ribcage the moment she saw his pants brush against the flames on the edge of the ring and the fire quickly spread up his left leg. 

Jody always knew how to act rationally in the face of danger. Sixteen years in foster care had taught her well. She dashed backstage where there were buckets filled with water for one of their final acts. Spraining her shoulders, she lifted a bucket in each hand and rang back into the ring. Boyle ran around in circles, screaming at the top of his lungs and making it almost impossible for her to aim. He slowed down when he felt the first splash of water which she had hurled towards him and by the time she had put out the fire, he lay on his side on the ground shivering out of fear.

As she kneeled down next to him with tears in her eyes, the audience roared and applauded, considering the accident as another act. Through the corner of her eye, she could decipher the plump figure of the ringmaster, gesturing them to leave the ring. 

"Get up, Boyle. We need to go now." She spoke softly while a group of men started chanting "Again" as loud as they possibly could. Boyle had stopped shivering and breathed slowly. He stayed like that for a few more minutes, before quickly jumping up on his feet with a deranged smile on his face. His cheeks flushed a shade brighter than the skin that peeked out through the large, irregularly shaped hole in his pants as the crowd broke into guffaws. He extended his hand towards Jody who stared at him with her mouth agape. She quickly regained her composure, flashed her million dollar smile, took his hand and stood up straight. They locked arms as they bowed, and walked out with a spring in their steps. 

As soon as they entered the darkness at the back of the tent, Boyle felt a firm grip on his arm. The ringmaster stood next to him, seething with anger, his nostrils flared. The two of them felt their insides curl up as they were aware of the doom that awaited them.

"Come with me." His voice thundered as he pulled Boyle towards his office. Jody waited outside his door for a while, trying her best not to let her tears spill while the man yelled at her boyfriend relentlessly.

When the two of them had fled from the foster home, Jody and Boyle had decided they wanted to spread happiness, something they had always been deprived of. They rented clothes for clowns, wore the brightest red balls on their noses and mastered the finest of tricks. Soon they got offers, one after another, to perform in children's parties and the kids' gleeful squeals and peals of laughter never failed to elate them. For six blissful months, everything seemed like a dream until one obnoxious host turned it into a nightmare when she accused Jody of stealing her daughter's bracelet. The two of them, terrified by the thought of spiralling back into their previous lives, fled the city for a remote part of the countryside where the police could never find them.

Jody knew that their days of spreading happiness had come to an end the minute they met the ringmaster. It became more obvious when they came across their first audience which consisted of lifeless brutes who had only shown up because they had nothing better to do. She never gave up though and neither did Boyle, for the ringmaster paid well and they liked to believe that there was at least one person somewhere among the fifty people in the crowd whom they had made genuinely happy.

"We need to find a new job," Boyle sighed, "and a new place to stay." 

Jody sat up and looked at him.

"Where do we go?" She asked, her voice slightly shaking.

"I don't know," he said, placing his palm on her cheek. His eyes welled with tears as he felt the bruise on the corner of her lips with his thumb.

Jody, with a small smile on her face, took his palm in her hands. She was about to bring it closer to her lips in order to kiss it when a bouquet of plastic flowers sprang up his sleeve and hit her on her face.

Boyle gasped. He quickly moved his arm away and was about to apologise when Jody squeezed her eyes shut, flashed her pearly white set of teeth and started laughing. Boyle stared at her for a moment as her laughter rang in his ears like music. He then leaned back against the wall and started chuckling himself.

At least, they still made each other happy.

Shreyosi Endow is a tea addict who likes to read poetry and is obsessed with plants. Send her a mail at endow1211s@gmail.com