You’ve decided to pay a visit to a carnival passing through town. You enjoy the food and rides, but suddenly, everyone is drawn in one direction. With the crowds, you can’t tell what is going on. Do you head for the crowd, or do you take the opportunity to wander in another direction? What happens next?
Give us 100 or more words on the topic, either in the comments below or on your own blog. Just let us know where it is so we can all enjoy your creation 
photo credit: anthonyturducken
Tez Says:
Mario had always hated clowns. Not carnivals, just clowns.
Bearded women, midgets, bearded midget women – none of these phased him. But Bob always considered that baggy clothes and red noses belonged on alcoholics.
As a crowd gathered he arched his neck to see the source of the commotion and, surprise surprise – it was a clown. On the ground. Pinned. Under the foot of a carnival elephant.
“Pity”, he said to himself, as he inhaled some more fairy floss, taking care to avoid getting too much of it on his big, red nose…
Posted on January 6th, 2010 at 6:59 pm
Debra Says:
Normally I’d be a sheep and follow the crowd, but I was sick of being jostled, coughed upon and farted next to. People have no manners these days in public places. When I was a kid I was taught to watch where I was going, cover my mouth when I coughed and hold a fart in until I got home.
So when I found myself almost alone in sideshow alley, I wasn’t going anywhere. All the carneys had gone quiet, taking the opportunity to have a quick drink or a smoke. I made my way over to a woman who looked like she’d been working the carnival way too long. Old, with way too much makeup caked on her wrinkled up face, a smoke hanging out the corner of her mouth wearing a faded uniform with Betty printed on it, just visible on her ample chest.
“How are you?” I asked her.
“OK love”, she croaked. “Wanna try your luck, win a prize, only 5 bucks for 5 balls”
“Maybe”, I said. “What’s going on down there?”, I pointed in the direction the crowd had disappeared in.
“Nothin special”, she smiled, showing me her mouth with more than a couple of teeth missing, “Management does it everyday at this time, gives us our mandatory tea break”.
“Management does what?”, I asked intrigued.
“I can’t tell ya”, she cackled, “I’d have to kill ya”.
“Oh, OK”, I said uneasily. “But what if I had a go at your game would you tell me?.
“Maybe” she said with a wink.
I fished out a $5 note from my purse and handed it over to her. She stuffed it in her leather satchel that was draped over her boney shoulder. She handed me a bucket with 5 tennis balls in it.
“Try and knock down the pins with these”, She said. “If ya get them all, I’ll tell ya.”
“Ok”, I said, knowing full well that it was rigged, as all sideshows are. “I’ll have a go”.
The first ball missed completely. The second hit but only 1 pin fell. The third ball hit but no pins dropped. The fourth ball hit and 1 pin fell. I held the fifth and final ball in my hand and looked over at Betty. She had a big grin on her face, “You can do it love” she slurred.
I took a deep breath and threw the ball, but as I suspected it hit the final 3 pins but they didn’t budge. “Damn it!” I said under my breath. Looking over at Betty standing there with smoke circling her face.
“What a shame”, she said. “2 pins gets a pick from the bottom shelf.”
I looked over at the pitiful range of prizes and decided on a miniature water pistol. She handed it over with a grin.
I started walking away, if Betty wasn’t going to tell me I’d find out for myself.
“Hey!”, Betty said, and I turned back around to her.
“What?”, I mumbled.
“They give free food away this time everyday. It’s all the cheapskates that go for the freebies. Happens everyday, like clockwork.”
“Is that all?”, I said, “I thought it would be something more exciting than that.”
“Made ya play the game though didn’t I” she laughed.
“yeah, you did”, I said, “good trick”.
“No trick love, just good sales technique.” she said.
As I started to walk away, Betty called out, “Hey kid, don’t eat the free hot dogs!”
“Why not?” I asked.
“They’re from last week.” She said, giving me a wink.
Posted on January 6th, 2010 at 8:32 pm
Joanne Bouma Says:
Ring of Fire
by Joanne Bouma – 7/01/10 This is an original work and I assert my right as the author.
Never one to shy away from opportunity, I grabbed my brother by the arm and forged ahead.
“Come on, Stevie, you don’t wanna be the only one to miss out.” I barged on through the throng, dragging my reluctant brother towards the unknown. “I bet everyone’ll be talking about it at school on Monday.”
“But you don’t even know where they’re all going” Stevie groaned, “I bet it’s gonna be really boring. Can’t we go back on the dodgem cars, I love the dodgem cars”
“Don’t be a piker, Stevie, if it’s something really good, I’ll kick myself I miss out. I promise after this we can have another go at the dodgems.” I continued dragging him through the crowd, ducking and dodging pointy elbows and strollers laden with sticky, whiny toddlers. “Look, we can squeeze in that spot up front”
We stopped at a low fence and looked out onto an arena. Huge jumps were set against rows of beaten up old mini minors and rusted out beetles. A giant ring was set aflame, and my eyes widened with excitement. “Stevie, a motorbike show, just like Evil Kenevil” Stevie didn’t say anything, but I could tell he was impressed.
“Lets sit on the fence so we can see better”. I climbed up and propped myself on the edge of the fence. Stevie was entranced by the impending spectacular, his chin resting on the railing.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, for the first time in Tasmania, please welcome our very own fearless stunt riders, Tazzie Dare-Devils.” The crowd whooped and whistled. Stevie’s eyes flickered with light, his gaze fixed on the ring of fire. I teetered precariously on my perch atop the fence.
The engines revved, and as the first dirt bikes sped out into the centre of the arena, a cloud of dust swirled out and up. I couldn’t see properly and craned my neck forward to try to get a better look. I didn’t want to miss anything.
Just then, I lost my balance and toppled over the fence, staging my own little acrobatic show for all to see. A flash of light blinded me as I plopped unceremoniously into a puddle of mud, face first. The crowd around us gasped, but as I gingerly removed my sodden self from my unexpected mud bath, they began to giggle and snicker.
“Serves her right, that brazen, little queue-jumper’
Stevie giggled , but quickly returned his gaze to the flames. I sheepishly climbed back over the fence and watched the show in silence.
I was right, everyone was talking about it on Monday at school. It even made the papers, page 7. A huge photo, me in my puddle of mud, and Stevie’s big wide eyes staring at that ring of fire.
Posted on January 7th, 2010 at 5:36 am
Iona Says:
Children, mothers, lanky teenagers. They all ran towards the main tent.
I yelled above the excited squeals and tramping feet. ‘Excuse me. Pardon me. What’s going on?’
A deep, soft voice answered my question. ‘They all want to see the smallest bearded lady. Fits in a champagne glass, so they say.’
I scanned the faces to see who spoke. ‘Who said that?’
The crowd kept running.
‘Name’s Bud’
Bud bent over at the waist and reached down to shake my hand. I had to stand on my toes and stretch right up to reach him. I figured he must be travelling with the carnival.
‘Well, thank you Sir. You say Mim is in that tent?’
Big creases stretched across Bud’s brow. ‘Mim?’
‘Yeah, the bearded lady. Real small. You know her?’
‘Well I aint sure kid. I never met a dwarf before.’
‘You mean you don’t work in the show?’
Bud hung his head. A tear the size of a grape pooled on the dusty ground.
‘Aw, I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to offend.’
Bud shook his head. ‘No, it’s just, I used to work in the show as the world’s tallest man but…’ He choked up with tears.
I gave him a reassuring pat on his shin. ‘Yes?’
‘Well two years ago a young fella from Denver turns up and he’s an inch taller than me. Now they got me workin’ in the stables. I do miss the show.’
I thought for a second, then called up to Bud. ‘I got an idea. Follow me.’
We walked to the side of the tent. Or rather, Bud strolled and I ran. A big, solid bull of a man stood at the side entrance with his arms crossed.
‘Excuse me Sir, has the show started yet with the bearded lady?’
The bull-man grunted something that resembled a ‘no’.
I asked Bud to take his bag off his back and follow me. When we were out of view of the ticket collectors, I hopped in the bag.
‘Carry me round to the staff entrance and say you have to deliver an urgent message to Mim’.
Bud swung me on to his back. ‘Who’s Mim?’
‘You’ll see.’ I said, hoping this would work.
Bud did as I said and he was shown into the bearded ladie’s dressing room. She looked at Bud. ‘You have a message?’
Bud stepped nervously from one foot to the other causing me to sway heavily from side to side.
‘Put me down.’ And he did, with a slightly more painful thud than expected. I crawled out rubbing my elbow when Mim squealed and threw her arms around me.
‘Auntie Mim, I knew it’d be you. Why didn’t you say you were in town?’
‘I was going to surprise you darling.’ She punctuated her words with a theatrical flourish.
‘Listen Mim, I got a real quick favour to ask you. Bud here used to be in the show and now some guy’s taken his place. Anything you can do? Strings you can pull?’
Mim’s painted lips spread into a huge smile. ‘Why, yes! I’ve been saying for years that if I had a giant.’ She looked up at Bud. ‘You don’t mind that term do you honey?’
Bud shook his head.
‘That a giant would do wonders for my act as I’d look even smaller. Can you imagine the pictures?’
Bud kneeled down. ‘Mam, do you mean I can really work in the show again?’
Mim let out an excited cackle. ‘Absolutely definitely. Welcome aboard Big Bud.’
Bud cried a different kind of tear, and swept Mim off her feet to give her the world’s biggest hug.
Posted on January 9th, 2010 at 1:56 am
Aly Says:
Aerin turned back to look towards the midway for a split second before she turned and headed towards the gathering, shrieking crowd, hysterical with fear and disbelief. Carnies were dashing everywhere, calling for the boss and trying to corral the frightened civilians, and Aerin pushed through them to kneel by the body of the man whose blood and innards now stained the sawdust on the ground.
“Oh my God,” a woman was stammering, at varying pitches. “Oh my God, Andy… Oh my GOD.”
“Please, ma’am, please, come away, come with us, please,” a carny was begging the dead man’s wife, desperate to get her out of view.
Aerin lifted the dead man’s — Andy’s — eyelids and felt his chest briefly under the sheet someone had thrown haphazardly over him. The crowd was beginning to be pushed farther and farther back, the carnies muscling them away. Aerin stopped, then lifted the sheet and squinted. The man’s chest was torn open from clavicle to belly button, and most of the insides were now outside, ribs broken violently… Aerin frowned, peering even farther inside. No heart. Though many of the organs were still somewhat attached, his heart was not one of them. It was entirely gone.
“Excuse me, what the hell are you doing?” A carny had noticed Aerin’s examination. She threw the sheet back over Andy’s pale form and stood quickly, glaring at the worker as she turned away, stalking through the crowd. “Hello! HEY! I’m talkin’ to you!” he cried indignantly, chasing after her. “What the hell do you think you’re doing!”
Aerin reached into her back pocket and pulled out what looked like an elegant silver whistle, whose cord she threw around her own neck as she began to run. The carny hesitated, uncertain, but followed her.
“Leave me alone and go deal with your crowd,” she called behind her as she raced along, eyes on the ground as she wove between and around tents and platforms. “You’ve got a job to do.”
“Yeah,” the carny snapped, “it’s called ‘protecting the merchandise.’ Where the hell do you think you’re going?!” He was alongside her now, reaching out to grab her elbow.
Aerin batted his hand away and boxed his ear in a smooth, practiced move. “Knock it off,” she said, stopping suddenly to face him. “I’m trying to protect your damn carnival.”
“By snooping around behind the scenes? A man just died,” he exclaimed, outraged. Aerin frowned at him.
“I’m aware. I’m also aware that you’re standing in the footprints of the thing that did the job, so if you’ll excuse me –” she glanced at his name tag, “…Frankie…” a definite judgement on his nomenclature, “…I’m going to try to hunt down the cardiosaur before you lose another customer.”
A wild scream from about fifty yards to their left startled them out of discussion and into action; Aerin broke into a run in the direction of the sound and Frankie stood shell-shocked in her wake for a moment before he ran after her.
“You’re outta your mind if you think I’m not gonna follow you again,” he growled, then shouted, “What the HELL is a cardiosaur?!”
Posted on January 10th, 2010 at 1:07 pm
January Contributions | Prompted to Write Says:
[...] Iona offends dwarves on Commotion at the Carnival. [...]
Posted on January 31st, 2010 at 9:15 pm