Free A Fear of Clowns (The Greasepaint Chronicals) by P. S. Power Page A

Well, let's just say that Carlos and Wendy both think you walk on water.
That carries weight in this area." Then, after patting him on a brown hobo
jacketed arm, the man left, so that Jay could get ready. He had to do that in
the hall, since the five women who came in needed to change for their act. At
least, he started to move out of the way, since there wasn't room otherwise.
    "Hi, I'm doing your intro, I
have the name of the group here, the Rhondettes Extravaganza?" He pointed
at the paper, still in character, which got the forty year old looking redhead
that seemed to be in charge to turn around, her shirt off, showing that she was
wearing a bra at least. It was pink with small silk flowers on it. He made a point
not to stare. That had to be unprofessional.
    "Rhonda and the Rhondettes
Extravaganza. Jeeze." She looked at the sheet of paper and then rolled her
eyes. "At least you asked first. Our last number is 'Remember me'. That
says it's 'I Will Follow Him' which isn't even in our act anymore. Old info,
from the last time we worked here. I'm Rhonda, by the way. Can you get a star
for the door here? With my name on it?" It was said in a teasing fashion,
so he nodded.
    "Cut from old newspaper? Us
hobos gotta make do."
    She smiled and started to strip
down, as if it didn't matter that he was standing right there. That meant it
was time to get out of the room and make changes to the schedule, so that he'd
hit the right cues. The lighting guy, who turned out to be a sturdy woman named
Gloria, passed him a pen.
    "I'll need to get used to
carrying my own. Thanks. Um," he was whispering, but rewrote the instructions
on the pad that the woman had, not speaking out loud. That way she'd know the
cues too.
    There were problems of course,
since he hadn't put in his own introductions between sets, or planned anything
out. After Carlos and Wendy cleared the stage, he just stumbled on and
pretended not to know why he was there for a minute.
    "Um, some guy told me that
if I did this I could have a sandwich. I'm soooo hungry. I haven't had a bite
all day." Thankfully Max, who was in the back of the room called out,
giving him something to work off of.
    " I'll bite you, if
you don't do the introductions!" Everyone reacted, shocked by the pretend
abuse.
    "Rhonda and the Rhondettes
Extravaganza! Let's all clap... or that man will beat me!"
    Then he stumbled away, since the
lights went out, waiting for the women who were behind the red curtain.
    They had music too, but that was
all messed up, and out of order, since no one was running the sound system. The
whole thing was an embarrassment, and halfway through it looked like Rhonda was
about to walk off. She actually threw her microphone down, making it squeal
angrily, and turned to leave, her pretty face red and disgusted looking. Jason
couldn't blame her at all. It was the last minute nature of things he guessed,
since all the ladies were really good singers. The timing was just all messed
up, and the songs were being played out of order. Grabbing a push broom he
swallowed, and patted Gloria on the shoulder.
    "Can you give me a spot, when
I get center stage?" He didn't know what he was really going to do, but
the music had stopped all together, and Max was hurrying to the back. Hopefully
he knew what to do about it.
    Sweeping his way forward, all the
ladies stopped moving and stared at him. It was rude to interrupt an act. It
had to be, since it would normally be show stealing. Rhonda was good though, and grabbed onto the thread he was offering, her ruby red lips
smirking. She put her hands on her hips and thrust them forward just enough
that the audience could see it was all part of an act.
    "What's with the cut rate
music? Aren't you supposed to be back there running things for us, Joey?"
That she knew his name surprised him a little. He hadn't told her his
performing moniker, he didn't think.
    "I was , but the
sandwich that guy gave me had limburger on it. I'm on strike, until I
get some