Richard Keller has been down on his luck lately. His boss at his finance firm laid him off last Friday, just before payday so he couldn’t get his check. He used to work on the 50th floor in New York and now he’s working Sally Bernard’s 5th Birthday Party as Binky Boo the Clown. His face is sloppily painted with craft store paint and eyeliner his ex-wife left after she left him. His face used to be painted with a scowl that would intimidate even the toughest of his colleagues. He used to be Richard Keller, Senior Manager of Clifford Investments and now he’s Binky Boo the Clown, Senior Manager of rabbits of hats and magic wands.  

              He’s currently standing on a cardboard box, performing his routine to Sally Bernard and her friends. With each failed joke, his ego deflates a little more, like the balloon animals he tries to twist into submission. Had a man ever been so pathetic? He really thought that knock-knock joke about the lemons and the oranges would’ve gotten a giggle and yet nothing. He sneezes a daisy out of his nose. He pulls a rainbow handkerchief out of his sleeve. How could a handkerchief that long come out of there! The children are not impressed by his tricks. He feels suddenly, like a five-year old, desperate to please the other children on the playground but ending up playing by himself. Sally Bernard turns to her friend with a sneer and says something that makes the other girl snicker and curl her lip at him. Richard Keller had never hated a five-year-old more. He knew it was irrational to hate her, that a mature and stable person wouldn’t even consider it. How could a 40-year-old man hate a 5 year old dressed as Cinderella with pink frosting on her cheek? He wasn’t sure but god how he hated her. He hated Sally Bernard more than his boss who had laid him off without a final paycheck. He hated Sally Bernard more than his ex-wife who had cheated on him with their neighbor. He hated Sally Bernard more than he hated Binky Boo the Clown. As he pulled a rabbit out of a hat, he looked at Sally Bernard, desperate to please her. Time stopped and Richard Keller waited, for a smile, a laugh, even a snicker. Nothing. Sally Bernard only looked back at him. Her face was devoid of any joy. Richard Keller looked back at her and saw disappointment reflected in her big, blue eyes. She burst into tears and a hoard of adults ran to comfort her. Her parents stroked her blond hair while her face turned an unhealthy shade of pink. Right before she was escorted away from Binky Boo the Clown, he looked into eyes and saw one final thing: fury. Sally Bernard’s 5th Birthday party was ruined and it was all Richard Keller’s fault.