The summer passed. Fall fell. Same old, same old, with one bright exception––Mom and Dad announced they were going to have a new baby! It was going to be great! Davey decided he would love being an older brother.
“What do you want, Little Man, a sister or a brother?”
He shrugged and said, “It don’t matter. I will love either one.”
“That’s my boy!” Guy interrupted him, “So grown up now!”
Davey stuck out his chest and felt good at the praise.
He watched as his mother’s belly grew and grew. It looked like a large basketball filling her up! He smiled at the thought.
“When? When? When will the baby come out?”
“My goodness! So eager, aren’t we? Actually, Doc Maynard said it will be sooner than we expected. Probably by early June.”
“Wow!” Davey could hardly wait.
June first was the day his little sister Abby arrived. When she was brought home, Davey couldn’t stop staring at her. Wow! A real live, little person came out of his momma’s belly. It was a miracle! Suddenly, Davey felt very protective of his baby sister and thought, maybe I am growing up!
NOW, THOUGH, AS DAVEY stood watching the street from his upstairs window, he thought I am not going to the picnic this year. ‘Cause if I do, the last clown will get me!It will get me for sure!
Davey marched downstairs and into the kitchen where his parents were getting Abby ready for her first picnic, then announced, “I’m not going this time. I’m nine now and I have to make some decisions for myself!”
June and Guy swung their heads in his direction.
His dad said, “All right, Son. This year, you’re off the hook!”
A smile of disbelief spread across Davey’s face.
Guy went on to say, “We’ll be busy showing off our new bundle of joy anyway, won’t we, June?”
“Now Guy, stop trying to make Davey jealous...”
“I’m not jealous one bit!” he said. Just glad to stay home, miss this picnic...
His parents and baby sister went out the door and then he heard the car drive away.
Whew! Saved! Davey got busy. He mowed the front lawn, clipped some hedges and low bushes, thought about straightening up the garage, but that was too much work, so he settled in the living room to watch some television, complete with some popcorn and pop. Good! Wrestling is on.
Davey’s parents came back around six o’clock, all happy and sun-tanned. Luckily, they brought home some hotdogs and potato salad for a light dinner. Davey was starving and so he dove into the food with enthusiasm.
After Abby was put to bed and Davey had brushed his teeth, his mom came in to say good night.
Davey looked at her reflection through the mirror and asked, “Was there only one clown?”
June nodded, “Yes. One clown,” she barely whispered.
“Did it touch anyone, a kid?”
“I didn’t watch! I couldn’t watch!” She turned swiftly and headed downstairs.
Before hopping into bed, Davey did his usual thing; he spread the sheer curtains apart and looked down. There––across the street––a clown!
In the dim light from the streetlamp, he couldn’t quite make out which color he was, but guessed he was in green. The clown moved further into the light. Yes, it was the green frilled clown with the same colored curly wig!
Fear clutched at his heart, as an invisible hand squeezed it and constricted his throat. He couldn’t make a sound, couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t tear his eyes away from the figure, half-hidden in shadows.
As he was about to pass out from lack of oxygen, the clown gave a little wave with a white gloved hand, then disappeared.
Davey slid down to the floor, grabbing hold of the windowsill to prevent hurting himself, and fought for his breath. Large gasps emitted from his mouth, as tears flowed freely. Sweat bathed his pajamas, and soon he was soaking wet.
Davey crawled across the floor, pulled himself up to slip between cool, soothing sheets of his single bed. There he huddled, clutching rough blankets around him and shivered, until the greyness of morning filtered in through the filmy curtains of the window.
“Davey, is something wrong?” his mother asked when Davey came downstairs. “You look like you haven’t slept at all!” She felt his forehead for some indication.
“You don’t have a fever...” Just then Guy entered the kitchen.
Switching his eyes between the two faces, concern furrowed his brow.
“Is something wrong? Davey, you don’t look so hot. Are you sick?”
Davey pounced on this explanation. “Yeah, I don’t feel good.”
“Well, you just stay home and take care of yourself, okay Son?”
“Yes, I will, Dad.”
After his dad left for the day, Davey gathered up enough nerve to finally say something to his mother. He took in a deep breath and said, “Mom, I saw a clown last night...across the street. I looked out my window, like I always do and he was out there; across the street! He’s waiting for me! Waiting for me ‘cause I didn’t go to the parade this time!” A deep sob escaped his throat.
“Oh, Son!” June hugged him tightly for a few minutes, then drew back to look him directly in the face.
“Honey, you simply had a bad dream last night. You were thinking of how you got out of seeing the clown this year and so now your subconscious built on it, making for a very scary, unreal dream. Do you understand?”
“But Mommy, he was real! As real as you are–– standing right here in front of me!” His eyes filled with more tears.
June hugged him again and said, “I know how nightmares can seem so real to us, but I assure you, there was no clown outside your window last night. Okay?”
Davey gulped, swallowed the lump in his throat, and nodded. He wiped the remaining tears from his cheeks with the back of his hand. She had convinced him.
No clown outside! Just a terrible nightmare.
That night, Davey’s parents appeared concerned about his little sister.
He heard his mother say, “She has a slight fever, but it’s not high enough to worry about...yet.”
Guy said, “If she’s not better by morning, we’ll check with Doc, okay?”
“Sounds like a plan,” June answered.
Then they all retired for the night.
No, no! I will not look out my window tonight. I will not! ‘Cause there is no clown out there. No clown! Davey said over and over again, to himself.
After several minutes of shivering between cold sheets, he was somehow soaked in sweat, anyway. Although he sat there with eyes squeezed shut, Davey ultimately gave in to the overwhelming urge to look! Just a quick peek, to reassure himself. There’s no clown outside Mommy said so!
Slowly, reluctantly, he drew the flimsy curtains aside and gazed across the street. It’s there! He could no longer convince himself that it is a man dressed in a clown suit. It stood directly beneath the streetlight this time, so Davey could get a real good look at it. White baggy suit with green ruffles, green curly mop on its head. It was staring upward at him, grinning––evil written all over his face. Davey shivered as fear trickled down his spine.
Just as before––he couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe! He figured he was going to die––right there at the window, staring down at the street where the apparition of the clown stood.