Paragomania

[7]

The children around him began to stand up and go to their parents. There was a sense of joy in the air, like every breath Ainsley took was coated in sugar. Was this what life was like outside of the commune? He hadn't been here in years, but there certainly hadn't been a funny-voiced woman with a honking nose before. He would've remembered. You unplugged your fully-charged phone and went to grab him from the reading nook.

The clown approached the boy with a grin.

"Well, howdy!" she said in a funny nasally voice. "I noticed you joined our little reading group! What's your name, kiddo?" Her funny way of speaking made Ainsley smile just a bit.

"I'm Ainsley," he said with a small grin. There was something innocent about this performer reading to kids. Why had they never brought one of these people to the commune for the children?

"Well, Ainsley, I'm Ducky the Clown!" she reached into the abnormally large pockets on her extremely colourful coat and took out a dum-dum sucker pop to offer to him. "Will I be seeing you next week, Ainsley?" He took the pop with a bright smile and nodded. Of course there was no promise, but dang Ainsley wanted to come back. Ducky honked her big red nose at him and hyuck-ed her way to packing up some stuffed animals scattered through the room.

You tapped Ainsley on the shoulder. As he turned around, he had a great big childish grin on his face. You couldn't help but chuckle.

"Did you have fun?" you asked. He nodded, turning the sucker over in his hands like he wanted to remember what it looked like from every angle.

"I liked her. She said her name was Ducky. She gave me this!" He presented the mystery flavour dum-dum. You patted his shoulder, just glad you could share this outside world with him.

"That's great! I'm glad you like the clown. We have a while before Caleb comes to pick us up. Do you want to go check out that festival we saw coming into town? They might be throwing candy at the parade." Ainsley nodded, but he was fixated on his sucker.

He hadn't seen a parade before, nor had he seen a clown. But Ducky the Clown had personally presented him with a piece of candy, like you had given him this big fluffy coat. His grin was making his cheeks ache. Maybe the outside world wasn't that scary. Ainsley was having more fun than he had in years.

As you stepped into the street, you saw people lining up to watch the parade. The two of you sat on the curb. Ainsley wasn't sure what to expect, so when a massive vehicle covered in flowers and dancing people rounded the corner, he was shocked. The same children from the reading were now gathering with their parents and scattering into the street to pick up things that the people on the vehicles threw to the ground.

Ainsley looked to you for guidance, but you were also snatching the small things from the ground and giving them to him. It took a little bit, but Ainsley realised that they were throwing candy. Sugar, just like the dum-dum that Ducky the Clown had given him. Instantly, he was snatching up as much as he could and stuffing it all into the pockets of his brand new well worn jacket.

For hours, Ainsley was entrenched in the culture of the outside world. A parade! Candy! Clowns! Readings! People dancing! The music! You were just watching the culture shocked boy try to land on his feet after eating piece of candy after piece of candy, almost as fast as he was picking them up. You tried slowing him down once through the whole parade, but knew it was fruitless. This was the best day of his life. He wanted to tell everyone at the commune. Brie, Mom, Dad, Kalaya. But he knew he wouldn't be able to.

The parade was followed by street vendors filling up the street, a band playing on the corner. There was a banner high up hanging in the street.

THE 1 WEEK CELEBRATION OF THE CHELBA'S 168th BIRTHDAY!