This is a children's story. Imagine the illustrations ih your minds' eye. They'll look better that way than my drawing them ever could.
Little Ricky was a clown. He wasn't the star clown of the circus, just a little clown.
The circus had a lot of clowns. It was a three-ring circus, the big kind! It had a big top tent that traveled around from town to town. It took four years for a whole tour of the country, then it would tour again.
The circus was getting old, and many of its performers were old, but they still had fans who came back when it returned to town every four years. The fans were getting old too. But they remembered which clowns they liked best. They liked funny clowns. Clowns are supposed to be funny.
Clowns rode out onto the ring in a clown car. It was a small car, an old Beetle-type car. It held many more clowns than you'd expect such a small car to have. Clowns knew how to crowd in to the car. There was a secret: They took out the seats to make room for more clowns. Only the driver clown had a little seat
When the clown car rode out to the middle of the ring, the audience cheered! And then they called out the name of their favorite clown. Like the circus, the audience was old too, and they remembered the old clowns who were very funny before. They had one favorite they wanted to see first. "Michelle! Michelle" they cried out. Michelle was a lady clown, the only lady clown in the clown car. She had a big red nose and big shoes and big hair. She tumbled out of the door and everyone cheered.
Michelle started clowning for the audience. She pretended to be looking around for a man clown to lead her, and for lots of children to follow her. The audience laughed, but then her act ran out of new moves. They got tired of her quickly, and realized that she was a one-trick clown. So they started cheering for another clown and Michelle ran out of the ring.
Every time the clown car stopped, RonRon Clown got out of the car. He was an old clown and a few people in the audience loved him and cheered him on, but others just told them to be quiet, and RonRon Clown would jump back into the clown car, where he sat on the floor next to the driver.
The clown car again stopped riding in circles around the ring. "Big Ricky! Big Ricky!", cheered the audience. Big Ricky was a big clown, a jolly man clown with big clown boots and a big hat. The audience cheered as he clowned around. But two-thirds of the way through, he forgot the rest of his routine, and he just stood there, looking like a sad clown who had forgotten his routine. That is a sad clown indeed. The audience booed and he ran out of the ring.
The clown car again stopped riding in circles around the ring. "Herman, Herman!" Herman was a funny clown. He came out with a big pizza tray, which he spun in the air. He spun it on his red clown nose. He spun it on his big shoes. Then he started chanting "nine, nine, nine" as he spun it nine times on his head, on his big tummy, on his big tushy. The audience laughed, but then the grew tired of his act too, and they shouted back, "nein, nein, nein!"
The clown car against stopped riding in circles around the ring. "Newtie, Newtie", cried the audience. Newtie the clown came out. He had big white hair and a big red nose on a great big head. His head looked almost as inflated as his clown shoes. He was an old clown who once was popular, but most people thought that he should have retired from the circus years ago. And he had, but he had written a book about his life as a clown, and was back to remind people to buy his book. After a few minutes of old once-funny routines, the audience grew tired again and booed him out of the ring.
By then the clown car was almost empty. It had a driver, Mittens the Clown, old RonRon, and one other clown left. The audience didn't love Mittens, who wasn't funny at all; he was really more of a stage hand than a clown. Mittens was good at setting up tricks with animals, especially when they rode on the roof of the car, but people didn't want to see him come out of the clown car.
They wanted the last clown who was not Mittens the driver clown, because he was the last clown left without a seat in the clown car. It was a clown that hardly anybody had thought of before, Little Ricky. He was a junior clown, not a star of the circus, and he only got his job at the circus because other clowns who the ringmaster wanted to hire had decided not to tour this time around.
Little Ricky had learned from Michelle, Herman, Big Ricky and Newtie. He didn't have many original routines of his own; even his clown nose and big shoes looked familiar. But he came out and started clowning. He did some of the same clown routines as Michelle, Herman, Big Ricky and Newtie. He even did some old forgotten routines that nobody really wanted to see again.
Still, the audience cheered. because there were only two clowns left. Little Ricky was entertaining the audience while Mittens was just driving the clown car in circles. And for a few minutes, Little Ricky, the last clown, the one cheered for last, was the star of the circus. He was, for a few minutes, a happy clown, and the audience treated him like a real star.
But the audience cheered even louder when Mittens ran him over with his clown car. Now that was funny. Ricky wasn't supposed to be a star; he was just the last clown standing when Mittens and RonRon had the car to themselves. Bye bye Little Ricky!
Mittens drove off, new star of the circus. But the circus was old and tired, and the crowds never came to watch Mittens be the star. Maybe a mean clown wasn't that funny after all. And maybe being a clown wasn't the best way to entertain people when they laughed at you, not with you.