Jennifer was a single mother of one. She had a seven year old daughter Melissa. The two of them were quite happy in their little town. During the days Melissa would go to class in the second grade while her mother would teach the fifth graders. They did not live in luxury on Jennifer’s income but they got by just fine. They lived in a nice little townhouse and drove a healthy car. They ate home cooked food most nights but would get some fast food as treat once in a while. Jennifer did everything she could to make Melissa happy which included buying her whatever toys she wanted. They would often go to the local curio shop to buy old things for around the house. Jennifer particularly liked antiques and had collected quite a few of them. Melissa liked to imagine the children who played with those old-fashioned toys so many years ago.
Friday morning was like any other. After getting up early and preparing for the day, Jennifer woke Melissa up and nudged her to get ready for school. Jennifer made breakfast while Melissa showered and dressed. They ate a humble breakfast of cereal, fruit, and juice together as they always did. Jennifer drove herself and her daughter to school. They hugged and Melissa got out and headed for class.
She loved her mother because she was all she had. Melissa did not remember her father who had died when she was three and had no friends at school. The other children didn’t pick on her, but neither did they embrace her. Because of this, Melissa kept to herself and longed for the end of each school day when her mother would driver her to the safety and comfort of home. Jennifer also kept to herself. She was always polite to the other teachers and participated in conversation, but did not socialise with them outside of work. She had not gone out since her husband’s death and stuck close to her daughter, the only one she had left in this world.
The day dragged on and both were weary. Melissa did her school work as usual and spent recess inside reading, while Jennifer taught her class and read in the teacher’s lounge at lunch. Eventually the school day ended and both mother and daughter rushed to the car. They decided that because they had both been exhausted by the dreary day and in fact whole week, to go out for dinner and a little browsing to kick off the weekend. After a small dinner at a fast-food restaurant, they headed to the curio shop.
The curio shop was small but filled with old items. There were tables, chairs, clothes, dolls, instruments, pretty much anything you could imagine. Many of the town’s residents avoided the place because they felt it was a thrift shop for the poor but the wiser people knew better. This was not a place for the poor to buy second hand goods, but a place to find forgotten gems from a long time ago. Who was to say that the old brass table with the intricate design work did not once belong to a king or that the ugly painting hidden in the corner was not a lost original worth millions? There were enough knick-knacks and bric-a-brac to look at to keep a person busy for days. Over the past few visits Jennifer had been making her way around, carefully looking through a small section each time. She moved to the next section without hesitation and began searching for something of value. Meanwhile, Melissa went straight to the toys as she usually did. She liked the old-fashioned dolls she found here and preferred them to the plastic ones in toy stores. She browsed through the dolls and noticed a colorful one. It was a clown dressed in shiny, burgundy sequins. It had a bright red nose and a large, red smile. It’s arms stuck out to the sides and had white gloves. Each hand had four fingers and the right one had two held up in the manner of the “peace” sign. On it’s head was a cute little hat with colorful flowers and it’s hair was made of soft, bright yellow rabbit fur. She thought it was cute and instantly desired it. She took up the clown doll and continued looking through the others. Jennifer checked her watch and realised that they had been there for almost and hour. It was getting late and the store would be closing soon, so they had to get going. She looked around for Melissa and saw her standing near the front of the store. She brought the little box of ceramic figurines that she had found with her. Melissa offered up the clown doll to her mother with a big smile and without hesitation Jennifer placed it on the counter. She paid for the purchases which the shop owner bagged for them and they left.
At home they showed each other their new acquisitions before heading off to bed. Jennifer displayed her ceramic figurines to Melissa. There were six little Oriental characters in various poses of acrobatics. They were hand crafted and painted with the most exquisite detail. Jennifer had always liked watching the acrobats in the circus and had taken gymnastics as a child. Melissa said that they were pretty and watched as her mother looked longingly at them. Jennifer then arranged the figures on the mantle and asked to see Melissa’s doll. Melissa handed her mother the clown but was upset by her mother’s expression. Jennifer had a frown, almost a look of disgust on her face. She looked at the clown’s ceramic face and did not like the way it’s gaze seemed to follow her. She never liked clowns for some reason and was always upset when they came out during the circus. Jennifer always asked her mother to let her know when the acrobats were performing and when the clowns were out so that she could avoid them. She tried to recall what could have upset her so much about them but could remember nothing traumatic. Nevertheless, she did not like clowns of any kind, not even the cute child-like ones like this one with their innocent faces and big puffy noses. She handed the doll back to Melissa and told her that she didn’t like it but she was happy that Melissa did. It was a relief that her dislike of clowns had not been transferred to her daughter because she felt it made her daughter better, and more complete. Jennifer held up two of her fingers to the doll and said “peace clown” with a smile and kissed Melissa on the forehead before sending her to bed. Jennifer went to bed and lay there thinking back to her trips to the circus and the gymnastics classes. She drifted off to sleep practically feeling the rush of performing amazing stunts on the parallel bars.
The next morning Jennifer woke up and headed to Melissa’s room. She cracked open the door and saw her lying under the covers. She went to the kitchen and made herself some coffee and poured two bowls of cereal. Deciding to let Melissa lounge for the day, she headed to the living room and turned on the television. She watched the news for a little while and flipped through some channels before growing bored. She turned off the television and admired her figurines for a few minutes. A yawn came over her and she stretched out the kinks in her muscles. Feeling impatient, she went back to Melissa’s room to wake her up. She thought that they could go for a drive today and perhaps a picnic since they had not done so for quite some time now. When she arrived the door was closed. Melissa was already awake, so Jennifer knocked and related her plans for the day. She received no reply to her ideas and knocked again. When still had no answer, Jennifer opened the door. She saw Melissa still lying there under the covers. She moved toward the bed to nudge her a wake but slipped and fell, hitting her head on the floor. She got up and looked to see what she had slipped in and saw a small puddle of what she feared to be blood. Melissa was still too young to be having her period so a bolt of fear shot through Jennifer. She threw back the covers and stumbled backward, crashing into the closet at what she saw. Melissa was indeed lying in bed beneath the covers, except that she was cut up very badly. She had gashes all over her body and face. She had deep cuts that were still oozing blood into
the mattress. Her eyes were glazed over and her mouth gaped open. Jennifer looked around in panic and saw to her confusion that everything in the room was undisturbed. The window was closed and except for the pool of blood and the mess she had made in the closet, there was no sign of anything unusual whatsoever. She was speechless and stumbled around for a while trying to understand what had happened. She grasped for the phone to call the police when she finally saw something that was unusual. Lying on the chair next to the bed was the clown doll which she had purchased for her daughter the night before. It was lying there inert in it’s burgundy sequins with the same large, red smile as the night before. It was lying there with it’s arms outstretched just as the last time Jennifer had seen with it’s white gloves and four fingers on each hand. The only difference was that this morning, on it’s right hand, the clown was holding up three fingers.