Attack of the Klowns: Part 3 (Lauren)

When we last left Ben Spencer, he had just been rescued from dire straits by a mysterious heroine in white. - Lauren

"Ben, are you okay?" said Sven.

Ben whirled around. Sven stood there with his arms full of groceries.

"Sven," moaned Ben. "Nicole wants to go to the circus with me." 

"That's nice," said Sven. "You two should get to know each other better." 

"Sven!" moaned Ben. 

"Tell me when to rent my tux," said Sven, and he continued walking down the street. 

"Sven..." said Ben, running after him. 

"That's my name, don't overuse it," said Sven. 

"Sven, do you know who the Thumbtack is?" said Ben, ignoring him.

"Relative of Poki's?" guessed Sven. 

"No, he's the king of crime," said Ben. "And a bunch of his cronies just attacked me! They said they were going after all the heroes in New Spork City!" 

"King of crime," said Sven. "Ha! We'll see about that. What did these cronies look like?" 

"Well..." said Ben. "They look like..." He gazed distractedly at the unconscious cronies laying in the alley. "Like that." 

Sven kneeled down beside the body of an unconscious thug. He pulled a business card out of the man's pocket. 

Bartimeaus T. Thumbtack
King of Crime
8D Thumbtack Offices LTD.
kingthumbtack@email.com

"I'll have to check this out," said Sven. He pocketed the card, picked up his groceries, and walked home. Ben trudged off to the bus station, where he met up with Nicole.

"Beeeennnnyyyyyyyyyyy!" shrieked Nicole when she saw him. She threw her arms around him and squeezed. Ben's face began to turn purple. 

"Nicole..." he gasped. "Can't... breathe..."

She let go of him and he slumped to the ground, gasping and choking.

"Oh, Benny," said Nicole. "You're so funny."

They got on the bus without any further mishaps and rode all the way to the city limits, where the Krazy Klown Kirkus was being held. 

"Kirkus... that's not how you spell it," said Ben.

"Oh, Benny, don't be silly," said Nicole. "They just switched out the K with C, like Krispy Kreme."

As they entered the fairground, an enormous deformed looking clown tied a yellow balloon to Ben's trembling wrist. Nicole got a green one.

"C-c-clown..." whispered Ben.

"Don't you just love clowns, Benny?" said Nicole. "Clowns are my favorite!"

They passed a concession stand that was selling vomit colored cotton candy and purple caramel corn. Ben shuddered as he watched a little boy play whack-a-foal. The tiny plastic horse heads neighed pitifully as the hammer came down.

"There's the big top, Benny-O!" said Nicole. They entered the tent. Ben began trembling as he saw an enormous green lion in the middle of the ring.

"Th-that lion's green," whispered Ben. 

"Oh, don't be silly, Benny," said Nicole. "It's probably a vegetarian. Guess what, I got us seats at the top!"

At first Ben was relieved that they were sitting farther away from the ring. But as they ascended higher and higher up to the abnormally high up seats, his acrophobia began to kick in.

"I can't breathe," gasped Ben. "The air is so thin up here..."

"Oh, don't be silly, Benny," said Nicole as they passed through a cloud.

Next up: find out why the circus is so mysterious.

Read the next section: Attack of the Klowns part four