Mr. Cannelloni's Circus

From an Inspector to a Temporary
Clown
Special Inspector Knapp had been to a circus only once
before. More than twenty years earlier, little Maximillian
had sat on his mother’s lap in the front row, terrified
of the horses trotting around the ring. That was about all
he could remember. Other than a funny clown consoling
the crying Maximillian with a lollipop he’d found by magic
behind the boy’s own earlobe.
Now Maximillian stood behind the curtains of the Cannelloni
Circus in a clown’s costume, trying to grasp how in
the world he had ended up there. Today’s inspection was
supposed to have been a regular day on the job. But soon
after he’d arrived at the circus, everything had gone haywire.
Maximillian reached up to touch the clown hat on his head.
Slowly, he lifted his feet, covered with striped socks and the
longest shoes he had ever seen in his life. He flushed, glad
that no one he knew was there to see him in this ridiculous
outfit.
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