“And stay out!” Cried the horse groomer as a fearful and remorseful Melin dodged whatever the barker threw at her. Once, Melin was a superhero known as Super Frog, but now she was just a clumsy, unlucky girl with a strange, inflatable body and a hard time keeping a job. Well now, her clumsiness had gone too far and one of the circus’s horses was injured. It wasn’t hurt badly, but Melin still felt terrible about the situation.

Once she had gotten to safety, Melin, allowing the weight of the situation to sink in, sat on a bale of hay and sighed. She tended to work odd, temporary jobs, due to her difficulty staying in one for long, but her bills were due soon and she didn’t have enough money to pay them all that month. Sure, her family was rich and she could always ask them for help, but the thought of it made Melin sick to her stomach; she wanted to be able to take care of herself.

“Hey, are you here for the clown audition?” asked a hairy, muscled bald in a sleeveless t-shirt. He looked like he belonged in the Mafia instead of a traveling circus/carnival.
“Uh…well…I…” Melin stammered
“Look, doll, there’s nothing to be nervous about. Just do your best.”
“Uh…oh, okay.” Melin said, getting up and following the strange man amid the endless maze of tents. When she entered the clown tent, she saw there was a small line of people all in plain clothes, and a folding table where the strange man sat down next to another man, thin and reedy and wearing a business suit. Each hopeful took their turn juggling, flipping, telling jokes or whatever their clowny talent was. Finally, it was Melin’s turn.
“Next! What’s your clown name?” the man in the suit said
“Uh…I’m Hyucko” Melin said, thinking fast.
“Uh huh. And what’s your talent?”
“Um…I…inflate.”
“What?” the tough guy asked
“Do you have a fire hose?”

The two men looked first with curiosity, then shock, and then delight as Melin stuck the hose in her mouth and turned the water on full blast. Her body began to swell like a big water balloon, and as she grew her clothes burst as she became the size of a semi truck bed. Once she had reached that size, she spat out the hose, and the tough man ran to shut off the water.  For a while, Melin just bobbed there, looking like a giant hot dog with tiny limbs. But then she remembered she was naked at a job interview and tried to run off or at least cover herself, bit since her limbs didn’t grow with the rest of her body, she could only so a sort of mid-air dog paddle, which prompted the men to laugh.

“It’s unique” the reedy man said
“It’s attention grabbing” the tough man said
“We will need to get her a suit that can stretch, but I think she’s worth it”
“Congratulations, girly! You got the job.”
“Great! Can someone help deflate me, please?”

That night, Melin, now outfitted in a stretchy latex clown suit, made her grand debut as “Hyucko, the Inflatable Clown”, alongside the burly-looking man from the audition, who was apparently the leader oc the clown troop, “Chief Chuckles”. It was a match made in heaven; now, every accident, every pratfall and every incident of dropped pants was seen as a success and not means for being fired like usual. For her grand finale, Hyucko repeated her trick with the fire hose, I lay now her modesty was preserved by the latex clothes, so the show was still safe for children. It was a smashing success and for the rest of the week, Melin, as Hyucko, would wow the crowd with her many talents, powers, and shortcomings. On one day, she would be running around the circus ring, her enormous bottom on fire. On another day, she would show off her ability to turn into a pollywog when scared. Other days, she might try to carry a large stack of plates with predictable results. Every one of her performances would end the same way, with her sticking the fire hose in her mouth, inflating herself, and amusing the crowd with her “big body, little limbs” antics.

“You are sensational!” Chief Chuckles told Melin on Saturday night, before the show. “You’re a natural at this job. Please tell me you’re coming with us as we move on to Madrid.”
“Sorry, no can do. I still have a life here.” Melin smiled back, “But thanks for the fun week. I’m just glad I found something I’m actually good at for once. Maybe I’ll continue the clowning business on my own after this. I can’t believe I tried cleaning horses when I first came here. Oh, but if I’m going to continue being a clown, I have to do something about this make-up. It comes off too easily with how rough my act gets, not to mention all that water in the finale. Do you have something that can help?”
“Well, I heard talk of mixing henna ink with the make-up to make it last longer, bit I don’t know if-“
“Great! I’ll try that tonight. Bye!” and Melin ran off to get ready.

Melin’s last performance in the carnival was her best ever! Her swan song of every act of pain, pratfall, and baffoonery she used during the previous week had the people in stitches. And when she performed her final act of inflating herself, she received thunderous applause. Ironically, despite Melin making a fool out of herself, she felt on top of the world.

After receiving her generous payment and a friendly goodbye to the carnival, Melin returned home, confident in her new career path. It was a good thing too, because when she tried to wipe off her Hyucko make-up, she found the henna ink had stained her skin, effectively tattooing the clown makeup onto her.

The classic Melin luck had struck again.