Courtney was the new stylist for the traveling carnival. She had been on for a few weeks of training and had her first show with the carnival in a week. The carnival was rumored to initiate their new hires during rehearsal walkthrough. Courtney was dreading her initiation, if the rumors were true. She had been told its at the hands of the clowns while the rest of the staff cheer them on and its utterly humiliating. Maybe they'd forget her. She does style the clowns after all. She could blend in. She was a background character. Courtney was incredibly shy and bashful. There's a reason she prefers curating over performing. Whatever this initiation was, it sounded like her nightmare.

Courtney wrapped up sewing her last costume-a latex clown catsuit masterpiece that could be blown up. it was deep red slick, shiny latex with big white polka dots and an extra large extra tight ruffled blue collar. Wearing it felt like truly surrendering to the bit. She propped up slick white latex gloves and socks. She clocked out and went home.

The next morning was walkthrough and Courtney had an idea for getting through the day unnoticed. She slipped into the makeup trailer before the clowns and sat in front of the makeup artist. First her eyebrows were shaved off then she was given full white grease paint and an oversized crimson frown. Thin black arches were painted a couple centimeters above her brow bone The makeup artist applied a latex red nose w lash glue to ensure it stuck. Courtney was in shock over her eyebrows getting shaved and even more shocked about the glued latex nose over the usual foam practice nose. She looked at herself in the mirror and gasped, she was a fully painted circus clown, with the biggest pout and saddest eyes she had ever seen. She couldn't get over her eyebrows, which looked as startling as she was right now. Although she had to admit the rubber nose and loss of her thick brows completely hid her features. She sighed a relief knowing this utterly humiliating makeup means less humiliation than being recognized and pulled into initiation. The clowns would never expect her to blend in with them. Her long, thick hair was twisted into a white bald cap w two huge rainbow curly tufts on each side of her head. She looked at her final transformation and wondered if this makeup was worth it. She felt deep shame looking at herself. She never remembered the other clowns getting this heavy of a makeover. She cowardly trails behind the clowns for the rest of the walkthrough. She needed to study intently for scene directions and wardrobe transitions for her real gig. Suddenly a clown in front of her slows his pace, catches up to Courtney and smirks at her. He's a young bohemian type, always writing, always noticing, and had flirted w Courtney her first week during measurements. He's wearing his greasepaint but still had his natural eyebrows, no rubber nose and no wig: his jet black curls still looked elegant w his black and white makeup. "Ooooweee Courtney, they sure got you good didn't they." He smirked again. Courtney turned bright red, mortified to be seen this way by her crush and dreading her impending initiation after being found out. "Don't worry, I'll save you a bit of embarrassment from this insane Bozo cap when you're in front of everyone. Just wait for my cue" he winked, and skipped off. Courtney was mortified. She couldn't believe she got the Bozo wig. It was the most embarrassing one.

The head clown snatched Courtney off to the wardrobe and took a long look at her. "Well we were going to give you the prima ballerina treatment but I saw you sneak into the makeup trailer with the clowns this morning. You want to be the fool, eh? I told the artist to give you our most foolish makeover. They really did their worst, huh," she cackled at Courtney's flawless circus makeup, shaved eyebrows and all, "you poor doll, but wow this is a high quality slapstick face. That is so pro. Let's get you into a fitting costume." She grabs the red latex, polka dotted clown catsuit and helps Courtney into it after putting her into the slick white gloves and socks. She fastened on the big blue ruffled collar and tightened Courtney up a small blue corset with two chained wrist cuffs on top of her clown suit. Then she was harnessed into a blue rubber chain that attached the collar to Courtney's wrists at her corset. Courtney was at the full mercy of the clowns now. Her feet were slipped into rounded cartoon-like platform white flippers that were way too big on her but a strap fastened them onto her feet. They were so clumsy and so difficult to walk in. If that weren't enough her latex suit was pumped up w air and she ballooned in her thighs and above her corset in her chest and arms. Courtney could do nothing but surrender to being the fool's clown. She was walked and led into the circus tent, her body waddling in her outfit her makeup and bald cap curls made her look even more like Bozo than Bozo could. She wanted to melt into the ground. Her boss giggled and took her picture for the break room. Of course only after did her crush run over and peel off her bald cap curls. "Everyone saw me as Bozo, you're too late!" "Oh doll, you're still Bozo," he reminded her, pointing at her eyebrows. "They'll grow back in a month. you beautiful little fool, features only a fool could love!" Another flash photo was taken of Courtney, this time her long hair making her clown self recognizable. She's never living this down. She sees a film camera turn on and she's walked to a romantic bistro table for one at a bakery. The case is full about 20 real pies and 20 or so cakes. Courtney is told to order ten of each for her samplings. The circus needs to know which pastries are best for this circus's season. They told her it's her vote because only the true fool has honest taste. Courtney was skeptical but she did see a her table setting was for eating and felt optimistic. She loved sweet creamy flavors and choose the prettiest pie first: one sprinkle covered mountain of cream with a chocolate drizzle, a full banana smile and two glossy cherries for eye. The rest were whopping traditional diner pies and she chose by flavor: two banana cream pies with chocolate crust, one chocolate cream pie w syrup, two cherry pies with extra whipped frosting, two coconut cream pies, one s'mores marshmallow pie, and the last a maple pudding with syrup and extra whipped frosting. For cakes she was stunned they had her three favorites! Swedish princess cake, Boston cream, and a very creamy strawberry shortcake. She got three of each. She let the clowns pick out the last. They smiled, "oh we have the perfect treat we've been testing!"

Courtney carefully waddles back to her bistro seat and it's pulled from under her and she rolls onto the mat underneath. "Courtney's costume is too puffy to get up! Quick grab the stocks to support her!" They took away the bistro set and rolled out rainbow medieval stocks attached to a long serving table. Courtney was mortified. She knew this trick. She finally realized she'd be wearing all of the pastries she'd chose. Her heart was pounding in her chest under her extreme clown suit. She tried to hide her face by bringing her long thick hair to her front, with her collar keeping the strands thick over her chest. This didn't matter as she was put into the stocks locking in her wrists, corset, and neck. A clown moved the strands out of her eyes and laid them in front of the stocks exposing now her collared head and her long hair, and ballooned clown legs. Courtney had a pit in her stomach so heavy. She saw the camera had been filming the whole spectacle. She wanted to bury herself. Luckily she was about to be. The banana split pie was picked up and the banana was taken and placed in her mouth like a gag, and the two cherries set aside. The pie was smashed on top of her head turning Courtney's hair into crusted banana split. Her boss took a picture of Courtney's clean clown face, banana in mouth, cream mounted on her head, globbing down her hair. Two more pies grabbed and sandwiched into the sides of her head while the banana was still in Courtney's mouth. She felt smothered and helpless. Another pie smashed into the back of her head, pooling crust and cream high in her collar. Her pied hair was moved out of her face, miraculously still pie free, banana still in place in Courtney's mouth. She was a clown alright, gagged w fruit in the stocks, wearing a thick creamy wig of pie. "Six more pies, doll." Her crush walked up w the next two. He took the banana out of her mouth, and smashed it into her hair. He needed her face for his pies, the first he left the crust in place letting her get her final "clean" ish face photo. The crust masked her face perfect and he placed the tin on top of her head. The second pie he smashed upward right on top of the first crust and pushed it with the tin on top of her head knocking off the other tin hat. Her head was immersed in pie. The next two were dumped into her flippers and stuck in the stocks she had to leave the filling in them. It felt dense. The last two pies were sandwiched on her head and then all the tins were stuck all over on top of her pie covered head.

Courtney was allowed out of the stocks and led back to the bistro table. She peeled off the tins and sat, still covered in pie, at the dinner table. Her suit long deflated and drooped heavy w pie. She squished deep into a Boston cream triple layer cake that felt like a pillow. She gasped. She knew better to look down before sitting. Courtney's server was a clown who delivered her a jug of cold milk that he poured all over her head. "Refreshing your palette before our final course." Courtney's hair fell flat again but was now white. Her makeup looked perfectly painted under a layer of milky liquid with a pool of dessert still in her collar. Then she was misted with his rubber flower and could see in front of her a Swedish princess cake. It was a big pink mound of marzipan stuffed full of mountains of whipped cream in between thin layers of cherry jam. Her arms were tied to the sides of a tray that the cake was placed on. "Please eat it" she was instructed. She tried lifting the tray to her mouth but it was so heavy. Princess cakes are dense. She had to lower her face into the cake, and carefully bit into the marzipan. "No, make sure you get all the flavors." The break in the marzipan made the cake pop, so as Courtney pushed her face further into the cake, it exploded and she fell deep into it, her head coated with the creamy layers inside of the marzipan. She had to do this three more times and tried to escape her handcuffs in surrender. The clowns unlocked her and told her to pick up two strawberry shortcakes and stuff them in her suit. She did, relieved her head was spared but her oversized suit started overflowing. She was given the last two Boston creams and told to walk them over to the table and sit down. There was a creamy layered strawberry shortcake in her chair that she had no choice but to sit onto as her hands were full. She squished into the cake and her hands were grabbed from behind and pushed into her face. The two Boston creams splattered into the sides of her head, covering her with cake. She gave up. The pastries were gone and all ended up onto her. Courtney struggled to get up, slipping on her cream filled footwear, her filled up clown suit expanded so big that it was making it hard to see where she was walking. Courtney didn't see the final cake and tripped into a giant vanilla sheet cake covered in soft sprinkles and huge creamy flowers. She sunk down, engulfed in cake, too embarrassed to get up. When she finally stood up she was thickly covered in dessert and looked like a creature. The clowns found her wig bald cap and shoved it back onto her head pushing cream down in gloops over her face. Her face was absolutely covered and her clown nose totally buried. The clowns put two cherries where her eyes were, a banana as a frown for her mouth, and a huge strawberry for her nose. Courtney was stunned and she did not think it could get any worse. Her chest thumping, her face red underneath all the slop. The clowns pushed her back into the huge cake and left her as she struggled to roll over and stand up and slosh out of the spotlight. The camera still rolling, catching her every helpless move, rolling around, trying to escape the desserts.

Courtney vowed to never step foot into the clown makeup trailer ever again! It was going to take her weeks to eat in the break room and face the paparazzi work. She was their last hire this season so her carnie initiation would be on display for the whole month. She chose to eat in her car, shameful of her clowning displayed, but mostly to avoid getting close to the clowns around food.