Uni Clown: Part Three

The circus was one of the biggest events ever to have come to Neopia and the baby Uni Indipsi felt proud to be a part of it. From the darkness of backstage Indi looked out at the dazzling lights and the hundreds of faces in the stands. All of these people had come to see her debut as a clown. (Whether they knew it or not.)

     As she watched Cort and Pip, the acrobatic Gelerts, swing from one rope to another with graceful flips, Indipsi wondered where her owner, Charmedhorses, was seated.

     Indi was pleased by the audience's reaction to the show and watched with glee as her fellow circus members performed their tricks with ease. The Elephante Charmed had read about didn't lose her footing once and the Tuskaninny never lost his balance while rolling along on his beach ball.

     Finally it was Indipsi's turn. Her teacher, a great Lupe named Tarp, had been given the night off so it was up to Indipsi alone to get the audience rolling with laughter.

     Remembering Tarp's instructions Indipsi first swaggered onto the stage, standing on her hind legs and wobbling uncertainly. The audience chuckled as she fumbled to place one hoof in front of the other, but Indipsi wanted more than chuckles so after a few minutes she moved on to her next routine: joke telling.

     Indipsi squeezed her nose and said, just as she had prepared, "Is this nose on?" The audience laughed and Indi went on through the rest of her material, weakly attempting to gallop out of the ring when she had finished, but tripping on her long tail instead. (That was planned, of course.)

     What Indipsi had not noticed was a green Kougra sitting in the front row who had certainly taken notice of her. The Kougra was none other than Cush, Indipsi's old classmate. He sat with wide eyes glued to Indipsi throughout the entire show. After Indipsi had left the stage and the final acts had been performed, the audience stood up to give the performers a round of applause. Then they left their rows to file out of the tent and return to their homes. However, Cush held back. As did a couple of others.

     In her dressing room backstage, Indipsi was on cloud nine from her performance and overwhelmed by the crowd's positive reaction. It was a great accomplishment for Indi, who had never been self-confident in front of large groups of Neopets. Nevertheless, Indipsi couldn't help feeling a touch of sadness as she thought about what she would be doing if she were at home. Right about now she and Charmed would be finishing dessert, she decided. (Chocolate cake, if she knew Charmed) And beginning the newest edition of The Neopian Times. Indi always loved reading the short stories.

     The Uni sighed wistfully, staring at herself in the mirror. She wanted to be painted royal so badly, but she would never be a princess at heart. At heart she would always be a baby Uni from the country. A baby Uni who loved to stay at home.

     While Indipsi pondered her recent career choice, three of her closest acquaintances approached the ringmaster on stage in hopes of gaining entrance to the back of the tent.

     "Excuse me! Ring?" Charmedhorses called after the retreating man. "I'm Indipsi's owner. Would you show me to her room, please?"

     Ring nodded and eyed the tomato Chia and green Kougra standing behind Charmed. "We're with her," they said on queue.

     A rap on the door brought Indipsi from her dreams and when Ring announced that she had visitors Indi hurried to the door.

     When the baby Uni saw who stood on the other side she was stunned for a moment, but then stepped back to let them in. "Thanks for coming," she said to Charmed and Kib, the tomato Chia. Then she turned to Cush, "What are you doing here?"

     "You said the next time I saw you you'd be a princess," he looked at her costume. "Is that the best you could do?"

     Indipsi bristled. "It's a part time thing. Once I have enough Neopoints for a royal paint brush I'll be a princess not a clown."

     "You're too good to be a princess," Cush mumbled.

     "What?" Indipsi asked.

     "Nothing," Cush muttered, taking a step back and scowling at her.

     Next it was Kib's turn to say something. The tomato Chia had gone to the show like he'd said he might and had been startled to see his number one customer out there gallivanting like a clown.

     "Indi what are you doing going and joining the circus?" he asked her now. "I never would have imagined you'd become a clown."

     Indipsi shrugged. "I needed some extra Neopoints for my royal paint brush and this seemed like the perfect way to get them."

     "If you had needed a job you could have asked me," Kib told her. "I sure am going to miss you when you're on the road touring this summer."

     "Don't worry, Kib. I'll be fine."

     Kib laughed. "You may be fine, but who's going to eat my tomato crop?"

     Charmed stepped forward. "You were great tonight, honey."

     "Thanks, Charmed," Indipsi said, flattered by her owner's compliment.

     "I missed you at home though," she said, smiling sadly.

     "I miss you too," Indi replied.

     "Don't forget, if you decide you want to back out of this I'm happy to come and get you," Charmed reminded her.

     "I'll remember that."

     "Okay, well, you get a good night's sleep," Charmedhorses instructed her.

     "I will."

     "Okay. Good." Charmed gave her Uni a kiss on the nose and then left the dressing room along with Kib and Cush who said their solemn good-byes.

     After they had left Indipsi took off her costume and lay down on her bed. It was good to see her friends, but in a way it made her even sadder thinking they were going home to their families and she was here all alone sleeping in her dressing room. But if she wanted a royal paint brush she had to make sacrifices and she was just going to have to stick it out. Indipsi wasn't one to back out of a deal. Generally.

     The next morning Indipsi stretched out her legs from a weary night of sleep and met her fellow cast members in the makeshift mess hall for breakfast. Coincidentally, breakfast that morning was pancakes and Indipsi thought back to breakfast with Charmedhorses the day that she had left. Unlike that day Indipsi took slow bites, finding that she wasn't really all that hungry.

     As the day went on and they went through rehearsals again Indipsi continued to mope, finding herself reminded of old times by every little thing she looked at.

     Her jokes were unusually poor and Indi actually did fall over when she tried to swagger across the stage.

     "Are you okay today?" Ring asked her. "You seem kind of…depressed."

     Indipsi laughed meagerly. "Me? No I'm not depressed." She smiled a huge smile and got back on her hooves. "Maybe I'm just having an off night."

     "Maybe so," Ring said. "Just in case I think I'll have Tarp do the clowning in tonight's show."

     "Okay," Indipsi agreed, nodding.

     Again the baby Uni returned to her room to think, for if she was not going to be in the night's show she felt no need to watch it all over again.

     By dinner time Indipsi was feeling better and accompanied her friends for supper in the mess hall, where she returned to clowning for fun. This time she had an uplifting thought on her mind, something she needed to discuss with Ring.

     "Hey, Ring!" Indipsi called to the ringmaster, getting his attention as he set up the scenery for that night's show. "I want to talk to you."

     "Yeah, what is it?" he asked, pausing in his work.

     "I really appreciate all that you've done for me: giving me a job and teaching me the tricks of the trade, but I'm just not up to this circus business," Indipsi told him. "I love my owner and I just can't stand the thought of leaving her for an entire summer."

     Ring nodded. "Okay."

     "That's all?" Indipsi asked, a bit taken aback.

     "Uh huh."

     "Oh, well, okay," Indipsi said. "I'll be out of my dressing room as soon as possible."

     "You were a good clown, kid," Ring said. "You would have been great."

     Indipsi thanked him. "But I'm no clown. And certainly no a princess."

**********

When Indipsi returned home that evening along with all her belongings Charmed was stunned. "But, Indi! I thought you loved being a clown!"

     "It was fun while it lasted," the baby Uni explained, "But in the long run it never would have worked out."

     "I'm glad to hear that," Charmed replied honestly.

     Indipsi laughed. "And I've decided I'm no princess either. I'm putting my plans of being painted royal aside. For good."

     Charmed smiled. "That's good to hear, too. Besides, you don't need some crown to prove that you're a princess."

     "I'd rather be a big baby than a princess," Indipsi said, yawning. "Speaking of which, I didn't get much sleep last night and I'm really tired. Maybe I'd better go to bed."

     "Go right ahead, you mischievous little Uni clown," Charmed said fondly.

THE END

Author's Note: Yay! My first series about Indipsi complete! I'm so happy to be able to share this with you all. Please feel free to send me any comments you may have.