“Do you enjoy clowning?”
He chuckled. “Yep. I guess it’s in my nature to make people laugh. I feel happier when I’m clowning around.”
Lois was about to respond when Joe grabbed two straws from the plastic container sitting on their table and stuck one in each ear. “You think I could patent this?” he said in a teasing voice. “Hearing aids with no need for batteries.” He shook his head from side to side, and the straws bounced up and down.
Lois stifled a giggle behind her hand. With his eyes crossed and two blue straws dangling from each ear, Joe looked hilarious. She was glad for those few minutes of finding out a little more about him. But she wondered if he ever stayed serious for long, and if so, would she find that side of him more appealing?
Joe tilted his head to one side and mentally replayed the questions she’d asked. She was not only beautiful but smart, and she’d laughed at his corny jokes and goofy antics. The only uncomfortable moment had come when she questioned him about his family.
He watched Lois drinking her lemonade. Her lips were pursed around the tip of the straw, and she drank in slow, delicate sips. Wonder what it would feel like to kiss those rosy lips. He gave his ear a sharp pull, hoping the gesture would get him thinking straight again. This was only their first date. He shouldn’t be thinking about kissing Lois.
“You’re staring at me.”
He blinked then smiled. “Yeah, I guess I am.”
“Do I have ketchup on my chin or something?’
“Nope. I was just thinking I’d like to get to know you better.”
Lois nodded. “I’d like to know you better, too.”
“How about coming to one of my programs?” Joe asked. “I’ll be part of a revival service at one of the largest churches in Puyallup next Friday night. We’ll have performers from all over the Pacific Northwest.” He smiled at her. “After the program, maybe we can go out for pie and coffee.”
“Sounds like fun.”
“So will you come?”
“I’d love to.”
Joe smiled again, feeling as if he’d been handed a birthday present when it wasn’t even his birthday.
Chapter 7
Lois sat spellbound as the gospel illusionist on stage at Puyallup Christian Church performed a disappearing dove trick. “After the flood, Noah sent out first a raven, then a dove, in search of dry land,” he told everyone. He placed a live dove inside a silver pan, covered it with a lid, and opened it again. The bird was gone. A few minutes later, it reappeared inside the illusionist’s coat.
Lois applauded with the rest of the audience.
After that, she watched two clowns perform using mime. Neither of them held her interest the way Joe did, though. They were more sophisticated in their approach, and throughout their routine they never uttered a word, as was the custom with mimes.
A group of puppeteers followed the clowns, and an artist did a beautiful chalk drawing of the resurrection of Christ. Lois thought of Tabby’s friend, Donna, who also did chalk art. She knew Donna hadn’t gone on tour with Tabby and Seth, since she had the day care to run, but she’d expected to see her here tonight. She thought Donna’s drawings were every bit as good as the one being done now.
When she heard Slow-Joe the Clown being announced, Lois smiled. He was the main reason she’d come tonight.
Joe was comfortable in the costume he’d chosen—a cowboy clown suit, complete with ten-gallon hat, chaps, and bright red leather boots. His red-and-white-striped shirt offset his baggy white pants with red fringe sewn to the pockets and side seams. He wore his usual white face paint and red rubber nose, but he’d added a fake mustache to give him a rugged cowboy look.
As Joe stepped onto the stage, he swung a rope over his head and hollered, “Yahoo! Ride ’em, cowboy!” Everyone cheered and clapped.
Joe threw the rope into the air, spun around as it fell to the ground, and shouted, “Now wait a minute! Where did that silly rope go? I had it in my hands a minute ago, and now it’s disappeared.”
When the laughter died down, Joe pivoted on his heels and tripped over the rope, which was lying a few inches in front of him. Next, he grabbed two folding chairs, draped the rope across the back of each one, then tied both ends in a knot. “Before I came out here, someone dared me to do this, so now I’m gonna walk the tightrope.”
“Don’t do it!” a child’s voice shouted.
“Would you like to do it instead?” Joe called back.
“No, it’s not safe!”
Joe eyed the rope. Then, slowly, deliberately, he lifted one foot, paused, and set his foot back down. “Anyone have an umbrella? I might need it for balance,” he said to the audience.
“It’s not safe!” the child yelled again.
Joe looked at the rope, tipped his head slightly, then bent to examine it more closely. “The rope looks strong, but the chairs might not hold my weight. Maybe I should do this the cautious way.” With that, Joe quickly undid the rope, snapped it over his head, did a few fancy twirls, then flopped the rope onto the floor in a straight line. “Now it’s safe!”
With exaggerated movements he stepped onto the rope, placing one boot in front of the other, and walked the tight rope. When he came to the end, he turned to the audience and bowed. He heard several snickers, but nobody clapped. Frowning, he tugged gently on his mustache. “You didn’t think that trick was impressive?” he asked the audience, turning his hands palm up. A few more snickers filtered through the room.
“I’ll tell you what’s impressive,” Joe continued. “Doing what you know is right, even when others try to get you to do something that could be bad for you. Someone dared me to walk this tightrope while it was connected to two chairs. If I’d taken that dare, it would have been pretty stupid.
“God gave each of us the ability to discern what’s right and wrong,” Joe continued. “Even if you want to be liked and think taking a dare is cool, you need to use your brain and decide what’s best for you in any situation.” He pointed to the rope at his feet. “I don’t have an umbrella for balance, the folding chairs aren’t very sturdy, and I’ve never walked a tightrope in my life, so I decided to do the sensible thing.” He turned and went back across the rope. “I walked a tightrope that was lying safely on the ground.”
Everyone clapped, and Joe reached into his pocket to retrieve a balloon. “I’m going to create my favorite balloon critter now—Buzzy the Bee.”
He inflated the balloon to make the insect’s body, twisted one-third of it off for the head, then withdrew and blew up a second balloon. After he’d tied a knot, he formed a circle with the balloon. He twisted it in half to make two smaller circles, which would become the bee’s wings. These were attached to the body with another twist. Using a black marking pen, Joe drew a face on the bee and rings around its middle.
“Whenever I see a bee, I’m reminded that God wants me to bee a good witness, bee kind to others, and bee faithful about going to church,” he said, holding up the balloon. Joe stepped off the stage and handed the bee to the child who had warned him about the unsafe tightrope.
He ended his routine by spinning the rope over his head and telling the audience each of them had talents they could use to serve the Lord in some way.
Later that evening, at the restaurant where she and Joe had gone for dessert, Lois found herself once again enthralled with Slow-Joe the Clown’s wit and goofy smile. “I could tell you were having fun during your performance tonight,” she said.
“I always have fun when I’m onstage.” Joe leaned across the table. “Speaking of fun, and changing the subject, I was at the mall the other day and stopped in to use the men’s room.”
Lois covered her ears with her hands. “Is this something I need to hear?”
Joe grinned. “When I was in the men’s room, I noticed a sign on the wall, above a padded shelf. It read: ‘Baby Changing Station.’ ” Joe shook his head slowly. “Can you imagine anyone wanting to leave their kid there, hoping it’ll be chan
ged when it comes out?” He chuckled and gave her a quick wink.
Lois groaned. “Don’t you ever get tired of cracking jokes?”
“Nope.” Joe reached for his cup of coffee. “So what do you do when you’re not working?” he asked, changing the subject again.
She shrugged her shoulders. “I teach a first-grade Sunday school class, drive to Olympia to visit my folks a couple times a month, and read a lot.”
“Nothing just for fun?”
“Reading a good book can be fun.” Lois stared into her cup of tea for a moment then glanced up and saw Joe dangling his spoon with two fingers, directly in front of her face.
“Very funny,” she murmured.
Joe dropped the spoon and reached for her hand, and at once Lois felt her face flame. Was Joe flirting with her? The way he kidded around all the time she couldn’t be sure if he was serious or teasing.
“The Puyallup Fair starts next weekend,” Joe said. “Would you be interested in tagging along with me, maybe sometime Saturday afternoon?”
Lois nodded and smiled. They could find lots of fun things to do at the fair, and it would give her another opportunity to get to know Joe better.
“Great! I have to warn you, though—I get a little carried away when I ride the roller coaster, especially after I’ve inhaled a couple of cotton candies.”
She gulped. The roller coaster? Surely Joe didn’t expect her to ride that horrible contraption!
Chapter 8
As Lois and Joe headed to the Puyallup Fair in his blue pickup truck, a surge of excitement coursed through her.
“Here we are,” Joe announced when they pulled into the parking lot near the fairgrounds.
Lois focused on her surroundings. She saw people everywhere, which was nothing unusual for a fair this size. Today it seemed worse than any other time she could remember, though. Maybe it was because of the unseasonably warm weather they’d been having in the Pacific Northwest. Sunshine brought people out by the droves, and something as entertaining as the fair had a lot of appeal.
Joe turned and grinned at Lois after he’d placed his parking stub on the dash. “Ready for an awesome day?”
She smiled in return. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
Hand in hand, they made their way to the entrance gates. Joe bought two admission tickets, and they pushed through the revolving gate.
“Where would you like to start?” Joe asked as he grabbed a map of the fairgrounds from a nearby stand.
Lois shrugged. The crisp aroma of early fall mingled with cotton candy, corn dogs, and curly fries, teasing her senses. “I don’t know—there’s so much to see.”
“And do,” Joe added. “Why don’t we start with the rides? That way we won’t be tilting, whirling, and somersaulting on full stomachs or with our arms loaded with stuffed animals.”
“Stuffed animals?”
He chucked her under the chin and wiggled his eyebrows, a habit she was coming to enjoy. “Yeah, I’m pretty good at knocking down pins at my favorite arcade game. Last time I came here, I went home with two giraffes, a sheep, and a huge pink bear.”
Lois giggled as she tried to envision Joe carrying that many stuffed animals back to his truck. Of course, she reminded herself, he might have been with a date. Why else would he have tried to win so many prizes?
“You don’t think I’m capable of winning anything?” Joe said, inclining his head and presenting Lois with a look that reminded her of a puppy begging for a treat.
“It’s not that. I just can’t imagine how you ever carried them all out of here.”
“I admit I did have a little help. I gave one giraffe and the bear to some kids who’d spent all their money trying to win a prize and had come up empty handed. The other giraffe and the sheep went home with me, and now they occupy a special place in one corner of my bedroom.”
“So you have a circus theme in your room?”
“More like Noah’s ark,” he said, grabbing her hand again and pulling her through the crowd. “Which ride is your favorite?”
“Well—”
“Please don’t tell me you like them all,” he said in a teasing voice. “I don’t think we have time or money enough to go on every one.”
“Actually, the only rides I enjoy are the gondola, the Ferris wheel, and the merry-go-round.”
Joe shook his finger at her and clicked his tongue. “All baby rides. If we’re going to remember this day so we can tell our grandchildren about it, we need to do something really fun and exciting.”
“Like what?” Lois asked, a knot forming in her throat.
“The roller coaster, of course!”
As they approached the midway, Lois grew more apprehensive. She hadn’t ridden on the roller coaster since she was sixteen, and then she’d embarrassed herself in front of her friends. She could feel her fears mounting as she watched the cars climb the track, knowing they would zoom down and up again, and around the bend made her stomach lurch just thinking about it.
“You okay?” Joe asked with a note of concern. “You look a little green around the gills.”
Lois swallowed hard, fighting down a wave of nausea. “I, uh, had a bad experience on the roller coaster one time.”
“How long ago was that?”
“I was sixteen and had come here with a bunch of kids from my high school.”
Joe nudged her in the ribs. “You’re all grown up now, so riding the curvy monster should be easy as pie.”
“Why don’t you go on it alone, and I’ll find a bench and watch from the ground below, where I’ll be safe?” She nodded toward a mother and her two children who were walking by. “I’d much rather people watch, if that’s okay.”
“You can watch people from up there.” Joe pointed to the climbing coaster, and Lois swallowed back another wave of nausea. “You’ll be safe with me—I promise.”
Before Lois could respond, Joe grabbed her around the waist and propelled her toward the ticket booth. “Two for the roller coaster,” he announced to the woman behind the counter. Tickets in hand, he led Lois to the line where people stood waiting for the ride.
Lois wasn’t sure what to do. She didn’t want to make a scene in front of all these people, but if she rode on what Joe referred to as “the curvy monster,” she was certain she would.
“Don’t be nervous,” Joe whispered in her ear. “Just hold my hand real tight, and when we’re riding the wooden waves, scream like crazy. It wouldn’t hurt to pray a little, either,” he added with a chuckle.
Standing in line, Lois’s fears abated some. Being with Joe made her feel carefree, and his jovial spirit and playful attitude kept her laughing. But when they were ushered to the first seat of the coaster, her throat tightened again. What if she got sick as she had when she was a teenager? Or, worse yet, what if she threw up on Joe’s white polo shirt? She decided to turn her head away from him, just in case.
“Smile—you’re on Candid Camera,” Joe said, reaching for her trembling hand.
She moaned. “I hope not. I’d be mortified if the whole world saw me right now.”
Joe nuzzled her ear with his nose. “You’ve never looked more beautiful.”
“Yeah, right.”
“I’m serious,” he asserted. “I love your silky yellow hair, and those bonny blue eyes of yours dazzle my heart.”
Lois’s heart began to pound, and it wasn’t just because the roller coaster had started up the incline. Did Joe think she was beautiful, and had she dazzled his heart? With his clowning around so much, she couldn’t always tell if he was serious or not. She didn’t have long to ponder the question, for they’d reached the top and were about to cascade down the first part of the track.
“Yowzie! Zowzie!” Joe hollered as they began their descent. “This is way cool!”
Lois braced herself against the seat and held on tight. She screamed—and screamed—and screamed some more, until they reached the bottom and began to climb the next hill.
“That wasn’t so
bad, was it?” Joe asked.
Lois shook her head quickly, too afraid to speak. The truth was that it hadn’t been as awful as she’d remembered. At least this time she’d managed to keep her breakfast down—so far.
“Here we go again,” Joe roared in her ear. “Hang on tight and yell like crazy!”
Lois complied. It felt good to holler and howl as the up-and-down motion of the coaster caught her off guard and threw her stomach into a frenzy. It was actually fun, and she was having the time of her life.
At the end of the ride Lois felt exhilarated, instead of weak and shaky as she’d expected. “Let’s go again!” she shouted.
Joe chuckled. “Maybe later. Right now I’m ready to ride the Ferris wheel.”
Lois sighed. After their wild ride on the roller coaster, the Ferris wheel would seem like a piece of cake. It would be mellow and relaxing, though, and that was probably a good thing. It had been a long time since Lois had been this keyed up, and she was a bit concerned that she might make a mistake and blurt out to Joe how much she liked him. I don’t want to scare him away. He’s too good to be true, and I need to go slowly. If she and Joe were going to have a relationship, she knew it was better not to push or reveal her feelings too soon.
The day sped by like a whirlwind. They moved from one ride to the next and even stopped to eat barbecued ribs, coleslaw, and a huge order of curly fries, with lemonade and, later, soft chocolate ice cream cones. Joe won Lois a fuzzy brown teddy bear and a huge spiral vase filled with gaudy pink feathered flowers. She loved it. The truth was that she would have been happy with a jar of old marbles if Joe had won them for her. Today had been like a fairy tale, and she wished it would never end. But it was getting late, and they both needed to be at church in the morning. She had a Sunday school class to teach, and Joe had told her he was scheduled to do a program at his home church in Olympia.
It was a little past ten when Joe walked Lois to her apartment door. She started to fidget. Would he kiss her good night? This was their third date, and so far he’d only held her hand, slipped his arm around her waist, and nuzzled her neck a few times. She didn’t want him to see how nervous she was so she decided to ask him more questions about himself.
Time to Laugh Romance Collection Page 20