‘Happy’ is a five letter word

The man sat on the sidewalk as the honks of traffic and hustle and bustle of the city passed by him. He had made a home out of a roll of al-foil, a cardboard box, the clothes on his back and a dusty old duffel bag filled with his personal affairs. To the people on the street, his presence reeked of foul eggs and body odour that wretched at the back of their throats as they walked to get their morning lattes and toasted croissants.

He didn’t mind of course, he was content, content as much as a man can be that has reached his bottom most limits of social class and yet, he awoke. He awoke to greet the day just like everybody else. He unzipped his bag and pulled out a slip of cardboard that read ‘Please give generously’. He placed it on the ground in front of him with his hat placed upside down beside it, he zipped the bag back up. He stashed his cardboard bedding behind him in the corner of his hovel and sat waiting for the hours to pass by. His mind drifted off as the midday sun began to tower over the city. This was his favourite time of day as it was one of the few luxuries he had left in the world. To feel the warmth of the sun on his fingers; they got so cold at night that he was convinced the below freezing temperatures were sure to get him in his sleep. He stood up and stretched his arms out into the air. The stench from his apparel filled the area where he stood and people dodged around this offensive attack to their nostrils as they passed shouting their disgust under their breath.

He smiled wide and let out a deep sigh of relief as he closed his eyes. His favourite time of day all to himself, he thought. He opened his eyes and fell back into his stoop. A few coins trickled into his cap as the hour passed. Not enough, he thought. But it will help. He had a small amount saved already. Only a few more dollars and he would be able to venture to his prize. He started to smell the familiar aroma of the cafes and restaurants serving up their lunch menus to their satisfied and willing patrons. His stomach grumbled as he tried to block it all out. Best not to think about it, do not let my mind astray from my goal he thought. A young lady approached him stating that she had been watching him from across the street. She had noticed him looking over at the food longingly and could not help but feel bad and that she would help in any way that she could and handed him 10 dollars so he may have a full stomach this day.

He could not utter any words besides a nod of thanks, she smiled and continued on her way. He stood in the street looking down at the bill in his hands. He could not believe it. Very generous girl he thought. He did feel bad after all, he had no intention to eat, he had grown accustomed to feeling hungry. This money was for his prize. He hobbled back to his corner and retrieved his things. Now was his time. He set off to look for the store he knew he needed. His mind on one thing, he did not need, nor care for the people who surrounded him. He was a beast in the wild, fighting for survival. He continued for what seemed a lifetime until his eyes stopped and rested upon a large sign in front of him. ‘Crafty, Art and Supplies’ it read. He smiled and entered the shop.

The shopkeeper bounded out from behind his counter shouting expletives at the man for he did not want his kind in his shop stinking up the place and scaring away the other customers. The man replied that he had acquired money to buy some supplies and that he would not cause trouble, it was a matter of urgency. The shopkeeper stared hard until he reluctantly agreed. Victory. The man entered the cool air-conditioned shop and slowly made his way between the aisles looking for his prize, his eyes darting left and right until there they were, all lined up in rows, the whole rainbow staring at him. He loaded the white, red and yellow tubes into his arms and set off for the counter. He paid his amount and left. With a hand full of change, a grin upon his face and his prize finally safe in his coat pocket he headed for home, back to his corner.

Night was slowly starting to fall and he knew that today was not to be his day. But it was far from over, he still had a lot of work to do. He finally set foot back onto his step and placed his bag down, sat himself down next to it with his back against the wall and rummaged around in his pockets. He pulled out his purchases and looked over the labels. ‘High Quality, performance face make-up.’ they read. With a sigh of relief he dropped them into his bag and pulled out a small leather zip-up pouch. He opened it up and pulled out an old razor and a dirty mirror. The day had turned to night now and the street lights had sprung into life to start their duties. He turned the razor upon himself as he began to shave his overgrown beard. He went slowly as he had no creams or soap to aid. It was quite arduous. The hair fell away as the wind took it far down the streets away into the night. After a time, finally, after wiping his face over with his hand, there sat a man staring back at him in the mirror, the man he had remembered from an age ago. He put the razor and mirror away and settled himself in for the long night ahead. The cardboard and al-foil wrapped around him, he drifted off into slumber.

The morning greeted him with a start. The flourish of the wings from a flock of pigeons had startled him awake. The sun had already risen and the usual bustle of workers and traffic were on the move. The man sat up with a grin on his face. Today was the day. It was the final sentence to his long trial. This would be it. He swung around and unzipped his bag. He overturned it and all manner of items fell out. A pair of big sneakers, a horn, bells and whistles, juggling balls, a miniaturised pedal bike that stood an inch off the ground, a plastic flower, handkerchiefs and a bright red rubber ball that was slightly scuffed from use. He began to stuff them all into his coat as he pulled out his mirror again. Next came the moment he had long since waited for. He opened up his first tube of white paint and started to smear it across his cheeks, he loaded until it was covering his entire face. He wiped his hands clean and next found the red. He opened it and dolled a large amount and began to line it around his lips until it enveloped into a big jellybean grin. He then open the yellow and placed two penny sized dots on his cheeks. He packed them away and admired himself from the mirror. He took off his shoes and slid on the gigantic ones and tied up the laces. He stood and looked down at the floor. He searched around and his eyes fell upon a rather tiny brown bowler hat with a flower sewn onto the side and a big bushy green wig attached to the bottom of it. He picked it up and popped it onto his head. He pulled out the rubber ball and placed it firmly over his nose.

People had started to watch, intrigued as they passed. He did not care. He swung his head back as the hat and wig rested neatly into position. A passing couple giggled to each other as they bowed their heads and kept walking. He picked up his cardboard slip, grabbed a marker from his pile of things and scribbled out the word ‘give’ and wrote ‘laugh’ in its place. He dropped his money cap onto the ground and placed the cardboard slip next to it in front of him. He, at last felt at home, he felt at peace in his little slice of sidewalk. This was his domain, this was his time. He closed his eyes and pictured the bright familiar spotlights shining down on him, the masses of crowds cheering and laughing as drinks and food spilled onto their laps in delight. His old friends admiring him from afar. All this, went flooding out of his mind like a tidal wave as his eyes sprung open and he opened his mouth.

‘Step right up! Step right up! Don’t be shy folks! Hey wanna see a trick? Watch how I turn that frown upside down!!!! You won’t believe your eyes!!’ he burst out scaring half the street. A mother and her little girl caught his eye as they came walking up the street.

'Hey there folks!! Say. Would you like to see a wonderful trick?’ he joked as he bounded towards them. The mother seemed hesitant as he still had a stench about him. The little girl smiled and nodded her head.

‘Aww, there ya go! Now, did you know that flowers can grow, without water?’ he asked. The little girl shook her head at him. He pointed to the little flower in his chest pocket. A few more people who had been walking down the street had noticed this interaction and stopped to watch.

‘Well, this here is a magic flower! It won’t stop growing no matter what I do.’ he smiled at her and winked and put his thumb up to his lips.

‘See, all I have to do is blow right here, watch!’ he took a deep breath and started to blow into his thumb. All of a sudden the flower began to grow right out of his pocket. The little girl and the mother’s mouth dropped. The crowd that had now started to gather from the congestion in the street gasped in delight, some peering over others to get a better look, he kept blowing harder and harder. The flower kept growing and growing till it was the size of his head.

“Oh no I think its getting heavy!!,' he started to wobble back and forth and the little girl laughed and the mother let out a chuckle. Everyone watched as he stumbled from side to side.

‘I think you better take it!’ he said to the little girl as he plucked it out of his pocket and handed it to her.

‘It’s ok I got more in here don’t you worry little missy,' as he blew his thumb again and another flower grew slightly out of his pocket so she could see it. The little girl smiled as the mother smiled at him and they continued on their way.

‘Have a good day ma’am and look after that!’ he called to the girl giving her a thumbs up.

He had noticed the crowd had begun to circle him. People across the street, sitting at the cafes had stood up out of their seats to see what all the commotion was about. A young boy with his father had stepped forward to throw some money into his cap. The man turned around and spotted him. He waddled up to the boy as his shoes were squeaking in off beats to his waddle. The boy looked incredibly shy. The man leaned down so that his red nose was a foot away from the boy.

‘And what is your name young fella?’ he asked.

‘Jonathan,’ replied the boy sheepishly.

‘Well Jonathan, that was a very nice thing you just did, would you like to help me?’ he replied. The boy nodded and smiled and looked back to his father who gave him a nod.

‘Ok, now I need you to hold out your hands like this,’ the man said and he turned the boys hands over so the palms were facing up.

‘Now, hold them up right there. I've been feeling a little blue lately. My head seems to be a little heavy, almost as if its filled with marbles!!!’ He tapped the left side of his head with his hand and a bright blue marble fell out of his right wig into the boy's hand. The faces on the people widened as the boy drew the marble up to his face to inspect it.

‘Hold on I can feel them coming Jonathan,’ the man called. Jonathan, getting a fright held his hands up high as marbles started to drop out of the man’s head faster than the boy could hold them. One after one they fell as the man continued to tap his head. The people around were laughing harder now and the boy's father had rushed in to help his son to catch the marbles. As they trickled to a stop, the man shook his head and stood up straight.

‘Oh my!! Thank you for that my boy!!’ Jonathan was giggling alongside his father as they collected the last of the marbles. The man held out his hands as they boy dropped the marbles into them.

‘Take one my boy. For all your help, and remember to keep a little bit of crazy with you wherever you go,’ he whispered so no-one else could hear. The boy looked at him quizzically but nodded and smiled as he skipped back into the semi-circle of bystanders now all transfixed on the man. A few people had stepped forward and placed more money in his cap.

‘Well, well, I didn’t see you all there.’ he exclaimed as they chuckled in reply.

‘Ehh, let’s see. Umm. Yes well umm, I seem to have forgotten, what I had to do next...um what was it.’ He was tapping his hand on his chest, he was looking rather nervous and continued searching, the crowd looked at each other in apprehension.

‘Oh wait, hang on a minute, that’s right let me find it first, its around here somewhere.’ He started to rummage through his coat pockets, pulling out all sort of items, a mousetrap, a whole pile of silver spoons, a wind up ‘chatter-box’, a large rubber fish (he had held onto his nose in disgust to which the crowd laughed). He turned to the other pockets and pulled out a handkerchief, and another and another, and another. He spotted a young lady in the audience and called for her to assist.

'Sorry, can you please keep pulling on that while I continue looking please, thank you.’ She began pulling on the handkerchief but they just kept coming as he fumbled around his pockets not seeming to notice the ridiculousness of her situation. This had really set the crowd off as every attempt she made just would not stifle the quantity.

‘Ah here it is. Inside a rather large baggy pocket he pulled out his pedal bike. ‘There's the little devil!!’ Just as he said this, the girl had pulled to the end of the line of handkerchiefs.

‘Ah thank you dear. Yes I’m afraid it wasn’t in there after all, so sorry for that.’ as he sent her back to her place with her friends laughing at her.

'Well you have all been lovely, really you have, you have all given your laughter very generously today and I thank you all for that, I am feeling ever so much taller than usual’ he stepped up onto his pedal bike raising himself up an inch. He started to pedal to keep his balance as his shoes started to squeak with each pressure of his foot. How he was keeping balance with his shoes so big nobody knew. When he had finally centred himself on the bike, he pulled a set of juggling balls out of his pocket and started to toss them in the air, catching them in different sequences, first with two hands, then with one hand. The crowd whooped and cheered. This continued for a for awhile until at last with a big heave he threw them one by one high into the air and caught them directly into his coat pocket, sending them away. He jumped off his bike and stooped down to take a bow.

The crowd cheered loudly and everybody applauded him. A few people rushed forward to shake his hand and compliment him on his performance. He could hear the clinking of coins filling his hat and he could not wipe the grin off of his face.

'Thank you, thank you-'

'No really, it was a pleasure ma’am-'

‘Yes I’ll return the fish don’t worry sir-'

The crowd had started to disperse back to their lives and he went around collecting his toys, trinkets and money cap. He waddled back to his step and sat back down loading them all back into his bag. He removed his wig, rubber nose, and unlaced his shoes. They all went away into his bag. He took a deep breath and sat back against the wall, his bones ached and cracked as the energy of the day oozed out of him. He picked up his cap and counted his earnings.

Not bad for an old timer he thought. Not bad at all. He pocketed his money and picked up his slip of cardboard and read it as he chuckled. And that’s one from me too he said quietly to himself. The street lights flickered on as he made his way around the corner to a tap to wash his face. Red, white, and yellows flowed into the drain until he was clean. He sipped at his hands until he felt full, turned the tap off and went back to his step.

He felt more alive than he had in a long time, he had made at least one person feel good about themselves and forget about their troubles. And that was all that mattered. His day would continue tomorrow for more happy faces to entertain. To share in their laughter. But for now, he needed a full belly and to rest. For tomorrow, the old clown that filled arenas, would show his face again.