When I was little, I always heard about Ronald McDonald having a party somewhere.. I would see flyers on windows about where he would be some Saturday morning.. No matter how much I tried, I was never able to get my parents to take me to see him perform tricks and have a good time. In my mind this guy was a master at his domain. I would see him on TV and he was GREAT! I wanted to see him more than anything, but like I said, I was never able to go see him.
Until one day.. I heard that he was coming to visit our school. Boy, was I excited.. I couldn't wait. The only problem, he wasn't visiting my class. But this was as close as I was ever going to get to him. I was only able to catch glimpses of him walking around the school grounds. It was getting towards lunchtime.. and I knew I had to act fast if I wanted to talk to him. When the lunch bell rang, I bolted out the door.. I ran feverishly around the school looking for him. I couldn’t find him anywhere! The end of my search brought me to the parking lot. Fortune smiled upon me. I saw this puff of red hair sticking above the cars. My heart climbed into my throat as I got closer. I almost couldn't bear it. I was so overcome with glee. As I got close, I saw that he was smoking a cigarette. I couldn't believe it! The man that told us kids not to smoke... the man, my idol that loved us was doing something he told us not to do. Doubts ran through my head, but I shook them out. I knew he couldn’t be bad just because he was smoking a cigarette... I decided to suck it up and give him a second chance.. He was still my lifetime hero, I didn’t want to let a habit like that stop me from meeting him. I continued to move closer to him. As I got within earshot he glared in my direction. The first words I ever heard him say in person, (I will never forget it) was "I hate kids, I hate em!". He kept grumbling this over and over. My heart sank and I about fell to the ground. It felt like my world came crashing down around me. I sauntered away slowly. My Hero, my Idol.. there was no way I could ever look at him the same way again. To this day I can't walk through a wal-mart, without tearing up. I see that happy clown sitting on that bench and it just breaks my heart.
2 comments:
Seriously, Brad, that explains so much! :) I almost got choked up reading that. What is it with clowns? My mom hired 2 clowns to come to my 8th b-day party, and they yelled at us the whole time. They were just 2 big fat people trying to make a living, but jeez...I've never liked clowns since. I feel your pain.
-Tay
Wow, I think that's one of the saddest things I've ever heard. I can practically smell his stale cigarette and hear his raspy voice, it makes me shudder. Curse the clowns...it's always the clowns!
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