driving home at 3am from brighton le sands after an evening with val and the book of vilah people i'm noticing the incredible amount of inflatable objects on the streets, like some phantasmagorical dimension has ruptured into my nocturnal sojourn, i kept one eye on the speed and the other on these strange figures that seemed to sway out at me as i drove past them, some dressed in bright primes, others lurking in dark with pale washed out faces, sneering as i skirted around them. it was not until i darted out from the harbour tunnel and made it through military road that one of these fucking refuges from someones unimaginative nightmare leapt out in front of the car. i didn't slow down, not at all, in fact in that split second i calculated that my car would be undamaged and the huge clown like figure would be knocked away, however he managed to just swerve out from harms way and behind in my mirror i could see him on his tether spinning around, every so often his huge grin would rotate itself at me, like a surreal haunting reminder that the game had only just begun. over the spit bridge another face leered out from the darkness, a manic screeching laughter, a policeman about 9feet tall with a huge truncheon cam looming towards me, suddenly from the truncheon an inflatable sign inflated itself, 'STOP' it read as i drove past it and headed towards the parkway, my speed picking up, i slipped on a cd, oh the irony as it was a brand new purchase 'the laughing clowns' a band i have just discovered. eternally yours.
the night wore on, i fixed my stare on the unravelling road and focused my attention on breathing, i was travelling fast, my heart was beating like a bass drum, i wound down the window a little to cool off, i was generating to much heat. i must have been on the second half of the parkway when a shadow flicked to the right and something darted past me, a fucking kangaroo of some kind, another inflatable, it was hopping along side me, cigar in mouth, it's big round eye parallel to my face, a waft of cigar smoke drifting inside, my finger hovered over the window button and for some reason i instinctively pushed down, without thinking first my fist smashed into the parallel marsupial and i felt it impact upon something soft, knocking the cigar from it's mouth. the inflatable started to yell, 'fucking bastard that's unfair fighting you prick, come back and fight like a man.'
there words receded as i approached the lake, for a while i slowed down and just let the cold air calm me, it was not until mona vale i started to see the clown figures again, each one leering and posing as i drove past, one slammed down on my roof but i braked hard and it flew off and upwards caught on the wind. i approached a traffic light that i swear went from green straight to red. i slammed on the brakes and waited. i waited for a few minutes and it remained red.suddenly a face squished itself up against the window, bright red lips snarling, small tiny teeth bared themselves, suddenly the back window was covered in a yellow layer of plastic as some other creature smothered it, and i could feel the claustrophobic nightmare encircle me, i drove forwards slowly but it was no good, they had surrounded me and i had no vision.
'what do you want?' i yelled.
'we want you to come to the circus.'
'i hate the fucking circus.'
'we know,' they said.