The Death of Bippo

No one that saw his corpse could believe what they were seeing. In death Bippo wasn’t just smiling he was grinning. Now it’s true that a clown was supposed to smile but even when he was alive he never did. Not even when he was performing. Why kids loved him so much was a mystery to everyone that knew him.
When the coroner had taken his body the clowns gathered to figure out what they were going to do to send him off in a way that was respectful. Although why they were trying to respect him he never showed them or anyone for that matter any kind of respect.
The circus closed for a couple days in memory of Bippo. It gave all the performers and the ringmaster/owner a chance to come up with ideas and there were plenty of them. Some were more reserved like putting a huge picture in the center of the ring during performances. One person actually suggested bringing an empty casket into the ring and setting it on fire. That idea was quickly axed. The last thing the owner wanted to happen was his tent burning down along with the casket. By the time the circus reopened it had been decided what was going to be done.
The day of the memorial arrived. Tension was high as the crowd filtered into the tent. A curtain was pulled closed around the center ring hiding what was behind it. By the time the last person entered there wasn’t an empty space to be found. Once everyone was seated everything went dark except for the center ring. The curtain slowly opened, and the crowd gasped at what they saw.
The spotlight highlighted what was in the very center of the ring.
Sitting upright in the center of the ring was what appeared to be an Egyptian like sarcophagus. Bippo’s image was painted on the front, a smile on his lips. The base was surrounded by hundreds of flowers.
The ringmaster entered and gave his speech about how a week before he and the performers had lost a beloved member of their family. The speech lasted about five minutes and he exited the ring, and the show began in earnest.
The clowns gave their usual performances. Juggling, riding unicycles, as well as everything clowns usually did. Everything was going perfectly until a small car, filled with other clowns entered from the left of the stage. Coming to a stop beside the sarcophagus the car barely nudged it, and all hell broke loose.
What everyone thought was an empty sarcophagus fell on it’s side, the lid popping open and out rolled the body of Bippo. The body came to rest in the flowers.
Screaming filled the big top as people grabbed their children and ran toward the exits. Since the exits wouldn’t only allow a few people to go through at a time the crowd began pushing each other causing the tent to start collapsing trapping people and performers under it.
After everything was done and all were safe it was decided that the members of the circus would never discuss the matter again.

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