Title: The Greatest Show on Earth
Rating: PG/K+
Summary: Charlie/Claire challenge, including Charlie, Claire, the island and a circus clown. OMGWTFcircusclown? Let's call it circus fluff.
Characters: Charlie, Claire, Hurley
Disclaimer: I don't own Lost but I work with clowns….
Charlie picked up a handful of hot sand and watched as the grains poured through his fingers for what seemed like the hundredth time. The heat in the air was so intense he felt sluggish, lethargic, or maybe it was just boredom. He looked around him. Aaron slept in his crib. Claire was sitting beside it, folding nappies, sighing heavily. On the other side of him Sawyer sat reading Watership Down again with less than full attention. He kept glancing up like he was hoping for a better offer. Kate and Jack sat together outside Jack's tent, side by side like salt and pepper shakers, watching the waves and occasionally passing a word between them. Sun and Jin were hanging laundry and acting generally domestic.
Laying down poles of bamboo, Sayid was building something again, but Charlie could never tell what. Charlie was convinced Sayid just liked to build things, like a child playing with tinkertoys, it didn't really matter what it was. Maybe Sayid himself didn't know. He seemed to be the only one engaged in some sort of physical activity at least. Even Vincent was yawning.
Charlie sighed and rested his chin on his fist. He could play guitar he supposed, but even he was getting tired of that, and lately it seemed his musical accompaniment to life on the island wasn't much appreciated. Yesterday Sawyer threatened to show him a new way to play it, and Charlie wasn't really interested in finding out what that was. People were getting edgy, and jumping down each other's throats. Not everyone played golf, so what was there to do?
His fingers dug a bit deeper in the soft sand, and he started to push it away making a small hole. Maybe if he dug deep enough he'd find buried treasure, and Charlie fantasized of an archeological dig revealing evidence of a civilization that existed on the island before them. Nothing in this spot though, apart from a few rocks. Good, smooth, snooker ball sized rocks though. That reminded him of something.
He took one rock into one hand and held two with the other. Like a scale, he lifted the rocks up and down in each arm, feeling the balance. Yes, this could work, they were perfect in fact. He was too close to the ground for freedom of movement so Charlie stood. Starting with the hand that held the two rocks he tossed one straight up in the air, then the other, and quickly transferred the single rock to his other hand. Then he was off, and the rocks went freely in a circle around and around. He didn't notice he had anyone's attention until he heard Claire. Her unexpected voice caused him to immediately break concentration and drop one of the rocks, missing his foot by an inch.
"I didn't know you could do that." She looked pretty impressed.
Charlie smiled slightly, "Yeah, it's just something someone taught me once."
"Who?" she asked. Charlie regarded her for a moment. Claire really did seem interested. Either that or she was so bored that any conversation at all was too enticing to pass on.
He shrugged. How was he going to explain this one? "No one. It was just this……this circus clown I knew one time."
Claire giggled and came over all dubious. "C'mon, Charlie, pull the other one."
"No, I did though," he insisted, but her expression told him he was going to have a bit more explaining to sell this one. "It's true. I was about ten and……well, let's just say things weren't so good at home. I wanted to run away and join the circus, you know, like most kids do at one time or another. Anyway, one day a traveling circus came to my town. They set up in a field and stayed for a fortnight, doing shows every day. After school I would go and peek in the tents and caravans looking for the animals and the performers. There was this clown. I was fascinated by him--flaming red hair, big nose and shoes, the works. What was his name?" he glanced up, thinking to himself, then recalled, "Milo. Milo the clown. I guess I was a pitiful sight because he took an interest in me and for the rest of his stay he taught me how to juggle balls, pins, whatever. I got pretty good."
"Why'd you stop?" she asked.
He thought back, remembering. "Well, I kept at it for a few years and then I discovered girls." He winked at her. "I found I could attract more birds with a guitar than with tennis balls. Still," he began as he threw the rocks back up in the air, juggling as he spoke, "it's a great conversation starter and I'm fun at parties."
Claire laughed again as she watched him.
Enjoying the attention, he was about to tell Claire to find another rock to toss to him when his spotlight was quickly stolen. "Dude, you juggle too?"
This time Charlie caught the rocks in his hand and stopped. He spun around and faced Hurley, but it was Claire who spoke. "Hurley? You too? It must be hidden talent day."
Hurley held up his hands and gestured towards Charlie. "Toss 'em here, man."
Charlie tossed the rocks up lightly one at a time towards Hurley who caught each one and sent them spinning. Charlie and Claire looked at each other and smiled. Then Claire looked at Hurley, "Let me guess. A clown taught you, right?"
Hurley looked at Claire with mild shock while working to keep his rocks in the air. "What? No way, dude, clowns scare the crap out of me. Always have. No, I was kind of a loner kid and I just taught myself."
As Hurley tossed the rocks, Charlie noticed their island beach mates gathering round, wearing expressions ranging from mild curiosity to fascination. Even Sawyer had come over. Looking at their faces, Charlie was reminded of himself as that ten year old boy, peeking through the flaps of a circus tent. Quickly, before losing his audience, he grabbed up some more rocks from the sand and joined Hurley, as side by side they kept them in the air. The crowd grew larger. Bubbling up came sounds of laughter and the ooh and aah of a well entertained crowd.
"Yo Sayid, toss another rock this way," said Hurley and Sayid complied. Hurley deftly grabbed the rock and tossed it in with the others. Charlie was feeling the itch of competition.
"Claire, toss me one now," said Charlie. Claire found a rock and threw it up. Charlie caught it and now he and Hurley were juggling four rocks each. Everyone applauded.
"Can you pass things back and forth?" asked Kate.
"Yeah, how about fish?" joked Jack. "Or coconuts?"
"I'd give up something from my stash to see Laurel and Hardy juggle Locke's knives," suggested Sawyer. Charlie heard some suppressed chuckling from the crowd.
"How about sticks?" said Claire, already gathering up as many as she could find of relative equal size.
Charlie looked at Hurley and his friend gave him a nod. They caught their rocks and put them aside and Claire handed them the sticks. The crowd roared their approval as they passed them back and forth like juggling pins. Charlie couldn't remember when he'd last seen so many smiles on the faces of his fellow islanders.
Later that night, Charlie sat by the campfire. He was basking in the first fifteen minutes of fame he'd had in a long time. Everyone was praising his juggling act and asking questions about how he did it and how much practice it took. One person even wanted to arrange for lessons as a way to pass the time.
After the last admirer had left, Claire came over and joined him, putting an arm around his shoulder. "Do you want lessons too?" he quipped.
Claire smiled. "I just wanted to thank you."
"For what?" he asked.
"For what you did today. It felt good to just forget our troubles for a while. Everyone needed it." She leaned in closer, "You were wonderful." She kissed him.
"Well," Charlie said smiling as he put his arms around her neck, "I'm nothing without my lovely assistant. You should see what I can do for an encore."