Bingo searched the perimeter of the island until he found Isabella loading all her loot onto a small motorboat hidden behind a group of rocks on the south side of the island. Among the loot, Bingo saw his darling Melinda as the woman packed it into a waterproof case.
Isabella hit the gas on the motor and took off at top speed for about twenty feet. Then she wasn’t moving anymore. She looked back to see Bingo holding the rope that was used to tie her to the shore.
“Bingo?” she cried as he pulled her back in.
She drew a knife and attempted to cut through the rope, but she wasn’t able to cut faster than Bingo could reel her in. When the boat was close enough, Bingo hopped inside.
“Leaving without me?” Bingo asked.
As he sat down on the bench across from her, she tried to stab him with the knife, but the clown grabbed her wrist and bent it back until the blade fell into the water. Then she went for his violin—probably to threaten to toss it in the water if he didn’t let her go—but he just put his feet on top of the waterproof box like an ottoman, preventing her from getting inside. Then the clown leaned back and took a deep breath of the cool twilight air.
“You were far better looking as a clown,” Bingo said. “You should have stayed that way.”
Then he saw a shift in her eyes. It was an odd thing to witness, like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. He could see her transforming, changing from Charlotte back to Isabella. Although she was still covered in the Carnie woman’s tattoos, her insides had completely converted into the clown girl Bingo had fallen in love with.
“What if I could be Isabella again?” she asked.
Bingo laughed so loud the knife in his neck jiggled. “I might not be the smartest clown, but you can’t fool me a second time.”
She reached into her bag and pulled out a syringe, then injected it into her neck. Within seconds, the pinkish tan color disappeared from her skin, dissolving all of her Carnie tattoos, leaving only bleached white flesh. Then she pulled out a little round clown nose made of some kind of plastic that had a realistic-feeling flesh texture. When she placed it on her nose, it suctioned itself into place.
“I really loved being Isabella,” she said. “I think it was my favorite character I’ve ever played.”
She placed contacts in each of her eyes, changing the color from hazel to a bright bubblegum blue.
“Being a clown was so wild, so magical. It’s why I stayed with you for six months instead of two or three as I normally do.”
She removed her black hair—the most realistic wig Bingo had ever seen—and revealed a bald head with tiny hooks along the sides. Then she pulled out her clown persona’s long sunshine-yellow curly locks and put them on. The hooks closed into the wig, making it impossible for anyone to remove but herself.
“Part of me wanted to stay with you forever,” she said. “I never wanted to give up being Isabella.”
With three electronic pens, she colored in her eyes and mouth, mimicking clown makeup. The pens weren’t painting her skin, but somehow altering its color. She was so used to doing it, she didn’t even need a mirror. Only once did she make an error, and to correct it she pulled out an electronic eraser and removed the color from that section of skin so that she could start over.
“The only reason I didn’t stay with you was because I knew that eventually someday you’d find out I wasn’t a real clown. Then you’d probably get so mad that you would’ve hurt me. So I figured I had no choice but to go through with my original plan.”
Bingo couldn’t believe his eyes. She was able to transform herself so quickly. He wondered how many times a week, or even per day, she had to go through that transformation.
When she was finished, it was like Isabella Funshine was back, sitting next to him. He couldn’t see any of the Carnie girl in her anymore. He couldn’t tell that she wasn’t a real clown. She was as perfect as she was the day they first met.
“I wouldn’t have hurt you,” Bingo said. “I don’t hurt girls.”
When he said that, a smile crossed Isabella’s lips.
“I was wondering if now that you know I’m not really a clown, maybe you can accept me for who I am.” She rubbed her white fingers down his cheek. “Maybe if you can find a way to forgive me, we can go back to what we were. Then I can stay Isabella forever.”
She leaned in and kissed his cheek. He let her do it. He thought it was nice to pretend that Isabella was with him one last time. But when she moved his face so that she could kiss him on the mouth, Bingo pushed her away.
“That’s enough,” Bingo said. “I’m sorry, but I’m not interested.”
“Why not?” Isabella cried, sitting back with a pouty look on her face, the same one she always used to give him when he refused to come to bed. “You can have your violin back. We can keep all this money I stole from those disgusting Carnies. We could be happy together.”
Bingo thought about it for a second and then said, “Nah, I don’t think so.”
“Why not? Didn’t you love me? If you loved me then, you can still love me now.”
“Yeah, but things change,” Bingo said. “Even if you’re telling the truth, and I highly doubt you are, I still wouldn’t be interested. You see, after what you’ve done to me, it got me thinking…”
The clown pulled the waterproof box closer.
“I never needed you, even before I found out you were a fraud,” Bingo said, then he tapped his knuckles on the box. “The only woman I’ll ever need is right here.”
Bingo retrieved his violin from the box.
“You were a good fling, but Melinda’s the true love of my life.”
A look of rage crossed Isabella’s clown-face. At first, Bingo thought it was because he hadn’t fallen for her lie, but then he realized it was something else. She was jealous. Genuinely jealous. Just as she always was whenever Bingo chose his violin over her. Vinnie Blue Nose was right…Poison Strawberry really did lose herself in her roles.
“That bitch is mine!” the clown girl screamed.
Then she lunged for the violin. But she wasn’t trying to take the instrument from him; she wanted to destroy it. She wanted to smash it to pieces for stealing Bingo away from her.
But as Bingo stood up, the boat began to rock. Isabella lost her balance and fell overboard.
“I’ve missed you so much, baby,” Bingo said to his violin, and then kissed it with all the love in his heart.
“Bingo, help me!” Isabella cried.
She thrashed her arms in the water, trying to stay afloat. Bingo just ignored her and stepped off the boat onto the rocks, carrying his violin like a bride over the threshold.
“I can’t swim!” she cried, her eyes filled with panic. “Help me!”
He turned his back to her. He knew Isabella didn’t know how to swim, but he didn’t know if that was part of her act or not. He wondered if the woman who played Isabella knew how to swim. And if she did, he wondered if the woman was so dedicated to the roles she played that she’d even allow herself to drown rather than break character.
“Please! Bingo! I love you!”
He just shrugged and walked on. Whatever happened to her, he was sure that she deserved it.