Miss Trickett cleans up

It was the next day.

The warm light of morning shone down on the carnival. The showgrounds were a mess. Spilt popcorn, candy floss, paper streamers, custard pies, stolen bras, American flags, juggling balls, ride tickets, confetti, banana peels, chip packets, action figures, party hats, red plastic cups, beer bottles, jack o'lanterns, fake cobwebs, toy skeletons, lost panties, cheerleader skirts, hundred-dollar bills and entire outfits of female clothing lay on the trampled grass between the tents and the rides.

Carnies, clowns, showgirls and performers of all shapes and sizes wandered around looking at the mess, or sat in twos and threes on conveniently placed rocks and benches, discussing how well the show had gone and what they could do better next time. Bonnie and Susie, both now fully clothed, stood with Mr. Trapp under the old oak tree, listening in fascination to his tales of show business.

"...and that's how the Queen of Sheba learned you should never wear yellow panties on Mars," he said, as the girls giggled. "But enough about my many adventures. I expect you're wondering who Trickett and I really are, and what the real mystery behind the Carnival of Shadows is."

"Yes," Bonnie and Susie said. So he told them.

"Wow," said Susie. "That makes total sense."

"Obviously once you think about it," said Bonnie. "But what will happen to Miss Trickett now?"

All three of them turned to look at Miss Trickett. She was down on her knees, picking garbage out of an especially muddy patch of grass. Her hands had been cuffed behind her back, so she was **** to use her mouth to collect every individual party hat and banana peel and relocate it to a small wicker garbage bucket that stood on the lawn nearby. She was naked, of course.

Three girls in harlequin costumes sat on a nearby flight of stairs in front of a trailer, pelting Trickett with popcorn kernels and making barbed comments about how stupid she looked. A clown with a video camera stood a few metres away from her, recording everything she was doing in high definition with plenty of zoom. Her full breasts swayed beneath her as she pressed her face into the mud, trying and failing to come to grips with an especially slippery apple core.

She looked indescribably furious, and humiliated beyond belief. Mr. Trapp smiled at her, and gave her a little wave.

"She'll be very busy for a while," he said.

"Does she really have to clean the entire place up all by herself?"

"Yes."

"With no clothes on?"

"Oh, yes."

"But won't that take a long time?"

"It will take a very long time. And I think our hard-working carnival staff have a number of interesting experiences planned for her. She was a very mean boss, you know. The harlequins alone... but I won't bore you with the details. I'm afraid we ought to be moving along soon."

"Oh, well," said Bonnie. "I guess we'd better be getting back to Pinkwhistle, then."

"It was certainly an... interesting experience," said Susie, politely. "And it's nice to know that magic is real. But now we really must be going."

"Of course! You two have been wonderful guests, I must say. And you'll go down in carnival history as the girls who finally vanquished the evil Miss Trickett. Many have tried and failed, you know."

Bonnie smiled. "Well, we're pretty tough."

"I do think it's very rude of you to travel around all of space and time, across infinite dark dimensions, using your incomprehensible occult powers to play crude practical jokes on women," Susie said. "But I must admit you've been a gracious host."

"Why, thank you, Susie. I aim to please. Perhaps you'll take a moment to say goodbye to all the staff? They're very grateful."