Last laugh.
I was once saw my Jilly and her friends playing and laughing with Donny. As I watched them play I noticed that they were telling Donny to do crazy things, like put on sunglasses and talk in a crazy accent or do cartwheels and he would do them enthusiastically and with gusto. They laughed, he laughed. The only thing is that they were laughing at him and he was laughing right along with them. When I pointed this out to my sister she said “well at least he is having fun and he doesn’t seem to mind being the class clown.”
HELLO? Anyone in there? He is not the class clown, the class clown knows he is working the crowd for laughs. He is more like a little trained monkey following instructions and instead of working for peanuts he is working for laughs. But he is working, not playing.
There is a difference. She rolled her eyes, “Well he is still having fun even if he doesn’t know he is the trained monkey.” Donny was happy, my sister was happy, what do I know!
I got a call from my sister today and she asked “Want to know what Donny did today?” This was purely rhetorical. “Donny was playing with some older boys, old like third grade. They were all laughing and having fun but I watched them and it was just like last summer with Jilly. Those boys were telling Donny to act crazy and he did it and then they laughed at him. He laughed too but only because he thought they were all laughing together. It was just like you said, he was being a trained monkey”. (I didn’t not say I told you so, but I thought it! But now I am printing it. Discretion has never been my strong suit.) All of a sudden Donny came over to his Mom and said “I think those boys are are laughing at me.” She looked at him and said “You know Donny, maybe if you acted a little older, they would not make fun of you.” Donny looked at her and said “OK I understand” and walked off. Then all of a sudden he started to walk all hunched over and he put one hand on his back and the other hand out like he was holding on to a shaky cane. He stopped, looked back at my sister and said “A little too old?”
I take it all back, He is the class clown. He does know he is working the crowd. And I think he is actually laughing at us.