He read all about it online. He built and sewed a tent like he’d seen in Italy. Either he could operate glove puppets from below, or he could operate string puppets from above.
Next he made some puppets. At first they weren’t very good, but he got better at it and in the end he had five quite good rod puppets operated by string pulleys.
All he needed now was a story. He searched the internet but any story he came across seemed a bit corny. In the end he settled on a story about a silly clown who was arrested by the police for disturbing everyone. It was quite fun.
The first interest expressed by a school came in. How exciting! Blondie set everything up in the school library. The children sat on the floor. The show began. The children laughed and clapped and cheered. It was a great success. Although Blondie didn’t charge much the Head Teacher informed him that he would not be paid.
Of the five characters four were men. Why was everyone white? Here we are trying to defund the police and you have a policeman as the hero. Where were the transgender characters? Why did you have a male character fall in love with the sole female? How predictable. Regarding the baby that appeared at the end… did a stork bring it? Was it found in a cabbage patch? What pronouns did the characters want? Or were you happy to step all over people – albeit puppets – and disregard their feelings. No! You shall certainly not get paid, and I shall be recommending to the State’s Education Board that you be banned from further performances in schools.
Blondie went home, burnt his puppetry collection, and made himself a nice cup of coffee.
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