Bright flashing lights, clinking of coins, the jingle of a winning tune. Mister Sunshine stands before a slot machine.
“The attraction of a casino slot machine. Where fortunes are won, or so they say. Doesn’t it look funtastic, my little Sunbeams?!”
He pulls the lever down. Two cherries line up. He collects a small handful of coins as his winnings.
“It feels nice when the credits come rolling down. You feel like a winner, and being a winner feels good.”
He places another coin in and pulls the handle, this time losing.
“Yet not every coin can be a winner. Most of them aren’t. You pour your fortune into the machine but never seem to hit the jackpot.”
Another coin, another loss. He holds up one final coin, his last.
“You win enough to keep playing, just enough to stay interested. But you never get ahead.”
He places the coin in the slot and pulls the handle, another loss. His smile fades.
“Klaus Way is this slot machine. Those down on their luck are attracted by his bright lights and the tune of his promises. So he lets them play his game, promising a livelihood as part of his circus.”
“He may even make them feel like they’re winning, but they never hit the jackpot. Only enough to keep them right where he wants them. Hooked on the machine, continuing to pour their livelihood into him. Because all are welcome in the Big Top of Klaus Way…”
“As long as they keep paying the house.”
Mister Sunshine stands up from the machine. An entire row of matching slot machines stand before him. People mindlessly pour coin after coin into them.
Not one smiles.
“How does one stop the house from winning?”
He reaches behind his own slot machine, and flips a novelty-sized switch on the wall. All of the slot machines fall silent.
“They stop playing the game.”
Patrons glued to machines look up, seeing Mister Sunshine in all his glory.
“I am the Sunshine. The slot machine that always pays out. It never runs out of jackpots.”
From within his suit jacket, Sunshine pulls wads of credits and tosses them into the air like a lollyscramble.
“Funtastic!”
Patrons eagerly lap up the credit coins.
“Klaus… At Casino Chaos, your followers will see they’ve been playing the wrong machine. They’ll realise how much of themselves they’ve wasted, toiling away at a machine that will never pay out fairly. They’ll start to see how bright the sun can shine on their dark existence.”
“I am the jackpot, Klaus. The better way…”
From around the Fortuna floor, several patrons cry out in uproar.
“What the hell is this? These aren’t credits!”
Mister Sunshine holds up one of the coins he had scattered. One one side, a smiling face replicates his own. On the tails side, simply the words… ‘Just smile’.
Mister Sunshine grins.
“All they have to do to see the sun shine, is just smile… and the way to happiness will become clear.”
“Everyone can be a winner, if they just spread a little sunshine.”