I nodded sympathetically. “I can tell.”

He pause d . “Yes, it said Basic Computing. It's ...it's a class I'm taking.”

The girls were had been right. I tried not let my eyes bulge out of my head. to keep my expres sion neutral.

His hand moved to his face and he rubbed his eyes. “Which is probably strange, given that I'm the computer teacher, right?” he said.

“ Well. Yes. A little. But it It 's none of my business .” ,” I offered.

Which It seemed like the most appropriate thing to say , even though I'd made it my business because I was so nosy.

“Please don't say anything,” he said, his facial features face tight with worry. “I would absolutely lose my job if anyone found out.”

“For taking a computer class?”

He shook his head. “No. For having to take a computer class.”

I cocked my head. “Why do you have to?”

H e is hand shifted to his ear and he tugged on his lobe. chewed on his lip again and he had both hands on top of his head, grabbing at his skull. “Because I know very little about computers . ,” he admitted.

“ How are you the computer teacher if you don't know much about computers?”

“ It's a long story.”

I glanced at the clock mounted on the wall. “I have time.”

“ Let's just say Prism needed a computer teacher and I needed a job.”

“ And you applied and they just...hired you? With no experience?” I frowned. “Don't you need like a license or something?”

“ I have one,” he said. “I'm licensed to teach art.”

“ Art?”

He nodded. “I did my student teaching a couple of years ago but then...” His voice trailed off.

“ Then...?” I prompted.

He cleared his throat. “I decided to open my own business instead.”

So Miles Riggler went from student teaching art to running his own business to teaching computers. “What kind of business?” I asked.

Before I got this job, I owned a company called Bozos and Balloons. His cheeks flushed. “An entertainment company.”

For one horrified moment, I wondered if he'd been a male stripper. Or an escort.

“ I was a clown,” he said flatly, as if he'd known immediately where my imagination had gone. It was my turn to blush. “I dressed up as a clown and made bal loon animals. Birthday parties, carnivals, restaurants sometimes. It was called Bozos and Balloons.”

But that sort of went down the tubes .”

“ Your company went out of business?”

He let out a long sigh and his hands slid from his head to his thighs. “Yeah, sort of. I just sort of had to quit it.”

I wasn't following. “So other people are running it now?” “Well, that sounds fun.” I smiled. “Making kids happy.”

“ There's always someone who cries. Always. ” He made a face. “It was the worst part of the job.”

“ Is that why you left?”

He Riggler shook his head. “It was a one man operation. I was the one man. I used to dress up as a clown for parties and things like that and make balloon animals. Work at restaurants on the weekend, carnivals, that sort of thing.” He paused. “Bozos and Balloons.”

“ Okay,” I said. “No. I didn't want to leave. I...I was forced out.”

I wondered what kind of evil clowns he worked with. “But I thought you owned the company,” I said, frowning.

“ I did. It was a one-man show.” He took a deep breath and sighed. “There was this kid over in Wanut Haven who wanted a clown for his birthday. But he wanted one that ro de a unicycle.”

“ But then I did something really stupid,” he said, clearly frowning at the memory. “I tried to ride a unicycle.”

“A unicycle?”

He nodded. “Yeah . His mom called to see if I was available and if I could ride a unicycle. I told her yes because I needed the work. So I went and bought a unicycle, , this kid over in Walnut Haven wanted a clown that rode a unicycle. So when his mom called to see if I was available and if I could ride a unicycle, I told her yes because I needed the work. So I went and bought a unicycle, kind of taught myself how to ride it. It was hard. Not like riding a bike at all.”

Probably because it was short one wheel . , I thought.

“Anyway, I went to the kid's party and it was going pretty great,” he explained. “I was whipping out animals left and right and the parents were all tipping me and , for once, no one was scared afraid of me.”

“ Scared of you? Why would they have been scared of you?”

“ At most parties, there's at least one person who is afraid of clowns,” he said. “They usually cry and freak out and it sort of ruins the whole deal.”

“ Ah. Right.” I tried to picture the man in front of me dressed as a clown. Even with my overactive imagination, I was having a hard time doing it.

“So anyway, it's going pretty good. Everyone's happy. ” His shoulders sagged. “ But then the kid wanted me to ride the unicycle for him.” H e shook his head is shou lders sagged . “I started out okay, but then I hit a manhole cover in the cul-de-sac.”

I winced. “And you fell?”

“No, I just sort of lost my control,” he answered. “I ran into a curb and got thrown from the bike and landed on the birthday kid. Squashed him and p opped the four-foot Mic key Mouse balloon creation I'd made him. ” He held up his left hand. “ And I broke my wrist.”

“ Oh, wow,” I said. “I'm sorry.” It was a horrible story and I felt awful that I had to bite back a smile at the visual of Miles Riggler demolishing a life-size Mickey Mouse balloon w hile careening around on a unicycle.

He nodded. “Yeah. “ The kid was okay, but he was crying and his parents were mad at me and I think I might've been crying, too, because of my wrist. So I had to get my stuff and leave.” He frowned. “But my wrist was in I ended up being in a cast for three months, which made it impossible to make balloon animals. So I had to shut down Bozos and Balloons. . ”

It sounded like a traumatizing experience. It also sounded like an episode of “America's Funniest Home Videos.” “That's terrible,” I said.

“ So Anyway, I had to find a new job,” he continued. “I applied to be a server at Taco Bill's and to be a driver for Pizza Farm for some jobs, service industry kind of stuff, but I wasn't getting anything.”

“ You didn't want to tea ch art?” I asked.

“ No , I did . But no schools were hiring.” , He looked at me. “ A friend of mine told me about Prism needing teachers so I checked out their openings. They were hiring for a computer teacher. but I didn't get either. I was getting kind of desperate. So then I saw this ad that Prism needed a computer teacher.” ” He folded his arms across his chest. “ But I thought it was for the spring semester. It was so close to the start of school. I thought I could apply, talk my way into the job, then learn computers during the fall and be ready to go in the spring.” His shoulders sagged again. “So I came in for the interview and I...I guess I interviewed okay.”

“Don't take this the wrong way,” I said, bewildered. “But weren't you asked questions about computers? Or about your job history? ”

He nodded slowly. “Yeah. But I just sort of fudged my answers. I really wanted needed the job.” He swallowed. “And then I got the call that I was hired. And that I had to start the following week. It wasn't for spring. It was for fall.” He paused. “I wasn't ready.”

I watched him stare at his lap. He was clearly a guy who was overwhelmed the moment. I knew that people lied all of the time on their resumes in order to get jobs, but I just couldn't believe that he'd fibbed well enough to slide into a teaching position. He was either a terrific liar or the interview process had been more than a little flawed.