Tie-Bow the Clown rested his hand on the Hilarity Button.  Laughing, he pressed it and the conveyor belt behind the Plexiglas reversed direction.

Tie-Bow’s clowning routine, leading fake bow-tying workouts, had foundered with Billy Blanks’ popularity.  Now, though, his ingenious basement invention offered him an inexhaustible supply of fresh material.

One of the hobos chained to the conveyor amused Tie-Bow so he slapped the Hilarity Button.  The conveyor reversed, carrying the temporarily relieved man farther from the buzz-saw on his end.  The other hobo renewed his clowning with desperation, one laugh away from earning a few more moments of life.