A Clown Meets An Angel

• Liana Gangi, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2009

I looked to see whom I had on my schedule first. In this hospital, no welcome was offered, nor needed. Everyone was concentrating on their own special task, their time of the day to help a child, their chance to make another flower blossom, in this room of growing seeds. I had a boy, diagnosed with cancer. Was I cut out for this job? Could I really help and make a difference to a child’s life, just by making him laugh? My stomach whirled like eggs being whisked, round and round and round…

I walked to the right corner of the room, our workspace, to find a young boy, waving his hand at me. His mother smiled at him lovingly, for he was her world and all that mattered. There was only one word to describe the boy –beautiful. He turned away from me, showing a head of curly golden hair, with parts a shade lighter, as if they had been dipped in honey. His face resembled a little pixie, curious and mischievous. I was already in awe…

The next time I saw him, his beautiful hair had been replaced with a clumped, splotchy, patched head. Gone were those beautiful honey curls. I wanted him to feel special, racking my brain for ideas that could make an eight-year-old boy smile. He was a rose among thorns, so precious, so special, and something set him apart from other boys. He was free and wild and not meant to be a prisoner in this eerie world. Behind my clown smile, was a river of tears, just waiting to pour out…

Weeks later, my boy, sleeping on the bed, was tiny, shrunken and swept of all the colours that made a person. It was only until his weak eyes fluttered open and his wide smile appeared, did I feel my heart return to a normal beat. He was there, hanging on by a thread…

After that, I didn’t go back. I couldn’t. What was there to see? I used to see hope, joy and life. Now all that filled my head was a baby bird, being shot down, only getting weaker…

I couldn’t stand it! My conscience didn’t let go, so strong that it felt like another person living in my apartment, following me and nagging me to go back. It stared me down and haunted my dreams, leaving me a wreck. Ignoring the frostbitten weather that I knew would catch my breath I bolted out the door…

As I crept into the room, his family surrounded round the bed, he beckoned me to come closer. Everyone had been waiting for me, even death had stopped for my path. He had control of me instantly. I lowered my self down until I was in ears reach of his chapped lips.
“Thankyou for making me smile,” whispered the voice of an angel, before resting into a peaceful, painless rest.