A strange heart warming meeting

                                   A strange heart warming meeting

Deep in the land of dreams I heard a hideous sound, an annoying call to rise and shine. Who invented alarm bells or maybe I did not spend the time to select a more agreeable one. I turned over to see my wife had already risen. I was thankful that the chaotic mornings of having young children had long passed. All three of them were away at university. Today was going to be a long day. I think I need another half an hour of sleep. In the morning I had to attend to my patients as I was the local children's doctor. The circus was coming to town and after their opening I, being the mayor, had agreed to welcome them with a buffet dinner. But my wish for some extra sleep was a non-starter as our dog bounded into the bedroom fresh from his daily walk with my wife. The day had begun. 

It began pleasantly by me attending to various child’s illnesses, nothing particularly serious. At lunch time I went to see how the circus was erecting their big top, introducing myself as the mayor. I had a five minute chat with the ringmaster and told him to expect some child tonight from the local hospital. The town’s council had booked twenty front seats on the right hand side of the ring for them. I also invited the circus performers for a buffet supper in the town hall as a welcoming celebration at 9 pm when the show ended. 

The circus started at seven. At six forty five the big top was full with parents and their children. One could feel the excitement, the noise level of tiny voices asking hundreds of questions was like the noise heard from a bird aviary in a zoo. There in the front row on the right were the ill and handicapped children from the hospital surrounded by their nurses. Their eyes and heads constantly moved to see what was going on. At a roll of the drums, lights dimmed, the show had begun. It was great. The children were bouncing up and down on their seats with excitement, no doubt, many wetting their pants. No way were they going to miss an act. The best act of all were the clowns. The laughter, the screams of delight, the clapping made the canvases on the top of the big tent tremble. To see the hospital children with tears of laughter on their faces made my evening. In their hospital ward, which I visit regularly, I don’t often see smiles. One particular clown was hilarious. He was  extremely talented. His name  was Bozo.

At about ten minutes past nine the circus actors numbering thirty trooped into the town hall. They were dressed in civil clothes that seemed so disorienting having several minutes before seen them dressed in their various splendid circus outfits. 

I welcomed them and congratulated them all on a wonderful performance. As champagne was being served I wandered amongst the artists shaking hands and saying a few words. Suddenly I came across a face I knew. 

“Richard, this is extraordinary. You remember, we were friends at school. What are you doing here”?

“Yes of course, it’s Henry isn’t it? I am with the circus. I could ask you the same thing. What are you doing as mayor of this town? I remember in school  I admired you being so laid back, not particularly interested in anything. Certainly not responsibilities!

“ Touche. I admired you as a workaholic with a talent for mathematics. Listen, we must talk. How about tomorrow for a coffee at the restaurant across the square. Shall we say 10 am”.

“Agreed, I will see you then now I am going to get some more Champagne.” 

The evening was a joyful affair with the sound of many languages. I ascertained the ringmaster was in fact the owner. I did have a chance to talk to him and complimented him on the show. I told him I was the town's children doctor and nothing gave me greater pleasure than hearing children laughing and enjoying themselves. I mentioned I thought the clown Bozo was very gifted. He replied by agreeing. “He is one of the main attractions”.

The next morning when the coffee was served Henry turned to Richard and said. 

“Tell me what your job is at the circus”.

“I am a clown, under the name of Bozo.”

Henry immediately said. “This hardly seems possible. At school you were a very studious boy, probably the most intelligent pupil in the school. If I remember correctly you even got an entrance to Cambridge. Last night you are now telling me you were the clown, Bozo, that made us all laugh with abundant pleasure. Richard, my friend, you have become a very talented actor. Was it really you? Difficult to believe and understand”. 

Richard replied with a grin on his face. “Yes it was me. You are right I went to Cambridge and graduated with honors, mathematics being my main subject. I was immediately offered a job as a trader in a top major investment bank. The pay was excellent. I stayed there for ten years and made a considerable amount of money. During that time I married a girl from an aristocratic English family. I found out after about three years of marriage her father was totally broke and the marriage had been  arranged to profit from my money and earning capacity. From then on great arguments were the conversation of the day. Two years later we were divorced. The marriage, the social life with her friends, the parties and money flowing like water was totally alien to my  concept of what life should be. My wife was a different person before she married. She was loving and kind and in no way flaunted her social connections. I was more than thankful it ended. The blessing was that we did not have any children. I stayed with the merchant banking and as I was unshackled from devoting time to my married social life I spent many more hours on the trading floor. 

During these years a very funny thing happened. It must have been two years after I was divorced that my sister asked me if I would take her two young children to a circus. At this event I had such a pleasant time, filled with joy and laughter. But what fascinated me the most were the clowns. They were capable of turning children into screaming and laughing little humans that were a delight to watch and be with. My sister's two children could not stop talking about them. 

It took me another two years to realize, maybe, my calling in life was to be a clown and have the talent to make children laugh. I quit my job and signed up for a clown school for intensive training. Today I travel the country and live with a remarkable group of people. In the evening and afternoons when we perform I always feel an enormous sense of doing a job that is so rewarding. To see the childrens’ faces, to hear their laughter and screams is for me… intoxicating. You find before you a completely changed and happy man. Surely one of the prime objectives of man is to be happy.

I heard from the ringmaster you are a well known children’s doctor apart from being the mayor. Knowing your school days, your achievement to this status should be awarded a gold medal. How did it happen”?

“ When I left school my grades were so poor I had no chance of entering a university. As you know my father runs a very successful business. All his plans for me going to a university and later working in his business were in tatters. He suggested I go and travel in Africa for a year and come back with a clear idea of what I wanted to do with my life. He told me if I took his suggestion seriously he was prepared, within reason, to finance the trip. I spent the first six months wandering from country to country, towns to towns. I seldom noticed a few glimpses of affluence, no doubt created from shady dealings, when I did they cast shadows over great areas of poverty. I saw how the great countries of the world had and were continuing to influence the African way of life. I witnessed the animals running free across the plains. A sight of pure joy. I experienced the soothing light of the African sunset. It is in these moments you feel the magic of Africa with its special perfume and natural beauty. Then in my seventh month I had an experience that was to change my life. I was in Zimbabwe at the time. I had spent the night in a small hotel in one of their larger towns. It was on my early morning walk when I heard the alarming cries of a child in what must have been a serious accident. About twenty yards ahead I found him lying in a pool of blood. He had what looked like a very serious cut on the right leg from a broken bottle lying next to him. There was nobody else about. I immediately took off my shirt, ripped it to make a turnkey for his right thigh. Never have I seen a child’s face so distorted by pain, fear and despair. At that moment I knew what my life’s calling was. As I carried him in my arms to the town’s hospital his crying stopped and his face showed a slight smile signaling he felt safe. At the hospital he was immediately taken out of my arms and rushed to emergency services. I followed him and met the doctor on duty. That night the doctor over dinner told me he was there only temporarily. He worked for Doctors Without Borders. He asked me why I was in Africa and why I had felt so moved about finding and bringing in the boy. After my little speech he looked at me and said. 

“He could use somebody like me to help at the hospital for two months. Would I be interested? He could organize a small salary for my work. It will certainly show you what it is like being a doctor in a hospital under constant stress from attending to adults and children with a variety of medical problems. Additionally, we constantly lack medical supplies”. 

I spent two months in the hospital working over fifteen hours a day. I certainly saw every aspect of what it meant to be a doctor and I learnt a lot about various treatments. At the end of my first month the boy I found and his mother came in to thank me. If I was going to try and become a doctor my choice would be for the care of children. When my two month period was up several of the hospital's staff gave me a small party in thanks for my dedication. I left with the ambition of studying medicine to become a doctor. I spent my last month in Africa lying on a few beaches contemplating my future. Back home I told my father I want to become a child doctor. He was very skeptical. Given my school grades it was very difficult but I persevered, helped along the way by receiving many wonderful recommendations from the hospital in Zimbabwe. Six years later I received my degree”. 

 Richard asked. It is an incredible story, but why did you end up here?”

“The short answer is that after receiving my degree as a doctor I went to work for Doctors Without Borders. They assigned me to a four year contract in South Africa. I met my wife while working there. She was an English nurse. Once my contract ended we decided to come back to England and form a family. This town was chosen as my wife’s aged parents live in the area”.

“I could spend all day listening to your adventures in Africa. But patients call and the responsibilities of being major always makes for a crowded day.  So I will give you my home number so that you can tell me when you can come for dinner. It was a real pleasure to meet up after all those years”.

David Nutt                                                                                        Oct 2024