Or so she thought. There she was, clowning merrily, when suddenly a stern security guard informed her that she was wanted in the Administration department. Well, the nose was on and there were children present, so I couldn't come to her rescue. So off she went, calling for her lawyer and her mummy, and trying to get "the policeman" to handcuff her. Needless to say, the children and other patients found all this quite funny.
Finally, in the administration dept, the nose came off and all was revealed. It was a simple case of miscommunication, or in this case, no communication. The ward sister hadn't been informed about Dr Clown's visits, so when she saw Gladys and Mamu clomping happily down her corridors, she must have thought, "Who on earth are these two clowns?" (literally!) and called Security!
All sorted out amicably, once we explained that we had the approval of both the hospital director and the head of paediatrics. There were a few extra journeys up and down because the Security guy's colleagues hadn't been updated and so they refused to let the clowns back in to the wards! Gladys being a lady of some leisure waited and blew bubbles while Mamu chivalrously made these perilous trips back and forth to prove their innocence.
Eventually got back in, and the whole funny little mishap ended up making us all good buddies. Unfortunately we've not had the opportunity to go clowning there since (do hope they don't think we're sulking or scared of), as one week Mamu had a cold, one week we were tied up with rehearsals for our show, and then last week I had a bad stomach. (We don't go clowning if we have any such illnesses, so that there is no risk of passing infections to sick children whose resistance is already compromised).
But joy! Tomorrow is Tuesday, Mamu and Gladys both seem to be fine, and we shall head for St Phil's at 10.30 a.m. inshallah! Stay tuned .. though I really should write about the show first. Major clown backlog. But my Filofax will keep me on track ..
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