Cathy The Clown

by Michelle Rene Sexton
Prince Edward Island




The kids waited for Cathy to arrive. “B-I-N-G-O” they sang. Benjamin and Parker played “Go Fish” instead of singing.“She’s here,” shouted Gracie. She was almost finished with chemotherapy and her curly blond hair had re-grown around her face.

Kayla, the oldest cheered loudly as Cathy the Clown came through the hospital door. Judith looked out the window before joining the group. She was still recovering from chemotherapy and had no hair, and missed playing dress up. Duncan wished to be outside.

Cathy smiled and handed out markers and paper. Soon everyone was drawing something that made them happy, even Cathy.

“Guess what makes me happy?” she asked. She had drawn a picture of the kids. “Now hold up your drawings.” The children held theirs up. The room was filled with their families, pets, sunshine, and rainbows. Gracie even drew a picture of Cathy.

“Please sit down,” said Cathy. “I have a special gift for each of you.” She grabbed her purple bag and pulled out a yellow hat with a yellow bow in front.
“Gracie,” she said. “This one’s for you.”

Gracie was thrilled to be the first one called. She hurried forward and Cathy continued. “This hat is for you because you remind me of sunshine.” Cathy gave Gracie a hug and handed her the hat. Gracie smiled and said thank you.
“Duncan, it’s your turn.”

Duncan was watching the kids outside. He turned away from the window and walked up to Cathy. Cathy saw the look of sadness on his face and hoped the hat would cheer him up.

She pulled out a green baseball cap with a plastic green frog on the front, comfortable for Duncan to wear since his head was still bald from chemotherapy. When he saw it his smile reached ear-to-ear. “THANK YOU, Cathy,” said Duncan smiling.
“Parker,” smiled Cathy.

Parker was the youngest and recently started to grow his blonde hair back. He had to pass a few kids to get to Cathy and was jumping up and down. She pulled out a red fireman’s hat and handed it to an eager Parker. He smiled and put it on yelling “fireman to the rescue,” and everyone started laughing as he danced around Cathy before running back to sit down.

“Thank you, Cathy,” he said.
When Judith’s name was called she didn’t want a hat.
“Judith, sweetie, come get your hat,” said Cathy.

Judith looked around and saw the smiles on the kids’ faces and didn’t want to ruin their day. She stood silently next to Cathy and watched her pull out something that looked pointy.
When Cathy pulled out an old-fashioned pointed princess hat made of pink silk and lavender flowers, Judith gasped and smiled.

“Judith you remind me of a princess,” said Cathy smiling. She put the hat on Judith and tied the string under her chin so it wouldn’t fall off.

Judith looked at Cathy and with tears of happiness said thank you.
“Benjamin, you will really like your surprise.”

Benjamin grabbed his Triceratops and hid behind the bookcase, but peeked out. Cathy pulled out a brown hat with a head of a Triceratops. He ran to the front, grabbed it and sat back down playing with it.“Thank you, Cathy,” Parker said in a shy voice, but with a huge smile.

“You are welcome Parker.”

Finally the last child was Kayla. She used to have long blonde hair that was slowly growing back. Kayla loved music and always listened to her walkman.

“Kayla, you have a gift for music.” Cathy pulled out a white hat covered with black eighth notes, sharps, quarter notes, half notes, music bars, and treble clefs.

Kayla walked up to Cathy and gave her a big hug, put her hat on, and modeled it.
“Thank you, Cathy, for the awesome hat, I totally love it.”

When Kayla went back to the group they started laughing and showing each other their hats, switching them around so everyone tried on a different hat. When the parents came into the room and saw their kids happy they too smiled. A few walked over to Cathy and told her the idea of the hats was perfect.


“We haven’t seen the kids smile like this in so long. You are a terrific clown Cathy,” said Judith’s mom. Cathy thanked them and grabbed her purple bag leaving the happy group, and making plans for the next set of hats she would give away.