Three laughs in the Emergency Department
Today my partner and I walked into the emergency department. The ED was not busy. There was silence in the room. The unit secretary had just taken a phone call, a nurse was typing at her computer, a maintenance worker had just repaired some equipment. Because of this lull in activity, the maintenance worker struck up a conversation with us. He looked at my clown partner, Dr. DooHickey and said, “You have a big smile.” Then, he turned to me and said,” Where is your big smile.” I paused, then I said, ” I do have a big smile for you, do you want to see it?” Everyone stopped to compare the look on my face to the look on Dr. DooHickey’s. I inhaled, and with a notable sense of effort, I managed to create a small curl on the right side of my face. While I was smiling, I released a clown fart. After hearing this, everyone burst into laughter. The maintenance guy bent over with a chuckle, the unit secretary threw her hands in the air with a laughing shout, while the nurse covered her face as she giggled. As they were laughing, I told them that I had an even bigger one. I asked if they wanted me to give them a bigger… “smile.” All three of them laughed again and said,” No! We have seen and heard enough!” I asked, “Are you sure? I have a lot more to give.” Now, everyone in the emergency department was smiling and laughing with each other. They all agreed they did not want another of my smiles. I reluctantly respected their wishes. I didn’t give them another one. As we left, they continued talking and laughing. Dr. DooHickey and I walked away; we both had big smiles too.