The Circus Freak - and the boy who was afraid of clowns

Nineteenth Chapter

                         FOUR MONTHS WENT BY WITHOUT RENATO feeling the craving of killing. Like the old woman that smokes the pipe had said: Icu, the death, had washed Xangô's threat away. At least that was what he thought.

                        Renato was quietly working as a perfumer. Natália's death had inspired him to develop a new fragrance.

                        Leandro had gotten his godson Renato a job in a hospital pharmacy. Renato had once thought this job was boring and dull, but now he found it quite pleasant. He was responsible for replenishing the stock of medicines, dispatching the recipes of psychotropic drugs, and keeping the ICU and the operating room stocked with a variety of drugs  It was an easy part-time job where Renato could make enough money to buy food. For everything else, luxury, addictions, as well as trips and paid lovers, he would use drug money.

                         

                        ***

                         

                        "Sad girls don't get lollipops! Let me see your smile."

                        The pediatric oncologist, Doctor Milena, played with her patient. Her patient replied showing her yellow teeth, two of which clearly had cavities.

                        "That's much better! However, one smile gives you the right to one lemon lollipop. To get a strawberry one, you would have to kiss my nose!

                        Renato knew the voice he heard through the glass window that separated the pharmacy from the pediatric ICU. He came close to the window and saw the young doctor who looked about thirty. The doctor had a silver barrette that held her curly brown hair up. Two curls fell over her forehead and down the sides of her large wide face. She wore green pants with red suspenders, a funky, white tall collar shirt, tight enough to let one notice her firm, round breasts, and so were the balloons she carried with her.

                        The doctor seemed to have put on her make-up in a hurry. She had a red mouth, like ordinary clowns do, and her nose was a round, red ball attached to a very thin, almost invisible, elastic rubber band around her head. 

                        Two important details caught pharmacist Renato's attention: the lack of white paint as base for her clown make-up, and the white lab coat that covered that beautiful, cheerful figure did not match the rest of her clown outfit.    

                        On the hospital bed, a little seven-year-old girl wore a gown that exposed her skinny back. She had thin, dark hair that had been falling out in bunches. You could see her anemic scalp. Effects of chemotherapy.

                        "Doctor Milena, I would like the strawberry one," Thalita wrapped herself up with the blanket, from head to toe, being silly, just as any child would kid around. For five minutes she had forgotten all about her awful illness.

                        "Then kiss my nose, young lady," the doctor had one hand on her waist, and with the other she made circular movements pointing to her own nose.

                        "No, I won't kiss it!"

                         

                        Thalita’s playful laughter filled Doctor Milena's heart with joy. A tear escaped Milena's eye, showing that her supposedly unbreakable shield had been lacerated by the childish laughter. It was like the little girl was showing her love. Her laughter expressed how thankful she was and how much she trusted Doctor Milena. She had hope...