Two of the adults led Joey into the Central building. To Joey’s surprise, it was mostly rather spartan and clinical-no colorful murals or circus themed music playing. And none of the other clowns were accompanying them.
As if sensing his thoughts one of Joey’s escorts, a thirtysomething Asian woman in a white lab coat, said, “We are going to be doing a psychiatric evaluation of you, Joey, and it is important that you remain rational and serious. We have found it is easier for our residents to do so in environments like this, when no one else with their condition is around.”
They came to an office on the second floor; Joey was let inside. Seated at a desk was in front of the window was a middle-aged man wearing a Brooks Brothers suit with salt-and pepper hair and a white mustache and goatee. “Hello, Joey,” he said as he stood up, a slight German accent in his voice. “I am Dr. Heinrich Reichling, the resident psychologist for this facility.”
Joey introduced himself, then honked his nose. He noticed the sound his nose made was quieter than usual, as if to suit the atmosphere.
Dr. Reichling motioned for Joey to sit down. “Now tell me Joey, how you feel about your situation.”
Joey related about his childhood phobia of clowns, how he had been so frightened when he realized what was happening to him he had avoided looking into mirrors and kept quiet most of the time. He then told of how whenever he felt sorry for himself about his condition it would be followed by guilt over people who had it far worse, and that it made him want to somehow cheer them up.
“That is not unusual, for those like yourself,” Dr. Reichling said. “A handful of other residents here have suffered from coulrophobia-the fear of clowns-as children, and they acted much as you did. In such cases, the phobia gives way to depression, as the condition advances, they feel empathy for those they know are worse off for themselves. Now Idonna-she is my niece by marriage, I will tell you-she did not fear clowns as a little girl-yet when she first noticed what was happening, she tried to cover up her appearance with cosmetics, until it had advanced too far. We did not realize then how to deal with what was happening. We were able to learn about others and realizing the extreme difficulty they would have fitting in to normal human society, we decided it would be best to have them moved to a remote facility were they could be watched and observed and we could learn more about their-condition.
“Now I am telling you this so as you know what to expect. The first doctor, the one your mother took you to, she told you something of this, didn’t she?”
“A little,” Joey nodded, and strangely he didn’t giggle or feel the impulse to honk his nose.
“Gut,” said Dr. Reichling. “Joey, your condition, it will affect more than your body. As you grow older, you will feel more and more compelled to behave like a clown, or more specifically, your role as whiteface. You are familiar with the classification of clowns, are you?” Joey shook his head; he’d been too afraid of clowns to learn anything about them. “Well, to use ze proper terminology one such as yourself whose skin is white all over, is called, rather appropriately, a ‘whiteface.’ They tend to act as leaders, per se. They are usually the most serious when necessary, albeit in a rather clownlike comical fashion. We do offer an appropriate education to all our residents, and it is the whitefaces who do the best in their studies. They also tend to act rather domineering or take charge, as you Americans say, when going about in the basic chores and duties of maintaining this facility. Idonna, for instance, often acts as my secretary and when she focuses on that, in spite of her appearance and otherwise rather comical behavior, she does it competently and even better than most ordinary secretaries. Already she is taking online classes in psychology; she wants to specialize in those with this ‘clown syndrome.’ But in her everyday behavior she acts silly and comical.
“The other two types, the ‘augustes’ and the-well, in English they are called hoboes-the type who have white around the eyes and mouth, while hoboes also typically have what looks like a black or grey beard shadow-you’ve seen them, no?” Joey nodded. “They tend to be subordinate to the whitefaces and are less serious-they usually do less well in their studies and are less inclined to do things in an orderly manner. The augustes often try to prank the other residents or staff, while the hoboes are usually the ones to do the lowliest work here-they wash the dishes, clean the kitchens and dormitories, take out the garbage. We did not arrange it in this way, it just naturally seemed to happen-as if the condition was making the residents act in the ways clowns are expected to act-and it will likely be so with you.”
“You are say I’m being brainwashed?” Joey asked, surprised.
“Not exactly. This is not being done deliberately to you; you simply have a condition that is affecting your body and your mind. And Joey, we do not wish to lie to you, although at first you may be dismayed, you are becoming a clown mentally as well as physically.”