Mama4 Episode 4: "Mama ha akachan dorobou !" (Mom is a baby thief !)

Aired : 31 Jan 1992 OP: Ai wo PLUS ONE (Masuda Hiromi) ED: Kono ai wo mirai he (Masuda Hiromi) KW: Burnt dish, vase, hospital, alarm clock, kidnapping GC: Doctor, nurses, policemen, Daisuke

[title screen]

Seeing some grey smoke, thinking the house is on fire, Izumi rushes in to find Natsumi holding the dish she just.. "cooked".

Meanwhile, Bobby, playing with Mirai-chan, makes a large vase fall onto his own tail and, barking in pain, makes the baby cry out loud. Natsumi rushes up, sees the vase on the floor, thus decides, against Izumi's advice, to take Mirai to the baby clinic just in case she's been injured.

Natsumi silently sneaks out of the house, hiding Mirai in a large basket, but her inquisitive neighbour Hanada spots her. To fool her, Natsumi pretends she's taking Bobby to the pet-care center.

There, the doctor, dressed up as a panda, examines Mirai and tells Natsumi that the baby is in perfect health. Natsumi is unable to tell him how old Mirai is though, but it doesn't matter, and the doctor checks Mirai's weight and height nevertheless.

On their way out, the girls find a large room filled up with cute stuffed animals, so Natsumi leaves Mirai there to play a little bit while she'll get the drugs for her at the front desk. But she spots, much to her surprise, Daisuke at the main entrance, carrying on his back his younger brother, whose belly hurts, to the clinic.

Natsumi can only hide herself and doesn't know how to get to Mirai. So she decides to call Izumi and asks her to come to the clinic and take Mirai. She has to insist and call her many times because Izumi is having a rest and isn't in the mood of getting up at _all.

Izumi, yet a bit sleepy, mistakes the pregnant women clinic for the baby clinic, and spends some time finding her way in the corridors between the two clinics. When she finds her alarm clock unexpectedly ringing in her pocket, she buries the clock into a large flower pot nearby.

Izumi eventually finds the play room where Mirai is but, seeing what she thinks is Mirai's back, takes in her arms another woman's young boy and leaves, not noticing that it's not Mirai.

Hidden outside in the bushes, Natsumi wonders what her aunt is doing. By chance, Daisuke eventually leaves the clinic with his brother, thus Natsumi rushes in, takes Mirai in her arms and goes back home.

She finds Izumi there, sleeping in front of the TV, and wakes her up, scolding her for not having come to the clinic. "What are you saying?", Izumi yawns, "I've been there and taken the baby back. Look!", showing her the other baby. Natsumi yells out, wondering aloud who this baby is. At the same time, the announcer on TV tells news about a baby who has just been kidnapped..

[CM break]

Next they show on TV the baby clinic where Natsumi and Izumi were just a few minutes ago, with the boy's mother crying in despair. They then briefly describe the woman who is said to have kidnapped the baby.. and her portrait sounds pretty much like Izumi's.

Staring at the TV, Izumi imagines her future fame, and Natsumi her future wedding with Yuuichi-kun, both ruined. First, Izumi decides to go and explain everything to the policemen, but Natsumi retorts that in this case she will have to tell them about Mirai too. Next, Natsumi imagines to leave the house then call the police and ask them to come over to get the baby back, but Izumi thinks they will investigate further and find out about Mirai-chan one way or another.

So all Izumi finds is to.. "sacrifice" Natsumi, for the sake of her aunt's "future", and send her to the baby clinic; she's still a children thus they will understand for sure. Natsumi strongly disagrees though, and retorts that she hasn't to make up for her aunt's mistakes.

At last, Natsumi has a very good idea: she disguises Izumi as a pregnant woman, calls a taxi and asks the driver to take them to the maternity hospital where Izumi went by mistake in the first place.

The taxi stops in front of the maternity hospita (which is just back to back with the baby clinic). Natsumi rushes up, yelling her "mother" is about to deliver her baby. Izumi doesn't stop moaning "he's coming! he's coming!" to cover the baby's own voice, hidden under the large jacket she's wearing.

When the nurses leave to find the doctor, Izumi and Natsumi "deliver" the baby and rush to the baby clinic at full speed, but there is a policeman on duty in the corridor on their way. They hide themselves in a room nearby but suddently the baby starts crying, drawing the policeman there.

Thankfully, as he opens the door, the baby stops crying, and Izumi's alarm clock (that she had put in the flowers pot earlier) starts ringing at the same time, diverting the policeman's attention. While he's taken away by the nurses, Natsumi brings the baby back to the play room, where the doctor finds him and brings him back to his mother. The doctor says the baby was probably hiding himself among the stuffed animals. Seeing this from afar, Natsumi and Izumi are very pleased with this happy end.

Later at home, Natsumi tries to cook another dish, but neither Bobby nor Izumi seem to "fancy" its taste. Natsumi, looking over Mirai's sleep, remembers what just happened today and thinks that was funny nevertheless.

P-chan, 8 Mar 1995 at 20:34