relationship

In my life, I've broken a tooth or two - part of being invulnerable is finding out you're not. It's the last part and, if done properly, isn't too painful. While I could talk about the problems of having sore knuckles, elbows and knees on a morning this is a story about a tooth. Just one tooth.

The story begins many years ago with a sadistic dentist in Ohio. His name is unimportant. A seven year old clambered into a chair where he was to have his two front teeth out because the adult ones were pushing the young right out. The boy wasn't happy with the gas - dancing pretty pink elephants are a little freaky. So the dentist pulled the teeth with no anesthetic, leaving a 7 year old with a toothless scream that he used without spare. The dentist asked the mother to shut the kid up because he would scare the kids outside. Nice guy. I imagine it was a matter of time before someone rattled his teeth.

So for that reason, dentists aren't happy people for me to visit. And so, when I broke this particular tooth - this story is about only one tooth - I heard the crunch and felt the pain, and immediately allowed myself to fall into denial. There was absolutely nothing else that could have caused the pain and the cracking sound, but I was holding out for something better.

When the gum became swollen it was obviously an infection, but I held off for something better. That meant antibiotics that the dentist would prescribe before... doing something I probably wouldn't like. So I decided to wait and see if the swelling would go away - 3 days, I decided. And 3 days passed. The infection decreased, but the pain was still insistent and the gum wasn't healthy. A week later, I go see the dentist.

He looks inside the mouth. You confess it is probably broken. The dentist gives the knowing look. That bastard in Ohio probably stayed pretty busy for all these dentists to have that knowing look.

Water down a parched throat 
     splashes
The cool taste 
     lingers
The cracked lips 
     do not sting -
It is not water, 
     it is sand
The mirage of 
     thirst
The quest for the clay grail 
     to 
Hold water.

It did not come here 

There is this little thing called condensation that people take for granted. Its an amazing thing, really. Fluid trapped in a bottle may evaporate when heated, and condenses on the insides of the bottle when the air cools. Of course, most people just see the condensation, and do not consider how those drops got there. 'Condensation', they say, as if it were some form of magic.

Just so with behavior. People have droplets that form from condensation - they could be a short retort, something considered rude, or even something that is surprisingly nice given the person and the context of the condensation. But few people take to time to consider what caused the evaporation in the first place.

When getting to know people, this is important. Some will dismiss things, calling them condensation, without thinking of what causes the evaporation in the place. It could be pressure and heat, as with water. It could be that they are reacting to things which are around them, including the person observing the condensation in the first place. And it is even possible that the person observing the condensation had a hand in creating the evaporation - and are shocked at the effect.