Tuesday 27 September 2016

Point of View

First PersonI waited for my turn patiently as the dentist drilled holes in the teeth of his patients. I tried not to notice the squeals and the ouches but they got me. I have hated dental appointments all my life. I had one when I was a child and the memory is a faint one. I was pulled to the chair and the dentist, that bastard, distracted me with his questions and as I opened my mouth, he started his drill inside my mouth. I felt like the world was going to end. I now understand when the kid in the cabin squeals like a baby seal. I am pretty sure the dentist must not have told him anything about the surprise injections and drills and other forms of torture.


Now that I am an adult, I cannot shout for help. That would be childish and no one would come to my help. This toothache is killing me and so I am here.

"Excuse me, will you please stop tapping your foot like an idiot?" A woman sitting next to me said. I do not not know what to say. I do not understand how people can be mean to someone they hardly know. She does not know me. She does not know my foot tapping is the only thing that I can do to avoid a mental breakdown.

"Ok, sorry." I said to make her feel bad. Now she must feel like the mean bitch that she is. I did not retaliate. Long live Mahatma Gandhi.

"Idiot," I heard her mumble under her breath. Was my tone patronizing? I think I should apologize again.

"I said I am sorry," I said to her this time with feigned sincerity.

She looked the other way. I hope she goes for a root canal and the dentist murders her jaw with those sharp little pins. I wish the dentist injects gallons of anesthesia in her and then ties her to his torture chair and then pulls out all her teeth. I hope...

I suddenly halt my chain of thoughts when I see the receptionist looking at me all weirded out. I guess I must have had an evil smirk on my face during the thought process.

The dentist called the women sitting beside me next. Enemy's enemy is a friend. Suddenly the dentist is a friend and I want him to destroy this woman. She goes in and comes out after ten minutes with a whiter smile. She is a fair woman with a mean disposition. She struts along after paying the heavy fee at the counter. I wish she accidentally falls in a paint bucket and the yellow paint permanently covers her newly whitened teeth.

She smiles at me as she leaves. I am all confused now. The dentist has called me in next. I don't know what to think. The dental chamber looks like a friendly place. The tools are neat and shiny. I sit in the chair and it is very comfortable. The friendly dentist smiles at me and even shakes my hand. My world is upside down.

Omniscient
The dental clinic had posters on all its walls. The posters showed teeth in compromised situations. There was a poster about brushing. He sat there looking at all the posters but his mind was somewhere else. His face changed expressions as the receptionist noticed him fidget with the pamphlet and tap his feet. The receptionist made a face as the chair squeaked with his foot-tapping. The woman sitting next to him observed him calmly and smiled to herself. She knew how it felt to be nervous at a dentist's office too.

The woman saw everyone else stare at him as he made tapped his feet while looking at one of the posters with a smirk on his face. She felt oddly protective of him and decided to drag him out of the public attention.

"Stop tapping your foot, you idiot," she said playfully.

He became extremely uncomfortable as he heard her and mumbled apologies. She smiled and looked at his face but found him struggling to look as far away from her as possible.

"Idiot!" She said again to grab his attention.

He just buried his neck at the back of his chair and closed his eyes. He seemed to be one of those dreamy types.

The dentist called her in and she had to go. She wanted to talk to him and get to know him but there was no use. She wrote down her number on a slip of paper and kept it on the table. She knew he wouldn't look at it but it was worth a shot.

He sat there looking at the chamber and the bright lights coming from there. The receptionist looked at him and the other waiting patients with an annoyed expression. The expression seemed to be transfixed on her face.

She came out and saw the slip was not there on the table. Assuming he had finally picked it up, she smiled at him. He nervously looked at her. She thought he was cute.

He had thrown all the stray pieces of paper including the slip and another crumpled pamphlet in a dustbin nearby. His compulsive cleanliness had cost him his last relationship and this time the cleanliness drive had cost him a relationship that hadn't even started.

The receptionist called out his name and he made his way to the chamber.

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