As Arthur and Margaret walked to the car, the silence between them was no longer medical. It was marital.
At the urgent care clinic, a young doctor named Priya stared into Arthur’s ear with an otoscope. Her expression was not one of medical concern. It was one of profound, almost philosophical awe. how to clean ears with olive oil
That was when they called the ambulance. As Arthur and Margaret walked to the car,
He stood up too fast. The olive oil, which had not dissolved the wax but had simply turned it into a greasy, immovable sludge, shifted in his ear canal. His balance fled. He staggered sideways, crashed into the bookshelf, and sent a collection of porcelain thimbles (a gift from his late aunt) cascading to the floor. Her expression was not one of medical concern
She held up a small suction tube. “The good news is, it’s not infected. The bad news is, the wax is now the consistency of candle putty and smells faintly of garlic. I’m going to have to irrigate.”
“I think I drowned my ear,” Arthur said, his voice a strange, hollow monotone. “It’s gone. The world is gone.”