Not So Sure I Was Right

It was easy to relax, lying back in the dentist's chair with hip music playing and a massage therapist working my forearms. There was also the nitrous oxide. As I breathed deeply thru my nose, my eyes began to close and each sound in the room stood out. I heard each word of each song. I heard the bantering dental hygienists making small talk with patients.

There I was, relaxed and drugged, eyes shut and ears open, my brain loosened itself, the world flowed by. Suddenly everything around me seemed to make so much more sense. I saw the world as it really was.

The dentist spoke of her boyfriend in Dallas. He had a leaky roof, she said with a tone of irritation. He had to deal with the roof and must have been distracted. She explained this to the assistant as I sat there with my eyes closed contemplating the deeper truths of her story.

I mumbled.

I didn't see what her reaction was. She might have been surprised, because I don't think she was talking to me, but there I was in this enlightened state, so it seemed appropriate to share.

Tell him to move to Austin, I said with some effort, since my speech was slow in coming and my cheek and tongue were numb.

Well that's one solution, she said.

At the time, it seemed to me that I hit the nail on the head, got to the heart of the matter, saw past the leaky roof to the fundamental issue underneath. And although it had seemed appropriate to share, the tone of her response didn't sound particularly impressed by the insight.

Upon reflection, I'm not so sure I was right.

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