Dentist's room revisited

Dentist’s room revisited

He went to the dentist when he was doing grade 3
His tooth was rotten and painful like nobody else’s business
It had him laying on the bed most of his school holidays
He twisted and turned during the night
His agony prompted his mother to command his older brother to send him to the dentist
They went to the public hospital because they were much cheaper than both the private
hospital and clinics
He sat on the bunk in the hospital’s corridor pensive
He heared the cries of babies and elders coming out of different wards
The dentist called his name out
Fred!
He was visibly shaking because he knew that the moment he dreaded had arrived
He got off the bunk and eloped inside the dentist room to the amusement of his brother
He slumped on the leather chair and removed the scarve covering his mouth
The dentist took a syringe, punched the small medicine foil cap with it and drew
medicine out
He then asked Fred to be still as the pain will subside in a second
Fred smiled while his brother clapped his hands at the door
The dentist gave him a lollipop upon removing his tooth
He went to the hospital a couple of years later and things had changed
Nurses sent him from pillar to post and asked him for a medical aid
He did not have any
They told him to wait as the denist was would only be back after lunch
They gave him painkillers
He learnt after waiting for a long time on the qeue that the dentist he knew had passed on
four years earlier
He got out of the hospital disappointed and feeling more pain than ever before