Wisdom Teeth

Last night, just hours after getting my wisdom teeth out, Suzanne and I were sitting in our room at the Central motel. She started giggling from underneath her blankets and said, this is just so funny.

I looked up across the room at her. More like glared. She continued, I mean you come into the city to get your wisdom teeth out, stay in a hotel with 24-hour electricity, and a big bed with two blankets, and you say all you want is a buda gas flame and a pot, sitting there against the door on the cold floor, eavesdropping on the two men in the next room. It’s just so funny.

It is. Wisdom teeth. That’s what I want to write about. Three nights ago I was angry with K because he wasn’t considering where I was coming from, how I was leaving at 5 am to get to Rabat just in time to talk to Marina, cash my mandat, and eat my last solid meal for two weeks. His response was, oh my God! Wisdom Teeth. I could write a fucking book on your wisdom teeth.

When I first walked into Marina’s office yesterday, she assured me childbirth was much worse. I thought of that last night, unbathed for five days, sitting Indian style on my bed with my eyes closed and a cheek about to explode. It was a pain that wouldn’t allow me to think, speak, cry even. I kept saying, childbirth is much worse, in my head, imagining myself giving birth. I tried a lot. I tried spreading the pain out over my whole body. I tried concentrating on localizing the pain where it centralized. I could feel every little nerve and stitch and empty pissed off raw space..

Hmm.

The flexible Peace Corps volunteer, taking this in such good sport, as I’ve seen fellow volunteers get flown home to D.C. to get the same thing done. They were hooked up in Peace Corps apartments with free long distance and cable TV. Oh my God! How could they do this to me?

Well, they did. They have refused me a decent hotel. They have not shown even remote concern for my well-being and sanity, and I’m still not complaining. Everything is just how it is and just how it’s gonna be and I can do with it what I will.