The Tooth Got Sucked Up

It was Boxing Day. Lib went to work. I had a day of peace and quiet ahead and was happy to stay home. It's a lovely thought - not to have to go anywhere at all.

After going back to bed for an hour or so after Lib left at 6.30am, for some semi sleep/blissful meditation/dreaming, I had a half hour of my latest read in the bath ('The Forgotten Summer' by Carole Drinkwater - a bit of a chic lit novel given to Lib by sister Meredith some time ago- but I'm enjoying it).

Now well rested by coffee time, I felt up to the dreaded task of cleaning the oven. I removed all the rails and racks sprayed hot soapy water  and went at it with a non scratch scourer. About half the grime came away so I repeated, this time using stainless steel liquid cleaner and a steelo pad. Success. Hard work down on your knees with the odd fingernail bent backwards here and there, and still a few impossible to remove marks, but yes. Success. Also cleaned the racks and rails before putting them back.

Another coffee, check on the horse racing odds and form (no gambling, just make believe bets for a while to see how I would have gone with real bets), a bowl of Singapore Noodles for lunch. I had bought these at a good shop in FTG the Monday before Xmas and secreted them in the outside fridge knowing I'd be glad of them for lunch one day soon.

Before Lib left, in answer to my inquiry, "Is there anything you'd like me to do?" she suggested,

"It'd be good if you could clean up here." She gestured to a section in the living room area where we used to have a wood stove, brick base and sides. We have Dave Dickson's large coffee table there and the tendency for all of us is to put anything and everything there and it gets cluttered and the dust builds up.

So I was into that. Moving books, magazines, wine rack, assorted paraphernalia. Gord had said he'd vacuum as he usually does so after I moved everything and found a home for it, he chimed in before I put the table back. I was outside watering and came in and Gord came up quite close, he had his lips peeled back and he was pointing at his teeth. I have known Gord all his life, he's prone to sign language, and off beat cryptic language. This time I had no idea what he was getting at.

"Bad news. The tooth got sucked up."

"What tooth? What are you talking about?"

"Your tooth."

I twigged. Last Monday week I took Lib to Neerim Sth to have a cataract removed. While she was there and I had a few hours to kill I visited the 'Blerick Tree Farm'. The owner grew up in Emerald and her father used to service my van. I bought a small copper beech tree, can't help myself. I will never see it to maturity and probably will never get to pick any foliage from it. But to me it had symbolic value - the day of Lib's cataract op - and I'd plant it somewhere.

Then a few nights later I sat watching TV to find something rolling around in my mouth. Plucking it out, it was half a back molar, a good chunk of tooth. I put it on the table next to my lounge chair. The tooth it came from had a jagged edge that caught my tongue. Irritated, I tried to file down the sharp edge with an emery board. No luck.

The next evening I told Lib and Gord of my misfortune and showed them the large bit of tooth. I moved it from the table to the railing behind my chair, floor level of the hallway behind. I told them I'd put it in the pot holding the copper beech, so that when the tree was planted some of my DNA would be with it forever. Then I forgot about it.

So my tooth went into the vacuum cleaner. I had searched around and eventually found a metal nail file for sale in  $2 shop in FTG, the same day I bought the Singapore Noodles. I managed to file the sharp edges off the broken tooth, much to the relief of my lacerated tongue.

Easier than finding a dentist over Xmas The copper beech will not have my DNA but it will be a great joy to plant it somewhere in the autumn, in the hope it will survive to maturity long after I'm gone.