The Writers' Post: Salient

Fire and Ice

This week's Writers' Post blog hop is a picture prompt with the word "salient."

sa·li·ent

projecting or pointing outward

leaping or jumping

I guess this picture says it all because the flaming eyeball seems to leap out of the frozen face around it. Could you imagine being that dude? I guess you'd ice your eye while wrapping your face in a heating pad. 

But wait, is that a cowboy in the pupil? What's he doing, preparing the branding iron? If the dude ain't blind yet, he will be by the time Mr. Yippy Hi Yay gets finished with him. 

So what's a burning/freezing face to do? He could go to the emergency room, but I have a feeling the docs ain't seen nothing like that. If he's not in too much pain, he could join the circus and show off his unique situation. If I were him, I think I'd charge for a look. Any magazines interested in writing a story about a dude with a flaming eyeball leaping from a frozen face? Salient. Go Fish!

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Ear Infection

Can you hear me now?

I'm not sure what I did to deserve this. Maybe it has to do with me riding around with the top down on my convertible. A piece of debris must have flown inside the ear canal and voila. Or perhaps I got dirty water in my ear from swimming, except I haven't swum in months. Whatever I did, my left ear was infected big time and a sticky white substance that alien visitors would be most interested in dripped down the side of my neck. I was up all night with throbbing pain and couldn't hear a lick out of the left side. I probably couldn't hear a scratch, blink, or tail wag either. I mean, who listens to licks anyway?

Before the throbbing came itching and clogging. My doctor put me on a Z-pack; but it didn't work, so a needle hacked into a private part of my anatomy. My hip hurt almost as much as the ear. In fact, I was in so much pain that I went to the pharmacist in the medical building because I didn't think I could stand the wait of driving to Walgreens.

The pharmacist put the pack just out of my reach while typing in my information. He had the prescription, he had my address, he had the credit card, so why couldn't he let me have one little drop of relief? I asked him with a pleasant please, and he said, "No!"

After staring at the pack a little longer, I lost it. Tears of pain shout out of my eyes and I said something I regret. Mind you, people who have been up all night and in pain are about as much fun as a funeral. The nasty women behind the counter showed no sympathy. She and her bullies yelled at me and told me all about people in pain with broken arms and what not. Plus a lady threatened not to give me my meds at all. A little compassion to a hurting, cranky person could have worked miracles.

I finally ended up at the ENT just in time to prevent a trip to the emergency room. He dug crud out of my ear while I cut off circulation to a kindly nurse's fingers. I then received adult pain meds, antibiotic drops, and pills. $250 later, I was cured. I hope you never experience the pain of an ear infection . . . unless you're the pharmacist at St. Francis Hospital.

:o - Did I really write that?