The Birth of a Myth - III
Sounds rushed into him from all sides. His ears repeatedly penetrated by the ringing, the clanking, the clinking, and of course, the tinkling... tinktinktink tink tinktinktinktink.
Lights blinding him constantly. The waiting room was bathed in mellow-blue soothing light but from everywhere came flashing red lights and flashing yellow lights... those lights reminded him of his rave parties already seven years ago.
A five year old stood near one of the light-and-sound-emitting contraptions and, completely entranced and thoughtless, stared timelessly at it... the mother sat behind one of the boxes, pressing buttons like an experienced drug-addicted professional pianist, the father was nowhere.
Slouched on the chair sat Dr. R.
Dr. R. has just recently become a Dr. Only three weeks ago he was simply R. His mother loved to call him Dr. R., his father too, yet they were far away... he saw them very infrequently.
Slouched on the chair sat the good Dr., the main character of this short narration, and beside him, piled on another seat, was:
- his "pneumatic" bag containing the laptop (which he lovingly called "la virgen"), a nail cutter, some cientific articles, some pens and an unopened book offered to him by a friend (yes we will get back to the book);
- a digital camera (usual, nothing special, 4.5 Mpix... some asian brand);
- a meter long tube containing his cientific poster which he had so successfully presented only yesterday.
A small backpack with random pieces of clothing rested between his feet which, in turn, rested shoeless and sockless on the carpet... brown carpet I believe (hard to tell due to the blue light).
What a conference it had been! Fresh out of graduate school and already the great names in biology were raving about him... how the method he developed had opened a world of possibilities for studying the environment!
He slouched down low on the seat and allowed his eyes and ears to be permeated by the surroundings.
- Hello, can I have your attention please. Due to unexpected circumstances, flight number 331 to Punjab, with stopover in Myanmar, has vacated three seats. We are offering these seats for the reduced price of three hundred US dolares each. We also remind that boarding for flight 331 has started and will close in fifteen minutes.
Thank you
The mother stood up. Frantically looked around for the child. Located him. Agressively grabbed his arm and walked bruskly towards the restrooms.
The child did not resist.
Five years had taught him that sometimes his mother would unexpectedly grab and drag him and that it did absolutely no diference wether he wanted to be taken or not. The first few times he resisted (most of all mentally since there is not much resistance which a three year old can do) but was taken all the same.
The key revelation came at four years of age when he tried not resisting. In fact, not only did he not resist but he was so open to her violently dragging him that he actually savored the act. Classifying it as pleasant was not in his mind, no, in fact, the nails biting into his soft skin and his shoulder nearly popping out of the socket were rather unpleasant... but oh what a rush it was!
Dr. R. watched and saw the child.
Dr. R. saw the child.
Automatically, calmly, he slipped on his shoes, picked up his belongings, and, without a thought in his mind, walked towards the counter of flight number 331 while his hand caressed the new Billabong wallet in his right pocket.
Lights blinding him constantly. The waiting room was bathed in mellow-blue soothing light but from everywhere came flashing red lights and flashing yellow lights... those lights reminded him of his rave parties already seven years ago.
A five year old stood near one of the light-and-sound-emitting contraptions and, completely entranced and thoughtless, stared timelessly at it... the mother sat behind one of the boxes, pressing buttons like an experienced drug-addicted professional pianist, the father was nowhere.
Slouched on the chair sat Dr. R.
Dr. R. has just recently become a Dr. Only three weeks ago he was simply R. His mother loved to call him Dr. R., his father too, yet they were far away... he saw them very infrequently.
Slouched on the chair sat the good Dr., the main character of this short narration, and beside him, piled on another seat, was:
- his "pneumatic" bag containing the laptop (which he lovingly called "la virgen"), a nail cutter, some cientific articles, some pens and an unopened book offered to him by a friend (yes we will get back to the book);
- a digital camera (usual, nothing special, 4.5 Mpix... some asian brand);
- a meter long tube containing his cientific poster which he had so successfully presented only yesterday.
A small backpack with random pieces of clothing rested between his feet which, in turn, rested shoeless and sockless on the carpet... brown carpet I believe (hard to tell due to the blue light).
What a conference it had been! Fresh out of graduate school and already the great names in biology were raving about him... how the method he developed had opened a world of possibilities for studying the environment!
He slouched down low on the seat and allowed his eyes and ears to be permeated by the surroundings.
- Hello, can I have your attention please. Due to unexpected circumstances, flight number 331 to Punjab, with stopover in Myanmar, has vacated three seats. We are offering these seats for the reduced price of three hundred US dolares each. We also remind that boarding for flight 331 has started and will close in fifteen minutes.
Thank you
The mother stood up. Frantically looked around for the child. Located him. Agressively grabbed his arm and walked bruskly towards the restrooms.
The child did not resist.
Five years had taught him that sometimes his mother would unexpectedly grab and drag him and that it did absolutely no diference wether he wanted to be taken or not. The first few times he resisted (most of all mentally since there is not much resistance which a three year old can do) but was taken all the same.
The key revelation came at four years of age when he tried not resisting. In fact, not only did he not resist but he was so open to her violently dragging him that he actually savored the act. Classifying it as pleasant was not in his mind, no, in fact, the nails biting into his soft skin and his shoulder nearly popping out of the socket were rather unpleasant... but oh what a rush it was!
Dr. R. watched and saw the child.
Dr. R. saw the child.
Automatically, calmly, he slipped on his shoes, picked up his belongings, and, without a thought in his mind, walked towards the counter of flight number 331 while his hand caressed the new Billabong wallet in his right pocket.
posted by dr. plim @ 1:19 PM
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