I Went Down To The Crossroads

Now that the election is history, the celebration of the First Black President continues. 
The world is celebrating the victory of all victories.  Now the next step for all of us, I hope, is that at some point very soon we can start referring to Barack Obama as the New President of The United States, and not the first Black President of the United States.  The USA has turned a corner of history.  Now hopefully each and every one of us that feel it so easy to use racial, social, and religious slang will some how find a way to cease and desist and finally leave our ignorant prejudices behind. Please it's enough.  No more racial/religious slurs it's ignorant and it's offensive to every one of us that lives and breathes.  Good luck to Barack Obama..

Today I took a friend to the dentist.  I noticed she kept covering her mouth when she spoke and finally I asked what was wrong.  She said she had a toothache.  I gave her some Tylenol which at first she was scared to take.  Two hours later

she came over to say she was feeling better.  The next day I saw her from a distance, and saw her holding her hand to her mouth again.  I waited to see if she would approach me.  People are very shy here!  Very timidly, she asked? "can I have some more of your pills?"  I was happy to give as many as she needed.  I asked about her tooth. "Can I see it?" I asked?  I only needed one quick look.  "That tooth is broken, you need a dentist!" I said.  She laughed.  I knew from her laugh, who was I kidding.  She had no money.

This tooth would just get worse and worse, until who knows what happens when this type of thing is left alone.    I heard after the fact that a woman had gone to a local medicine man for a tooth extraction, she went directly back to work, because she was afraid of losing her job, and died a few days later. 

 

Sorry not sure of the exact reason of her early demise.  I sent a text to my landlady, and she advised me of a dentist, and off we went.  I new the pain that this girl was having, and I couldn't consciously look at her when she was in pain. Because I called the landlady, and she was more of someone with some connections, she sent me to a dentist that hopefully had a little more than most of the other dentists around here. From some experiences of people needing dental care here it seems a little rough.  You go the Dentist, sit down in the chair, describe your ailment, and the Doc will send you to the drugstore with the list of medicines you will need.  The quantity and the importance listed in order.  If he tells you you need four injections of Novocaine and you only have enough for one, well that's just the way it goes.  You can take care of it with one, and the Doc will do whatever you want.  Luckily I didn't witness this treatment, but it is the precedent here.

Not one for waiting in long lines or doctors offices, we dropped our patient off and sojourned to the local yacht club for some refreshments.  The yacht club is run by a guy named Steve.  He is from England and has the exact same accent of Cary Grant.  He sat with us the last time we were there, and drank red wine and smoked Marlboro Reds.  I couldn't place his accent at first, and then I said, "you sound like Cary Grant."  He laughed.  "Where you from?"  I asked.  

"England" He said.

"I know, but where."

"Town called Bristol."  He said.

"I don't have the best memory but I would almost bet that Cary Grant is from Bristol."  I said.

Doing a little fact checking as I write this, because I certainly don't want to let any of you astray, I have discovered and just patted myself on the back, that Cary Grant and Steve the Proprietor of the Cebu Yacht Club are indeed cut from the same cloth. 

  

The Cebu Yacht Club is not what you envision, but a very laid back bar and restaurant of particularly not the greatest food, and actually limited alcohol.  It is one of the only cheap places around that sits near the sea, and I'm particularly fond of that. The clientele is a bunch of scruffy and unshaven American, British and Aussie men, usually but not always with there Filipino girlfriends.

  

The other day we walked into "the yacht club" and two as I described above scruffy and unshaven men sat opposite each other.  At first glance I didn't take much notice of them, but something made me look again and immediately the first man looked familiar.  When I rounded the other side of the table, the other man also looked slightly familiar also.  Not like I ever met either one of them before, but just looked familiar. Cebu, Philippines is a place you can get lost, or hide or just disappear from the world if you want too.  I wasn't about to disturb there peace.

As our meal continued I kept hearing bits and pieces from these two men conversation.

  The one looked liked Dave Stewart from the Eurythmics, and the other was a Bob Geldoff twin.  The one part of the conversation I did distinctly hear was "that was after my first Emmy nomination."  I didn't think much of any of it, because it really wasn't much, but just funny when you have those brushes with nothing.

Meanwhile the young lady that had that nasty tooth ripped from her head, was no worse for ware except now where that tooth lived there a was a big gaping bloody wound.  

It's been awhile since I punished myself with a tooth extraction, and I may be completely wrong, but I think the last time they pulled my teeth they packed the gaping wound with something.  Not this one, just blood and raw flesh...