A Child's Story

Belinda is a running, jumping, rambunctious 7year old. She loves to play. When September comes, she loves going to school. She ties her books with a strap and slings it over her shoulder. She is bobbing and skipping down the street to catch the bus on the corner.

Now she is on the bus — bouncing along on the big orange plastic seats with her lunch box on her lap. She feels a little strange though. The scenery zooms by — same as always. The bus smells the same too. Her skin feels tight where her mother brushed her hair and tied it in a ponytail. Something is missing. There is an unusual quiet and dullness on her right side. Her ear itches. She pulls on her earlobe and puts her finger in her ear. "Something is strange" she says. Her ear feels like popping.

Now, she is sitting in the classroom. The teacher is talking, but she sounds a little muffled. So, Belinda leans in and cocks her head with her left ear to the front. The teacher, Miss Darling, notices and asks: "Belinda, can you hear me?"

  "Huh?" She cups her hand behind her ear.

  "Well, that kinda answers my question. Why can't you hear me?"

  "I don't know. I think it's gonna hurt."

  Miss Darling steps over and bends down to get a closer look. Belinda's ear is red!  "I think we'll send you to the nurse."

  "Why?"

   "Maybe you have a temperature."

Belinda presses her palm to her forehead. "Nope. Feels fine."

Miss Darling draws some big letters on a little piece of paper and hands it to Belinda.

"Take this to the nurse."

"OK."

The nurse, Mrs Windershins, wears a pretty white dress with a matching  hat. She smiles at Belinda. "Well, hi there sweetie! Are  you  sick today?"

  "Miss Darling sent me here," she hands her the note. Mrs. Windershins peers deliberately - as if the big swirling letters were too small. "Oh! I'll have a look." Her large hands take Belinda's face and gently turn her around so she can see the ear. "It's red". She goes to the desk and finds a wand with a light on it.

  "What's that?"

"It's something to help me see better." Belinda is confused now because she could have used that to read the note rather than having to struggle so much. But before she could utter a thought, Nurse Windershins was done.

  "I can't see it. I'll call your mom, and she'll have to take you to the clinic. The Doctor may want to irrigate."

Belinda doesn't know what she means, but she sees Nurse Windershins go to her desk and soon she is talking into the phone. "Can you take Belinda to the  clinic? She will need her ears irrigated."

There's that word again. Irrigated... ear... gate..."there's a gate in my ears? No. that's not it. Maybe irritate? I get in trouble when I irritate. Is that what it means?"

Soon her mom is in the school's driveway. She waves her arm and Belinda comes obediently, but something worries her. As she climbs in the car, she alerts her mom: "Mom. They're gonna irritate my ears!"

Once they get to the clinic, Belinda and her mom tell the receptionist every thing. They wait for what seems to be an hour, then go to a little room where they tell a nurse everything again. The nice lady leaves while Belinda looks at the posters on the wall and her mom thumbs through a magazine.

Soon Dr. Bingham walks in. He's a tall man with a white coat that opens like a cape. Around his neck he has a funny rubber tube that splits in two at one end and has a round metal disc at the other end.

"Well, little girl, what's going on?" Dr. Bingham's voice booms in that little space. Belinda feels her bones vibrate. He sits down on the stool like a cowboy hopping on a horse. He picks up the folder the nurse left; pushes his glasses up on his nose.  "Mmmm... Well?"  He looks at mom. Mom tells him the whole story a third time. Belinda thinks this must be the irritating part.

He goes to the cabinet and gets the same kind of wand that nurse Windershins had. After looking just like the school nurse did, Dr. Bingham says "Something is in her ear. But we can fix that. Hold still Belinda."

She closes her eyes and listens. She can hear clanging sounds then something touches her ear. "This will feel funny..." Fair warning.

Something is going in her ear ... flooding her head! She can smell that Dr office smell all around her. Then she feels something dripping down her neck. Then, a towel wipes it off. New noises: something falls in a pan. "We're done!"

She feels like someone took a plug out of her head.

"Look what we found!" Dr. Bingham points his fat finger at the contents in the pan:

a dime; a ticket to the zoo; a deflated beach ball; an old gym shoe; some cotton candy and ice cream.

Mom is flabbergasted! "Why did you put all those things in your ear?" Her eyes widen as she gazes at the treasures from Belinda's ear.

Belinda answers: "They are my summer souvenirs."

Moral:

  It's great to have a souvenir.

But please don't put it in your ear.