Misunderstanding

Martin is having a hard time hearing. His ears are blocked, and they have been blocked for a few days now. Natasha is insecure after a heartbreak in her previous relationship and is finding it hard to love again. You might think these two are not connected, but they are.

Martin is at his local shop. Because he is not hearing properly, he does not know he is whispering to the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper asks him what he wants, but he hears, “I don’t have what you want.” and he heads to the next shop.

Natasha sits in her shop, a small fever spreading across her forehead, and thinks back to her recent date. It was with a man she liked, but because her guard was up, she was controlling. She wanted to go through his phone to see whether he was entertaining other women. She kept trying to snatch it, and the man kept moving it, and she kept grabbing fistfuls of air. After the date, she texted him to tell him she had gotten home safe, but he did not respond.

He’s probably a married man, Natasha consoles herself. She is twenty-four, twenty fine. There will be another lover. She thinks and grins.

Martin is still whispering, and the next shopkeeper fills in the blanks for himself and hands him a roll of tissue paper instead of bread and milk; this is when Martin realizes there is a disconnect between what he is saying and what people are hearing.

“I want bread and milk,” he raises his voice, pushing the roll of tissue paper back to the shopkeeper.

“I am not a child for you to shout at,” the shopkeeper shouts, annoyed, and asks him to take his horrible manners somewhere else. Martin hesitates for a bit because he hears as if the shopkeeper is talking from far away, but he eventually gets the message and leaves the shop.

Natasha decides to journal as she waits for customers. She picks up her notebook and writes the criteria that her next man must meet for her to accept him.

1. Must be single
2. Must be taller than me
3. Must spoil me

She looks at her list, and she is happy with it. Just then, a customer approaches, and she places the notebook and pen on the counter.

Martin is happy to see a notebook and pen in the next shop. How thoughtful. The shopkeeper is catering for people with hearing problems. He picks it up, opens it, and writes Bread and milk below ‘Must spoil me.’

“Kwani, how cheap do you think I am?” Natasha exclaims, but Martin is not hearing her; he is just tapping at the bread and milk he has written on the notebook.

“Bring that back,” Natasha snatches back the notebook and the pen. A part of her is relieved she did not end up with a fistful of air. “Men,” she says with finality and crosses her arms.

Martin can barely hear her, but he knows when he is not wanted somewhere, and he leaves the shop and goes back to his apartment. When did buying bread and milk become rocket science? He has a cup of strong tea while mindlessly swiping left and right on a dating app. After he is done, he reaches for cotton buds and pokes his ear canals, trying to get some relief, but his ears only seem to become more blocked.

Natasha’s fever has heightened as she crosses out ‘Bread and milk’ from her notebook and adds number 4. Must have manners. She also decides she will be going for a checkup at the local hospital in the afternoon. She has needs as a woman, and her ex-boyfriend has been satisfying those needs because she doesn’t want to add random bodies before she finds her prince charming.

What is the cause of his partial deafness? Martin wonders. Is it water? He makes a note in his mind to only wash his body from the neck down with running water and wipe his head with a damp cloth. Or maybe it’s old age. He just turned twenty-nine, and he imagines spending the better part of his life being chased away by shopkeepers and squirms. There is something else he hasn’t considered. Yes. A hospital checkup. He will do that in the afternoon, he decides.

Natasha is gripped with fear as she walks into the local hospital. What if her ex-boyfriend has given her a disease? She should have abstained. How will she explain everything to her charming prince when he arrives and finds her chronically ill? What if, like her, he is also entertaining his ex? She removes her notebook and adds number 5. Must not entertain exes. And she feels relief, if only for a moment.

Martin is in the doctor’s room. “You are 5’9, 73 kg, and you are not going deaf,” the doctor says while looking at his notepad. “You just have a wax buildup,” he adds. They end up at the sink. The doctor pulls out a wax removal syringe, fills it with warm water, and pumps the wax out of Martin’s ears.

Natasha has a ringing in her ears as she re-enters the doctor’s room to get her results, certain that the news will be bad. For a moment she can’t comprehend what the doctor is saying. If only he could write it down for her to read. That is when it dawns on her that her customer wanted bread and milk, and he was not necessarily insinuating that she was worth bread and milk; all this time she has been in her own head, getting in her own way. She realizes as the ringing in her ears ebbs.

“…you have a bacterial infection. I have prescribed some antibiotics; you should be fine after that,” the doctor goes on.

Martin is at the hospital dispensary to get his prescribed ear drops. He is amused by all the sounds he can hear. The opening and closing of doors, the rustling of leaves outside, even the sound of the lady in the shop with her arms crossed, breathing fire at him. Speaking of the devil, she has just joined him at the dispensary waiting area.

“I’m sorry,” they both say at the same time.

“You go first,” Natasha says.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear properly,” Martin says.

“I’m sorry, I was projecting,” Natasha says, realizing that she finds Martin physically attractive. “Did you get your bread and milk?” she asks.

“Not yet,” Martin says.

“I know a cafe around the corner. It will be my treat,” Natasha says.

“You have picked the cafe; I will pick up the bill,” Martin says, and Natasha’s smile almost cracks her face.

They walk out of the hospital together after they get their medication.

“One last thing,” Natasha says after walking for some time. “Do you entertain your exes?” she asks.

Martin shakes his head and there’s a look of endearment on both of them as they enter the cafe.

*

To read more of my writing, pick up my books at Text Book Centre, Soma Nami, and Nuria Bookstore. Kindle readers and those outside the country can access the books via Amazon in ebook and paperback formats. Enjoy!

image credit: distrokid