Our waitress' hair flipped through the air as she whirled off to serve another impatient customer. My mother gasped and asked if Web and I had seen "that".
"What?"
The girl had tattoos behind each of her ears... little hearts or something, couldn't quite make it out. Mama touched her right ear and tears started welling up in her eyes... then tears started spilling out of mine. Webba, of course, had to ask what the fuss was about.
The crazy fluctuation of hormones during my mother's pregnancy with me, caused the oteosclerosis disorder that she has to manifest itself. This caused her to lose hearing in the ear... but she could still hear through her skull. Obviously, not well though. The disorder unbeknownst to them, people became intimidated because of her peircing blue eyes, staring so intently at their lips while they talked. Over the years, it depressed her and ultimately lead to a lot of sorrow for various reasons. Of course, I've always connected myself to the cause, even though I know it could've happened at puberty or menopause or even her prgnancy with my brother.
It was only a couple years ago that she finally got the money to have the surgery done to correct this disorder as much as possible (a short term relief and not perfect, but better than hearing through your skull). Even though there are tones that she'll never hear again, it changed her life completely. She became herself. No longer listening through the vibrations of the wooden dance floor, she can appreciate the music she loved so much more in such a different way.
Webba started to cry. We cried because my mother finally found what she was looking for. The thing that changed her life.... The thing that meant enough to her to make it permanently known to the world. That bone behind her ear... is the only way she could hear anything for some 13 years. Immediately I began sketching an intricate design involving a treble clef and a B flat.
"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained."
—Samuel Langhorne Clemens
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