NEEDLES

Clank!

“Ahhhhhhhhh”, he screamed.

“Relax your head. That’s it. Now relax your back. Good.” said the practitioner holding the base of his skull, and with a sharp move, Clank!, twisted his neck to the opposite direction.

“Ahhhhhhhhh”, he screamed again. Then immediately he felt a relief.

The practitioner smiled, “Come with me.”

He got up and raised a hand to his right ear. He touched the acupuncture needles that the practitioner left on the side of his face. “Wow”, he thought, rubbing his ear gently, “This shit really works. I feel no pain!”

He followed her through an old staircase that led to a lower floor with a windowless room. Inside, he spotted a white wall with a single book shelf. Holistic, Massage and Chinese medicine volumes of all sizes and colours. On the opposite wall, a poster listed all the muscles and arteries of the human body.

The practitioner pointed to a black leather massage chair in the middle of the room and helped him to sit on it. She placed a warm facemask over his eyes and turned on the chair. “I much prefer”, he thought, “a nice sweet-smelling oil teamed up with one or two pairs of hands, working his back any day of the week than this mechanical massage but I’ll do me best to enjoy it.”

30 min later the Practitioner removed the facemask and walked him upstairs towards the exit. He paid the requested fee (290 Quetzals) and walked out of the Practice. Yaqui greeted him with a smile. “How was it?”

“Well, you know I’ve had this ear infection for two weeks, right?”, he said, “Some days, I thought that I’d go insane because of the pain. The antibiotics the doctor gave me helped a bit but it was a veeeery slow process. Now, the woman in there, first she said that I has some problem with my cervical or some muscle on my neck, then she stuck some needles on the side on my face and twisted my neck once to the left, once to the right, Clank! Clank!, and magically, in less than 30 minutes the pain is all gone so.... So whatever the woman did in there, it definitely worked. Fuck joder fuck! I can’t say that if it’s temporary or gone for good, yet to be seen. I still can’t believe it. Crazy shit!”

Yaqui then asked him what he wanted to do the rest of the day in Guatemala City.

“That was a long trip yesterday from The Finca to Guatemala”, he said, “Another long trip waits for me Monday morning so I don’t want to travel far today. My ear is cured but it needs some resting. Let’s go to back to the house and watch “The hangover” ok?”

She smiled, “Ok. Do you like popcorn, Paulo?”

“Of course I do!”

Ciao 4 now

~ Paulo ~