ALAN CARLTON
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Back in Control

13/5/2016

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​How did things come to this?  I wake and shower.  I worry about where to put my clothes.  I remember that I can't throw them on the floor.  I worry about everything.  Everything will be wrong.  Put in the wrong place or.  Everything is out of my control.  I can't find the bloody newspaper.  It should be up the top of the drive or under the car or in the shrubs.  Bugger it.  As I search the dog from next door startles me by suddenly barking.  Why don't they do something about that dog?
 
No vegemite.  Anywhere.  I am sure I mentioned that we were out.   I look in the fridge, cupboard and on the bench.  I'm not going to mention it again in case I've already done so.  That would be provocative.  I'll have to wait until somebody else notices.  If I had an empty jar I could place it in a prominent position on the bench. 
 
My son is looking for his shoes.  I ask him, "Where do you normally keep them?"
He looks at me with a “that's a funny thing to say look”.  He then does nothing.  Well if he wants to school in barefeet, he can.  Who cares?  I think he'll only do it once.
 
I walk to work.  I cross a small side street and flinch as a four-wheel drive car turns the corner ands sits on the horn, waiting for me to scurry out of the way.  I don't.  I slow down and dawdle across the road. 
 
I arrive at the safety and security of my surgery.  My surgery.  My rules.  My staff; when they arrive.  At the moment no staff.  All's quiet.  The phone rings.  A new patient.  I explain that we are not seeing new patients. 
"What about family members?"
"Yes we are seeing family members."
"Well my spiritual family sees you.  My pastor comes to your practice."
I tell her that unfortunately we do not have any appointments and advise her to go elsewhere.  I make a few suggestions.  It feels good.  For the first time today I have control of something.
 
A man enters the front door. He wears a bushwalking jacket, carries a camera and has a wife who trails behind.  I can see what is coming.  He tells me he is just visiting Hobart and has been up all night with an aching tooth.  I ask him to show me the tooth that's troubling him.  I tell him we will see him as soon as the staff arrives.  He sighs and thanks me.
 
The phone rings.  It is a sales rep from some company.
"I'm just ringing up to see how you found that free sample that we sent you."
I think she means the one I threw in the bin.
She politely grovels for my time.  I refuse her and politely end the conversation.
 
Another man walks in.  I know him.  From the four-wheel drive earlier in the morning.  He doesn't recognise me.  He has no hope.  I let him tell me his story.  And then I write down a few names and phone numbers, which I give to him.  He doesn't argue.  He tacitly accepts the phone numbers.  As he slowly walks out he peers intently down at the numbers, looking for the trick.  Perhaps his earlier rage was due to his toothache. 
 
I feel like superman who is gradually having his powers returned.  Slowly and steadily they are coming back to me.  I am starting to feel in control.  And when Beryl goes to get the post I'll tell her to buy some vegemite.
 
And next week what happens.  Before crossing the same small street I turn and look.  The same four-wheel drive is poised ready to turn into the same street.  This time the driver recognises me and waves to me for me to go first.  I stand and wave for him to go.  We both wait and I break the impasse by walking.  Bugger this; he can wait for me.  
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    Author

    This blog is the fictional story of a dentist.  The dentist  works with Jessica and Beryl in a town a lot like Hobart.   The blog tells the story of what these people get up to and the work that they do.  If you feel that you recognize yourself in one of the stories please remember it is fictional and the characters and stories are all fictional. Though  all the stories are based on my time as a dentist in Hobart and  are based on things which actually did happen.  
    ​Writing these stories I often had to think about what is true and what is fictional.

    Categories

    All
    A Day In The Life
    An Old Lady Goes To The Dentist
    A Small Sad Lonely Death Notice
    A Teenage Girl Anxious And Stressed
    Back In Control
    Black Sheep
    Cementing A Single Veneer
    Dear Alan


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  • Home
  • Photos
    • photos >
      • All Saints Church
      • Anglesea Barracks
      • Art Mob
      • Boer War
      • Botanical Gardens
      • Brooke Street Pier
      • Brunswick Hotel
      • Campbell Street
      • Castray Esplanade
      • Cenotaph
      • Constitution Dock
      • St David's Cathedral
    • photos >
      • St David's Park
      • Elizabeth St Mall
      • Elizabeth St Pier
      • Franklin Square
      • Hadley's Hotel
      • Hobart GPO
      • Hobart Congregational Church
      • Hobart Rivulet
      • Hobart Town Hall
      • Holy Trinity Church
      • Heading South Sculpture
      • Hutchins Old School
    • photos >
      • Kunanyi / Mt Wellington
      • MacQuarie Street Primary School
      • Maritime Museum
      • MacQuarie Wharf
      • Parliament House
      • Penitentary
      • Railway Roundabout
      • Regatta
      • RHH
      • Royal Visits 1868 1901 1920 1927 1934
      • Royal visit 1954
      • Salamanca Place
    • photos >
      • Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
      • Theatre Royal
      • Victoria Dock
      • Saint David's Cathedral
      • Saint David's Park
      • St George Anglican Church
    • Street art: photos >
      • Bidencope Lane
      • Criterion Collins Liverpool Streets
      • Elizabeth Street North Hobart​
      • Kemp Despard Streets
    • Streets: photos >
      • Argyle Street
      • Barrack Street
      • Bathurst Street
      • Brisbane Street
      • Brooker Highway
      • Campbell Street
      • Collins Street
    • Streets: photos >
      • Davey Street
      • Elizabeth Street
      • Goulburn Street
      • Harrington Street
      • Hunter Street
      • Liverpool Street
      • Macquarie Street
      • Murray Street
  • Places
    • Places >
      • All Saint's Church
      • Anglesea Barracks
      • Atheneum Club
      • Baha’i Centre
      • Boer War Memorial
      • Brook Street Pier
      • Brunswick Hotel
      • Boats in the docks
      • Constitution Dock
      • The Drunken Admiral
      • Franklin Square
      • Gas Works
    • Places >
      • Hadley's Hotel
      • Heading South Sculpture
      • Hobart GPO
      • Hobart Synagogue
      • Hobart Town Hall
      • Holy Trinity Church
      • Hunter Street
      • Ingle Hall
      • Old Wool Factory
      • Ordnance Stores
      • Parliament House
      • Penitentiary
      • Princes Park
    • Places >
      • Princes Wharf 1
      • Scots Memorial Church
      • Saint David's Cathedral
      • Saint David's Park
      • Saint George Anglican Church
      • St Michaels Collegiate School
      • Supreme Court
  • History
    • History >
      • Tasmanian Timeline
      • Early Tasmania
      • Mid Nineteenth Century
      • Late Nineteenth Century
      • 20th Century
      • Tasmania’s aborigines
      • Convicts
    • People >
      • John Lee Archer
      • William Bedford
      • Andrew Bent
      • Louis Bernacchi
      • James Blackburn
      • William Bunster
      • William Buckley
      • Thomas Bromfield
      • Luke Castray
      • William Champion
      • David Collins
    • People >
      • John Colvin
      • Charles Darwin
      • Governor Eadley
      • TT Flynn
      • John Franklin
      • Lady Jane Franklin
      • Charles Gaylor
      • Haig: Elizabeth and Andrew
      • Henry Jones
    • People >
      • James Kelly
      • Robert Knopwood
      • Lachlan Macquarie
      • Douglas Mawson
      • Charles McLachlan.
      • George Mure
      • Pearce: Henry and John
      • Robert Pitcairn
      • Poulett-Harris
      • Reid: Arthur and Alison
      • James Clark Ross
      • Ikey Solomon
      • Phillip Smith
      • Abel Tasman
      • Mark Twain
      • AJ White
      • Andrew and Elizabeth Haig
  • Community
    • Hobart Marathon Festival
    • Hadley's Hotel
    • history is not set in bronze
    • Wooden Boat Festival 2019
    • What do you think of Hobart?
    • Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
    • The Mountain
  • Walking Tours
    • Dave's Walking Tour
    • The Tench Walking Tour
    • Botanical Gardens Circuit
    • ​Alfred’s feeling religious walk
    • Battery Point Sculpture Trail
    • Lachlan gets to the point
    • Street art: Luffy paints the town
  • Blog
    • healing through living
    • This website
    • about another website
    • Acknowledgement
    • Contact
  • The Full Complement
    • Alan Carlton
    • Daniel Frank
    • Paul Barrington
    • Jodi Sutton
    • Jodi Sutton talks about mistakes
    • Jodi Sutton: The phone
    • Ann Heath
    • Maddie Atkins
    • Karen Wong
    • Jo-Anne Cherry
    • Jo-Anne Cherry: Retirement
    • Errol Kilov
    • Garry Owen
    • Katherine Janney
    • Jacques Cawood
    • John Chung
  • Songs
    • Forty Years Ago
    • Tomorrow
    • Clouds in the River
    • I Woke Up
    • Hold My Hand
    • Cornelian Bay Boathouses
    • Dance on the Deck
    • Eucalyptus Globulus