The Ear, and the carpenter's dad ...

A few weeks ago, I went to an audiologist - Anne had got fed up with me, cupping my left ear like a grizzled ancient, mishearing her, or, more often, not hearing her at all - 

The verdict was that my left ear showed a significant hearing loss - today, my doctor, Mark Williams, referred me to a consultant - 

There is a remote chance that there's a tumour growing on the auditory nerve - Doctor Williams used that word, remote, to Anne when she rang him later - 

I sat in the red Peugeot, outside Wareham Health Centre, feeling icy spears enter my heart - 

The carpenter's dad cheered me up, though, that afternoon - 

My dad had been in the army he said - when I was 17 he said this house isn't big enough for the two of us - one of us will have to go - it's you - I've packed your bags - 

I went off with a mate - he was on the run from the Navy - we went to Birmingham - 

I've had my runs of bad luck - you've just got to get up, and get on - I've chopped my fingers off this hand - they put them back on - I've got a full set - 

I made him a cup of tea with two sugars - 

Listening to him, aware of his battered insouciant grin, I felt quite restored - 

But I'm still thinking of that word, remote -