The Mind

The mind is an intriguing thing, and must be treated with the utmost of care. I avoid the news and other sources of despairing stories, including those my friends try to relate, because once a thing is seen or heard it is hard to forget. Of course this also relates to quite innocuous bits and pieces of information, too. Which is why my mind often wanders to a friend's husband whenever I shower. I hasten to add  I have no designs on him in the least. I only occasionally see him but an image of him is locked in my brain. This is the result of a conversation about showering and toothbrushing that was had in his absence long ago. The subject came up, heavens knows why, as to whether it is correct to clean one's teeth before or after showering*. His wife shared the very oddest of facts that he in fact does neither, but actually cleans his teeth in the shower - yes, in the shower, with hot water! And so it is that when I think of him I don't recall a charming man, husband and father. No, I see this ...

... which any well read child can tell you is a picture of the Herk-Heimer Sisters, from Dr Suess' Sleep Book. But even the Herk-Heimer Sisters were presumably using cold water up at Herk-Heimer Falls, where the great river rushes and crashes down crags in great gurgling rushes. My mind has made the association - Hot water? For teeth? - and I fear it is locked in forever. 

*The correct answer is, of course, after one's shower; unless as happened to me yesterday, the shower takes a long time to run hot and you are in a hurry to leave the house. And never with hot water.