A strange thing happened in Abersoch. In the middle of a night- time storm a tiny buzzing creature sought refuge in my ear. At first I thought a stray curl had dipped into my ear but buzzing in my head is not the normal response to a curl finding a resting place deep inside my ear. Then the tiny creature started tap dancing on my eardrum. Soon enough he encountered some ear wax and his footsteps turned to squelches.
He was completely invisible to the naked eye and the sounds of him tap dancing and squelching was imperceptible to anyone but me. Everything he did was out of proportion to the real world. The clarity of the tap dancing was like having a private dance from an accomplished soloist in a huge auditorium with only me as an audience member. The squelching was moist and resonant like pulling a boot out of the deepest of mud.
In the outside world, none of this was taken particularly seriously. Meanwhile, the tiny dancer was tiring, the buzzing had stopped. I was encouraged to go back to sleep, if indeed I had ever been awake and this whole episode has been just a dream. Some moments later there was a flourish of sensation, a little more precise percussion on my eardrum and a piercing buzz. I shouted out in astonishment and there was silence. In my hypnagogic state, I was convinced the poor creature had shouted out in pain before his tiny legs had buckled beneath him. I imagined him laying lifeless on my eardrum. Anxious not to bring any more drama to the nights sleeping I promised that I would retrieve his fragile body in the morning.
The morning, as it so often does, brought clarity. The buzz had been his triumphant flight out of my ear once he had regained strength and cleaned the ear detritus off his feet.
I was spared a body retrieval and life had returned to normal. I am left with the memory of a very curious incident of a tap dancer on my eardrum.
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