The human body is a strange thing. Some nights I can’t sleep because of stress and then other nights it feels like it all catches up to me and I sleep sounder and longer than I have in a long time. This was one of the latter mornings.
I don’t know what happened but I was out this morning and I might have continued laying in bed if there weren’t a reason to get up, but I felt a need to help get the kids to the bus stop. The only issue is the cat got my tongue on the way downstairs. This unique condition was discovered by my wife and daughter while I was making my coffee and was suddenly unable to answer them.
I have no idea if my tongue was susceptible to removal because of the light sleep the night before or the heavy sleep on this evening. One way or another my tongue was gone and I was rendered silent.
This continued for the rest of the morning. In tried to communicate with my son that it was time to get out of bed, get dressed, and go downstairs by stacking his clothes on top of him, waving a loaf of chocolate chip brioche in front of his face, and pointing at him, his clothes, and the bread. It didn’t work.
I never tried to look for my missing tongue or recruit any of the other members of the household to help me look for it. I had given up on ever having a tongue again and knew this condition was now permanent. The new normal. So to speak.
It surprised me to learn that everything seemed to work better and move smoother when I couldn’t talk. I am not sure anyone understood my attempts at communications as I gestured at socks and shoes and feet and waved wildly at the door while the boys sat there watching TV, but somehow we still all got outside and made it to the bus on time.
In a strange miracle my daughter discovered she had been blessed with an extra tongue and gave it to me on the walk home. Getting used to having a tongue again is going to take some time. Even though my condition only lasted a brief while I had come to terms with it and accepted my new muteness. Looked forward to it even. Everything did run smoother when I couldn’t talk. Even if it was only for one part of one morning.
David Huzzard Writes 