He became frustrated because his doctor didn’t seem to be fixing his problems.
When he got home that evening, in a desperate state, he sat down in front of his computer screen. He began to search for alternate medicine sites. He found quite a number and was surprised to find one in his home town. It was a natural healing shop that only saw patients for a consultation who had made a phone booking. He did this and a week later he attended his appointment. It was only a small shop that mainly sold herbal remedies. The young girl at the front desk checked the appointment book then ushered him through to a room at the back. It was a pokey little room, just room enough for a desk and two chairs.
However, the thing that immediately caught his eye was the beautiful splash of colour on one wall. It was a mandala. He had always been fascinated by these, with their intricate geometric configurations. This one was particularly captivating with its radiating red and blue leaf-like construction. It hung on the wall behind her.
The old woman at the desk asked him to sit down and explain why he had come to see her. He had a job keeping his eyes off the art piece, but he nevertheless managed to give the woman a detailed account of his conditions. There were two things that troubled him the most, a constant ringing in his ears and early hair loss. The old lady cackled a little and told him that would be easy to fix. She had a tablet for each of the ailments and explained that they were very fast acting medications and needed to be taken one week apart.
Shaken from his reverie, he was surprised to find the old lady’s wrinkled hand being thrust at him. She was holding two tablets. She explained that the pink one was for the ringing in his ears and the orange one was for his hair loss. He was told to pay the girl at the front desk on his way out. Taking one last look at the mandala, he thanked her and left the room. He paid the girl at the front. It wasn’t cheap, but it was dawning on him that if the old woman was right, his problems were about to be fixed.
When he got home, now in a pretty excited state of anticipation, he filled a glass with water and sat down at the kitchen table. He carefully placed the two tablets, side by side in front of him. One of them would fix his hair problem and the other the horrible ringing in his ears. He asked himself which of these did he want to put right first? He felt there was little in it. Then it dawned on him that he had no idea which tablet did what! He couldn’t remember. He simply hadn’t paid attention. Well, he thought, I want them both fixed, don’t I? So, he scooped them up and swallowed both at once with the glass of water.
In that moment, the ringing in his ears grew very loud and all his hair fell out!
