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Show 45 asleep. Slowly it began to throb. The oil of cloves did not affect it. The pain grew sharper. She took another two aspirin, and then a half hour later, another two. They did not help. She had never had a toothache like this in her life. She got up out of bed again and turned on the light. The throbbing leaped in intensity-the light, the hard reality of the room, made it worse. She stumbled into the bathroom, and looked at herself in the mirror. Her cheek was swelling. Her whole cheek was puffy. This was no ordinary toothache. Never in her life had she experienced such pain. She never knew that pain could be like this. She began to pray. For the pain to ease-not to stop completely, that was too much to ask-just to ease a little. It did not. The throbbing increased, grew sharper. Was God punishing her? For her anger when her father had died. No, she could not believe that. Was hell like this? The nuns at school had said the pains of hell were beyond imagination. But maybe she could imagine hell now, a little bit. It would be like this. But it would never end. Please, God, she thought looking into the mirror-as if she were talking to her own image in the mirror. Please make it stop. Oh, just a little bit. The throbbing suddenly focused into her cheekbone-a needle sharp pain, like a nail was being driven into the very bone itself. She began moaning. It was involuntary: she had not thought, I can not stand it anymore. The moans simply escaped from her. Like she was hearing someone else moan. It made her feel better. She did not try to stop them. |