Erhu

            During song practice on Friday morning I felt very uncomfortable with the adjustments that had been made on Thursday to my denture. The bite was off and though it felt that the clasp was holding the acrylic tooth in it seemed that it was at the same time preventing it from going all the way in. That morning I made another appointment with Dr. He for early that afternoon. It was much colder than the day before but I was glad that my ride up there was dry this time. Plus my bike was riding smoothly for the first time in a few weeks.

            Dr. He informed me that a denture is removable and it’s not supposed to be tight so it doesn’t damage the other teeth, but he grinded away the bite problem. I asked if I was supposed to be able to loosen the denture with my tongue and he confirmed that wasn’t supposed to happen, so he took ten minutes to tighten the clasp. It seemed to feel better afterwards but the real test would be song practice the next day. He seemed impressed to hear that I was a singer and songwriter. He declared that songwriters are happier because they make other people happy. He told me that his father had been a professional musician who played the erhu. Dr. He said that his father heard him try to sing and urged him not to become a musician, so he became a dentist instead. I said dentists make more money anyway, but he informed me that is not true in China, where musicians make more money than dentists.

            I made a quick chili with canned navy beans, fried onions, fried garlic, tomato paste, dried chilli peppers, Worcestershire sauce and paprika. I ate it for dinner with plantain chips.