My mother often mentioned that I was born with some defect
Called hernia.
I had no idea how serious it was.
All I knew that there was something funny with my balls.
One of my balls was hanging lower than another.
I remembered that once, when I was about four or five years old,
I had been prescribed to a series of shots in my buttocks. It lasted two weeks.
But instead of doing me any good
This treatment worsened my condition twice as much so
Instead of one abnormally protruding ball on one side, I now had both.
My parents freaked out and took me to another Doctor. The Doctor announced that
Surgery would fix all that but my mother didn’t like that and
Started searching for alternative cure. She took me to a woman healer.
‘She’d look at you and that’s all’ my mother said
‘Is she a witch?’
‘No, she is a healer.’
We rode all the way to the suburb town.
To see that woman
She lived in an ordinary apartment building.
To me she looked like real witch all right.
There was something spooky in her face
And she had too many gold teeth, heavy lower jaw
And greasy hair, plastered to her head.
She asked me to roll down my pants and shorts then
She squatted in front of me and began to recite something
In husky voice then bit gently a side of my pubic area.
Mother was standing a short distance away
Watching women’s manipulations with reverence.
Once it was over
She paid her for the service and then we left.
Unfortunately, the healing didn’t work either
So a year and half later I ended up in hospital
Undergoing surgery.