An Eye for a Tooth

I find that taxi drivers always surprise. I have always been interested in their stories, these people that you meet and spend time with on journeys. Its your choice, isn't it. You can while away the time in your head, or you can see what's in his (or hers). This urge to get the story always happens whenever I'm overseas, oddly, it doesn't seem to happen here in Barbados. The stories from taxi drivers could fill a book, from the exciting to the unfortunate, but never mundane.

Today, riding with Jevon on the way to the airport (in Guyana), I admired his gold teeth, and commiserated with him on the loss of his original teeth, I assumed, due to decay. Oh no, he rejoined, his teeth were (had been) perfectly healthy. He had had them removed to insert these gold implants, two on top, one below. Cost? $6,000 (Guyana dollars) or $60 Barbados. Good price huh? he said, cost a lot more in Trinidad, where he had spent some time and assumed I was from there.

So, it's a style then, I said. Yeah, he says, they are glued in and I can put any pattern I want on them, I change the pattern every 3 months, and that only costs $4,000.

Well, I said, feeling rather ignorant, I don't suppose you would wear the same stud in your ear for ever, or have the same hairstlye....he agreed.

Apologies for the quality of the snap, but you get the picture, don't you?