Gross

Author's Note: Forgive me, readers, if your stomach is sensitive. This is simply a memory, and I enjoyed my use of punctuation for pauses in this piece.

I get bloody noses from time to time. It just happens: lack of humidity in the air, getting smacked in the face by random dog heads or children's feet.  Usually it's not a big deal…but the aftermath of one of these minor medical dramas was quite memorable.

I am so used to the process. Nose bleeds. Go to sink. Let blood drip. Resist impulse to make cool blood-dot patterns in sink. Pinch bridge of nose to promote clotting. Finally, as the stream wanes to a drip, stuff wet toilet paper in nose to seal off the final drops.  Wait.

In this specific memory, after about ten minutes, when I felt my nasal crisis had passed, I proceeded to pull the toilet paper wad from my nostril. And there -- there! at the base of my forehead -- there I felt a small tug. And as a continued to pull gently on the tissue, the tug turned into a slither, down, out of my forehead, under the bridge of my nose, down the nostril. And there -- there! On the end of the tissue was the largest, most disgusting blood slug of mucus that I had ever seen in my life.