Comet's Tail

I burned my hand yesterday.

Got home from work around 8:30 PM, and found that there was nothing for dinner. As is expected when hungry, my temper went up and I stormed off to the kitchen to cook, well, one of the few things I know how to cook: a fried egg. But when I turned the egg over to cook the other side, quite a bit of the boiling oil splattered onto the back of my right hand.

It was a curious feeling: like being slapped really hard by many tiny hands. My mouth opened really wide but no sound came out. I rushed to the sink to bring my hand under the tap; later I went inside the house to soak it in cold water. The first aid book actually says NOT to apply any cream or ointment. (But why do we even have burn ointments?)

The back of my hand now registers three coin-sized patches, all in angry scarlet. All are in the shape of small comets, or jellyfish.

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Incidentally Comet's Tail is the title of Cynthia Alexander's latest album, which is playing in my WMP.