D. arrived in time for his appointment at Visionworks. His trial contact lenses had arrived, and he was going to have a class in insertion and removal. He had never worn contacts before. The assistant explained the steps clearly and demonstrated effectively. D. noticed that on the inner side of her right lower arm she had the tattoo of a text. He was curious but could only see that a complete sentence appeared to have been written in her skin. On the middle joints of each finger of her left hand she bore one of the four stars of the Chicago flag-- red six-pointed stars against a field of light blue.
D. had difficulty raising the upper lid of his left eye with the recommended index finger while lowering the lower lid. After several tries, he noticed that his covid mask had fallen below his nose; he quickly raised it. Finally, he was able to seat the contact lens in his eyes. He soon noticed that for close reading, the contacts did not give him the focus he enjoyed from his new glasses. A brief meeting with the Visionworks optometrist confirmed that bifocal contacts do not work as well as bifocal eyeglasses.
Having resolved not to purchase contacts, D. returned to the assistant for help with removal. He found this experience more frustrating than the insertion. The assistant helpfully moved to another table, sensing that her presence made D. nervous. After perhaps four attempts, D. announced that he had succeeded in removing the lenses. The assistant returned to the seat across the shallow desk from D. She said: "you have gotten past the ayin hora." You have overcome the evil eye interfering with success with contact lenses.
D. was surprised to hear this young woman use the phrase 'ayin hora.' One did not expect a person with tattoos as obvious as hers to have had the traditional Jewish upbringing that would leave the phrase 'ayin hora,' evil eye, so accessible to her lips. He had not tagged her as a formerly Orthodox Jew. D. also thought how strangely appropriate it was to refer to the evil eye in connection with contact lenses. As he was preparing to leave, D. said, "I did not expect you to say 'ayin hora.'"
The assistant said, well you have finished your INR. Yes, D. had completed his class on the Insertion and Removal of contact lenses.
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