The Buzzy Country Store conversation I am about to discuss usually goes like this:
“What did you do today?” Me to one of my Buzzy friends who is hard of hearing (HoH.)
“Huh?” He replies as he heads for the beer case.
Beer in hand, he returns to the counter where I will then raise my voice to re-ask him a little louder:
“WHAT DID YOU DO TODAY?”
My HoH friend will lean in a little across the counter to better hear me and respond “Huh?” or “What?” or “Say again.”
Me, a third time and louder still, ask again:
“WHAT DID YOU DO TODAY?”
My HoH friend, finally hearing what I ask, will then reply accordingly.
I am used to these exchanges and for the most part, I don’t mind them that much. After all, these are my friends, and I am happy to see them and glad that they are dropping in to have a beer or two. That they can’t hear for shit is not that big a deal to me.
All that said however, there are times after my third, or maybe even fourth followup to them about what they did, when I really feel like grabbing them by the shoulders while shaking the hell out of them and shout “Tell Santa to bring you a hearing aid for Christmas!!”
The first song that popped in my head was the Who’s “Tommy Can You Hear Me” but I don’t really care for it. (Talk about hard of hearing, that one one is just hard to listen to.) Instead, how about something hear (get it?) from a couple Celtic fellas?