A Short Story: "The Elusive Hearing Aid" by Elizabeth Kay It could have been any one of her tormentors that caused Beatrice to wake up for the first time that night. It could have been her hiatus- hernia which would mean a ride downstairs on the stairlift to take Gaviscon and fill a glass with water and ice cubes to ease the pain, or it could have been back pain caused by stenosis. This would mean a hot water bottle and pain killers, or perhaps the stoma pouch needed changing! On the other hand cramp may have been the tormentor, any one of these could have been responsible. Whichever it was it had succeeded in destroying her sleep. Having done her best to alleviate the problem she made herself as comfortable as possible, switched on the talking book player and prepared to listen to another chapter of "Shadow of Tyburn Tree" by Dennis Wheatley setting the timer for 30 minutes. No sooner had ithe reading started however than she remembered tha this particular reader's voice was difficult to hear without wearing at least one hearing aid so she got up and installed one in her right ear. Sure enough when the half hour was up she had begun to feel drowsy .With a feeling of relief she turned over on to her right side and prepared to sleep,but now the hearing aid pressed into her ear and felt uncomfortable,without thinking she took it out and held it in her hand. Now she knew that if she did not sit up and put it safely on the bedside table it would be missing when she next woke uo and she would have difficulty finding it, but the desire for sleep was too strong and still holding it she fell asleep. An hour or so later one of the other tormentors got to work and now,in addition to alleviating this problem, there was a.hearing aid to find and she knew that she would not be able to sleep until it was found. All over the bed with her hands, no hearing aid. Al over the carpet with a bare foot, no hearing aid. A rest to ease the pain in her back and then one foot all round again, this time just underneath the edge of the bed and there it was hiding. How on earth cid it get there! Talking book player again. This time wearing the left side hearing aid. I must leave it in this time. After listening for some time to the exploits of Roger Burke she managed a few hours sleep before it was time to get up. Sleepily she got nto the shower forgetting she was still wearing the hearing aid. Remembering she took it out and placed it on the bathroom shelf. It didn't get lost this time, but later in the day attending a meeting of the talking book club she realised it was still sitting on the bathroom shelf and it was only with difficulty that she could hear what the others were saying, this nade things rather embarrassing. When the meeting was over sevaral people remarked how well she was looking. "Thankyou vey nuch" she said smiling." It's surprising what a bit of makeup can do".