The Day’s of his Lives Scene 67

I discovered that the neural reordering had another surprising effect; my lips and mouth became extremely sensitive. It wasn’t the painful sensitivity that one might expect after an accident or trauma, but a heightened awareness of the textures and tastes of anything they came in contact with. The sensations were so powerful that I found the urge to sense objects with my mouth was irresistible. At first I unconsciously put my thumb in my mouth when I was engaged in thought, then other objects found there way into my mouth. Without thinking, I would pickup one of the toys that littered the floor of my playpen and slip it into my mouth to explore its textures with my lips and tongue. I discovered that I could draw my foreshortened legs up to my chest comfortably when I lay on my back and it wasn’t long before my toes were in my mouth. My sucking reflex returned with a vengeance; aside from the sensations that my mouth produced when I placed an object in my mouth, sucking seemed to have an added dimension of pleasure. If the object in my mouth was small enough, I would start sucking on it unconsciously. My cheeks would begin to move rhythmically and the sensation of suckling would lull me into a semi-hypnotic state where all thought stopped.