Martin and I booked a trip to Nehulonia . We were there two weeks to put away everyday life, after I had finished my studies finally and Martin could make a break. Sun, beach and perhaps also more sex than usually. At least that was my goal,. but it became much more exciting than I had ever thought before.
All my fellwoship knows that after three days in the same place I get cabin fever. Fortunately, we had a rental car, which allowed us to explore the whole island. Before the trip I read several guides. One guide fascinated me. There was talk of a lake. Nothing exciting. The exciting thing was that there was talk about a lake which would be an outstanding experience in a full moon night. On the third day I said to Martin that tomorrow it would be full moon, and I would like to go to this lake. The only thing Martin mentioned, if I once more was on a romantic trip. I hoped, maybe we were there alone and we can do some other things together there. The chance was not too bad to be alone there, because it was winter and no holiday season. The next day we went in the afternoon to go to it, it was already dark at five o’clock. When we arrived at the lake, well, the term lake is exaggerated, it is rather a larger pond; we were completely alone. The atmosphere only could be described as awesome with gigantic, white rocks and isolated trees illuminated by the pale moonlight, very strange shadows casting. One could think that behind every rock or tree there some figures were hiding, even the wind whistled quite easily. An amazing feeling. I began to take off my clothes, and disappeared very slowly behind a rock. Martin did not understand my intention and said only : “Do you go swimming? It is too cold for me. " Oh great, that wasn’t my intention, but may it be. There are not many things which are more beautiful than taking a bath outdoors in the buff. The swim was great, until suddenly something tweaked my leg. It didn’t hurt too much, but enough that it was uncomfortable. Of course I no longer wanted to swim, but there was just a small red spot. We still enjoyed a bit of the mood and then returned to the hotel. I wanted to read something in the evening, but the letters were a bit blurry. I attributed this to my tiredness so I didn’t think of any concerns. When I woke up the next morning, everything was very blurry. I couldn’t see well. I knew that a shower might help. So I went there, but after the shower it was only marginally better. I got a panic attack and cried. Martin came running, held me and calmed me down. Of course, he asked me what was wrong and I told him that everything was just blurry. Suddenly he winced and said I would squint. As a prospective medical student, he said, that the symptoms could indicate a stroke, and we drove to the nearest hospital without taking breakfast. That is, of course, Martin drove, I could indeed not drive. As a possible stroke patient I was given preferential treatment, but further tests did not indicate a stroke or something more serious. Finally, we ended up in ophthalmology. I couldn’t care less, I felt bad anyway. The investigation ended with an eye test. The doctor who examined me smiled, which even I realized, so I was pissed off. Then he asked me : “Have you bathed in the lake up in the mountains? " “Yes, if we mean the same lake. " He mumbled something. “What? " “I just thought … The legend will be true . " “What legend? " “I tell you the story later. I think it will be important that you will be able to see properly. " “And what does that mean? " " I send you now to the optometrist, you have a strong long-sightedness. " “Tell me another. Only two years ago I made an eye test because I needed it for the driving license. There they certified me a slight hyperopia, but it is not that uncommon and a pair of glasses was not necessary. " “I believe you, but my measurements have shown otherwise. However, the optician will perform again some detailed measurements. If it should still not be in order then, you come back to me. As I said, I would like to tell you something later. Call here and they connect you with me.” The optician was only three blocks away. I told him the outcome from the hospital. “I propose we simply test your eyes and then we’ll see if the doctor was right.” I had to sit on a chair and I had to read numbers on a blackboard. If I’m honest, bare-eyed I could read the top row just so, everything else was black spots against a white background. He put a device on my nose and the optician put different lenses in it and I had to read the lines.. At some point, it must have been weeks, I could read the bottom line and all other settings only led to a worsening. “So far you haven’t needed glasses? " " No. " “I’ve never seen . " " What you have never seen ? " “I’ve never had a client who does not need any visual aid and in which I then investigating a value of +7 diopters at the first refraction. In children it could be, yeah sure, but in adults? " “Can this be expressed easier? It’s all Greek to me.” “It is unusual to have normal vision yesterday and to obtain a strong farsightedness the day after. This process usually happens over years. " Slowly, I lost patience: “Then I am an exception. And what happens now? " " In order to see properly again, I propose you I make a pair of glasses as quickly as possible. Your husband can help you choosing frames. " " Yeah, I can’t see enough. And when will the glasses be ready? " " I’ll check. Well, someone cancelled. So in two hours they are ready if we now seek out a frame. " Martin was fired up to help me. He told me the details of each eyeglass frames, this was not a typical behavior. Finally, we agreed on some round frames with a thin black border. The optician offered us a coffee. Martin went outside to buy two pizzas. It was not fun to eat pizza and to see everything just extremely blurred. And it wasn’t so exciting to sit around and seeing nothing.
Eventually the optician came back and asked me to sit down at a table. " Shall I put you the glasses on? " " Yes, please.” Everything was again sharp and clear. But it was all so close. “And how is your eyesight? " asked the optician. " I see everything clearly and distinctly, but everything seems so close.” “That sounds not so bad. " He wanted me to read on a blackboard the second lowest row with the letters. “I even can read the lowermost row..It is D, K, Q, P , F, L , Y. But as I said already, everything is so close and when I turn my head everything rotates. " " Wonderful, you can read the bottom row. Concerning the magnifying effect, with a prescription like this the effect is remarkable at about 20 %. And the effect while turning comes from the distortion.” “But that… " “This will pass. It’s a matter of getting used to. I think tomorrow you won’t recognize it. " “I hope so. Where is the mirror? " Martin replied: " Just to the right, the glasses fit you well.” I was completely surprised, Martin had made me compliments on the look very rarely. But I could clarify later this later. When I saw myself in the mirror, I got a shock immediately. " I look like an owl. Such big eyes. " “That’s great.” " You’re crazy”, I had a go at Martin . And turning to the optician, I asked, “You can’t be serious. I can’t go around with such a look. " " The magnifying effect can’t be avoided with such a strength, even with high index lenses. " “Lenses? Do you have contact lenses? I will not show in public space with these glasses. " “Yes, but I don’t have them available in this strength. I would have to order them. But it takes three days until they are here. " " I can’t wait for such long time.” Martin chimed in: " Andrea, calm down . We have ten days left here. "
- And there’s really no other way? " he asked the optician. “No, as you know, we are on an island. And I sell +7 lenses maybe twice a year and they do not last forever. And not too many people here wear contact lenses because the air is too dusty. " “I want them now . " Now Martin was a little louder. “How old are you? You’re acting like a toddler. The man is doing his best and you just get hysteric. " " Yeah, you ’re right , but I really look like an owl , I can’t show up so. " “Do you know the people here, then? No, problem solved. And again, you do not look like an owl. I finally know what I have been missing. " " What have you been missing? " " I’ll tell you later. Let’s go. " “I still want to have lenses now. " “We might come back within the next three days again, we will be here ten days still . Then we can order them.” “If you think so. We still have to pay before we leave. "
I looked again in the mirror before we left. I had to confess that the glasses fit just fine, only my eyes, they were so big. There was a step in the exit. I stumbled over it, because I had miscalculated the distance, but Martin held me, so I did not fall. Martin wanted me to drive. That was something completely new. I told him that I nearly fell down and that it would be more detrimental to our health, if I drove. He could understand. Actually, I wanted to ask him on the way back, what he meant by the phrase, he knew what he lacked, but I had no chance. His eyes were so often on me that we had had almost several accidents. I had to be really loud. We were both offended and arrived at the hotel without speaking a word. Martin screwed up immediately and read. I cried all the time to myself that the fate was not fair. I was not even having dinner. I let him go alone. I found a banana at least. After all, we managed to wish each other a good night.
When I woke up in the morning, I wanted to take a shower immediately. I felt so insecure without glasses, so I took them on and stood up. I was almost in the bathroom when I heard a voice from the bed: “A naked woman with glasses, a man doesn’t need more. " As you may know sleeping puts away negative vibrations, they are only half as bad as the day before. The day before, I would have been full of anger, so I was just surprised and turned around. " Say that again. I’m not sure I’ve heard correctly . " " A naked woman with glasses, this is all a man needs. Come to me. " “Glasses are still a turn-off . " “Where do women learn such nonsense from? From women’s magazines?” " It is written there, too. " “Ask men, they know better. " “You speak for all men? " “Like you speak for all women. And now, come over here. " Why should I actually not go to him. What followed was the best sex of my life and I think for Martin it was the same; I just managed to take off my glasses. Afterwards, when we lay side by side I had to ask him something. “What do you meant yesterday, you would have missed something? " " Oh, you’re the most incredible woman I ever met. Just a pair of glasses was missing, now you’re perfect. " " But you don’t want me to reduce to glasses now?” " No, of course not. Otherwise we would not have been together for a few years already. But what do you think of that, we do that by just now again, maybe you like to keep your glasses on? " Martin rather was a bore sexually the last months, I found his wish exciting, even if I thought it was strange. I’m not so averse. And what can I say, the sex was even better.
But I will not go into detail. I did not take the glasses off for the rest of the day and also the following days, because it is better to see fine than to see everything blurred. In the evening I did no longer notice that everything seemed so big, I had probably already accustomed to it. Even for swimming I left on the glasses. I also declined to order lenses. (Nowadays I wear lenses occasionally, especially in some kind of sports, because it is just safer). But what Martin and I still wanted to know, that were the comments of the doctor from the hospital. We called there and were got connected. We made an appointment for the afternoon in the local canteen, during his break.
“I owe you an explanation of the legend, don’t I?. By the way, the glasses look fantastic, I hope your vision is good now. " “Thank you for the compliment. Yes, I see perfectly, maybe even better than before. Who can read rows of letters which even doesn’t exist on the board. Yes, the legend still is of interest to us. " “Do you know the name, which was given to the lake where you were swimming?” . “No”. “It is also called the Blinding Lake. But probably the name has nothing to do with the fact that it reflects the sun so that you can get almost blind. Over the centuries it has happened again and again that women took a bath in the lake and they had very blurry vision next day. They hadn’t glasses to have blurry vision was nearly the same as being blind. That’s why the lake has its name. However, but that happened only a few times in the last decades. The last documented case is from the 20s of the last century. In previous centuries it happened more often. At that time there was no running water and I’m assuming that the former inhabitants took the opportunity to wash themselves by taking a bath.” " Aha . " " I know the legend because said woman some 90 years ago was a great-great aunt of mine, my mother told me the story. Therefore I have tried to find out something about the history in ancient writings.” Martin turned on: “Do you think it would be possible to cure myopia? " I needed some explanations. “What do you mean? " “Well, you had emmetropia and now you’re farsighted, I like it that way, but if you think logically, it means that short-sighted people can get normal vision. At least, those who want to do so.” “I don’t know anything about it,” said the doctor. “Probably the time was not yet ripe. But I am still looking for a topic for my thesis. That would be a possibility. I just have to find a supervisor, " Martin said. " An excellent idea. If you need help, then I will support you wherever possible.” " Yes, please.” Then we talked about other things. He gave us some hints what natural beauties we should visit. The rest of the trip spun away. I had some respect what people at home would say when we were back. My mother almost started to cry when she saw me with glasses for the first time, the rest gave encouragements mainly. It helped that glasses are some kind of fashion meanwhile, too. Even my mother is over it now.
Martin realized his intentions and worked on this subject for a thesis. Of course, I had to undergo some tests. What is now known about the phenomenon of the Blinding Lake one can read in scientific journals but I will give a short summary for the avid reader. It only affects women. However, some conditions must apply that’s why it does not happen each time. There are small crabs in the lake, they usually stay hidden. Those crabs leave their burrows just about the time of the full moon in winter. Summer full moons are too close to horizon hence there isn’t enough moonlight. During this time, the crabs will also want to mate, the moonlight leads to a hormone stimulation that triggers this process. In addition, the woman must be around the time of menstruation, then the crabs are attracted by the smell and swim to the woman. The crabs can sting, but this doesn’t need to happen always. The crabs inject a toxin that reacts with a substance that exists only inside the eye. The two substances react with each other, the resulting product has a lower refraction index than the starting material. Consequently, the eye becomes hyperopic. This reaction appears to be irreversible. At least, I was not in the mood to sacrifice my eyes to prove the irreversibility. Others may sacrifice their eyesight. Men do not have menstrual therefore the crabs keep away and no case is known.
You short-sighted ones, who are reading this now: Unfortunately, this is not for use to you! Myopia is often due to genetics and myopic people have a gene which creates a protein , promoting myopia. This protein also neutralizes the toxin quick, that it disappears before reaching the eyes. Moreover, nothing is known on the value by which the refraction changes. In my case it was more than six diopters. Some would be farsighted, some would be less shortsighted, the chance for emmetropia would be rather low.
To all my other non-myopic women and girls out there: Make your men a gift and go to the Blinding Lake on Nehulonia and take a bath in a winter night which is lighted by a full moon. You will be amazed how your life gets more excited, because most men love four-eyes. They just don’t tell you. My life has been quite great since then.