"One of These Days"

Aurelio Escovar was a dentist without a degree, who awoke on a warm day at six in the morning to start his day by polishing false teeth while awaiting the arrival of his clients. Escovar was lost in his thoughts as he stared outside a window when his eleven-year-old son told him the mayor had arrived and wanted him to pull out his aching tooth. Escovar’s first order to his son is to say he was not in the office, but his son tells him of the mayor’s threat to shoot him. When the dentist hears this he is not startled, but calmly removes a revolver from his drawer. When Escovar witnesses the mayor’s releases the revolver because he noticed he was poorly shave and sleep deprived, signs of the pain that he was suffering. Escovar checks the mayor’s wisdom tooth and tells him that he cannot use anesthesia because he has an infection. The dentist uses a pair of hot forceps to grasp the tooth; not with rancor, but with “bitter tenderness.” The pain the mayor suffers is excruciating and described as the feeling of an “icy void in his kidneys.” The dentist tells him that that was a small payment for the twenty men that died. At the end, the mayor, in an air of arrogance, simply tells the dentist to send him the bill; in a derogatory manner tells him to send it to him or the town because they were both the same.

The part I like most is when Escovar disregards the revolver on his desk the moment he sees the pain the Mayor is suffering a he walks into the office. The reason is because at that moment the dentist sets aside his resentment or dislke for the mayor and acts like a professional, even though he isn't one officialy, and makes the mayor's health a priority.

What would be the reason behind Escovar holding a grudge towards the Mayor?

Why does Gabriel Garcia Marquez describe the mayor as being a military man? Does this in any way reveal a backgruond to this story?

My interpration of short story is that Gabriel Garcia Marquez wanted to focus on the character of these two professionals. One was an unlicensed dentist, who despite this flaw was humble and ethical. On the other hand, the mayor who is also a military man, is clearly someone of status who is arrogant and condescending.Yet, in a turn of fate the mayor is forced to humble himself before Escovar.