May 1 2018

Now that we have our Louise back, we can continue to enjoy her contributions to this blog.
Here's one of mine.


PRONE

Episode 2

 

Déjà view all over again 

I had just come through a new experience. I had spent a couple of nights in the hospital, it was the first time in my life I had spent a night without other family members milling about. It was very strange. I'm not sure if I liked it or not, it would be twelve years before I had my own room. I'm not complaining, just saying.

I had only been out of the hospital a few days, I had exhausted my option of staying home or going to school. Supposedly there was a lot more for me to learn that first year. I reluctantly headed back to school. It was recess. One of the things I had learned in grade one was, not to stand against the south facing wall of the school, so. I strategically positioned myself on the back side of a telephone pole that faced the school yard. Not only did I feel safe, but brilliant as well. I remember standing in the midst of chaos, once again, contemplating my own existence, minding my own business. I don't know if any of you can remember the big red balls with the weird little lines all over them, they were about the size of a basketball, but quite a bit more lively, like a thick skinned beach ball. Picture one of those bouncing right to me. I know, sure, it's a "soft" ball, but I'm not letting it hit my new nose. I caught it in my arms, and, before I could examine the situation and discover where it came from and where it should go, it was driven from my arms by, I suspected, some kid who wanted it. Too bad the big fisted numpty* caught my nose before hitting the ball. Oh oh!  The little mob started to assemble again, these little nose pickers are starting to creep me out. Thanks to my brother Lou, he came to my rescue and ushered me into the school and handed me over to a grown up. The diagnosis wasn't good, Tony and his buddy would get to walk me home again, there would be another alien sighting, mom would hold her little boy with the big swollen head until dad came to chauffeur me up to the hospital again. There I was, standing on the front seat of the car on the way to the hospital. Deja view, except, I didn't have much of a view, my eyes were swelling shut. It was like looking through a Venetian blind, yeah, that only had two slats, and closed.

I hadn't marked a reference point on that ceiling tile so I had to start counting from the beginning, what can I say, I didn't expect to be back so soon. The gurney started moving again and I noticed a bunch of familiar looking faces, ones I had hoped to never see again. The voices were much more muted this time but I knew what they were up to, it had only been a week or so. It took four of them to hold me down and another two to get the mask on. Then they turned off the lights again.

Same room, same bed, new tape, more experience. The nurses were always smiling and pleasant, I hope that they remember me as polite, I'm pretty sure I wasn't pleasant. I knew the Dinky toys meant I wasn't going home, I would add them to my collection of hammer victims. It was even better leaving the hospital the second time.

*Numpty

Noun (pl) -ties

1. (Scot, informal) a stupid person

 

I like this word,  I learned it during a great visit with my sister Louise and her husband Dave at their home in St. Andrews. After an afternoon of golfing with Dave and his friends Andy and John, we ran into Andy's cousin as we were leaving the parking lot. I was sitting between the two of them as they talked to each other through the window, the thick Scottish accents were going in one ear, garbling up my brain cells, then exiting the other. I needed subtitles. Although they were very hard to understand I did surmise something about a party Andy's cousin had forgotten he was supposed to have helped his wife get ready for that very evening. I didn't have to surmise the word numpty though. He definitely used it to describe himself.

 

Have a great day

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