A god said what? I wondered
From somewhere, very... A god said what? I wondered
From somewhere, very distant, I felt faint
pressureNo, don't look down, just keep looking
straight aheadDo you feel my hand?"
"Uh-huhWhy
would there be? The arm that was no longer there
had wanted the pen, and the pen was in my pocket,
so now the arm was asleep again
"And how about this, Edgar? May I call you Edgar?"
"Anything but late to dinnerOne hand was still on my shoulder, but
the other was at his sideNowhere near the stump
"Not at all, phantom sensations in the stump of a
limb are normalI'm just surprised at the rate of
healingI squeezed pretty
darn hard to begin with He
cupped the stump again and pushed upward"Does
that give pain?"
It did - a dull,
women rolex watches low sparkle, vaguely hot
"If it didn't I'd be worried"Look at
the eye-chart again, all right?"
628
I did as he asked, and decided that all-important
seventh line was AGOCSEOWhich made more sense
because it made no sense
"How many fingers am I touching you with, Edgar?"
"Don't know It didn't feel like he was touching
me at all
"Now?"
"Don't know He was almost up to my collarboneAnd I
had an idea - crazy but very strong - that I would
have been able to feel his fingers everywhere on
the stump if I'd been in one of my painting
frenziesIn fact, I would have been able to feel
his fingers in the air below the stumpAnd I
think he would have been able to feel mewhich
would no doubt have
classic chanel handbag caused the good doctor to run
screaming from the room
He went on - first to my leg, then my headHe
listened to my heart, looked into my eyes, and did
a bunch of other doctorly thingsWhen he'd
exhausted most of the possibilities, he told me to
get dressed and meet him at the end of the hall
629
This turned out to be a pleasantly littered little
officeHadlock sat behind the desk and leaned
back in his chairThere were pictures on one wall
Some, I assumed, were of the doctor's family, but
there were also shots of him shaking hands with
George Bush the First and Maury Povich
(intellectual equals, in my book), and one of him
with an amazingly vigorous and pretty Elizabeth
EastlakeThey were
balenciaga bag holding tennis rackets, and I
recognized the courtIt was the one at El Palacio
"I imagine you'd like to get back to Duma and get
off that hip, wouldn't you?" Hadlock asked"Must
hurt by this time of the day, and I bet it's all
three witches from Macbeth when the weather's damp
If you want a prescription for Percocet or
Vicodin-"
"No, I'm fine with the aspirin," I saidI'd
labored to get off the hard stuff and wasn't going
back on it at this point, pain or no pain
"Your recovery is remarkable," Hadlock said"I
don't think you need me to tell you how lucky you
are not to be in a wheelchair for the rest of your
life, very likely steering yourself around by
blowing into a straw
630
"I'm lucky to be
chanel bags collection alive at all," I said"Can I can
assume you didn't find anything dire?"
"Pending blood and urine, I'd say you're good to
goI'm happy to order X-rays on your rightside
injuries and your head, if you've got symptoms
that concern you, but-"
"I don't I had symptoms, and they concerned me,
but I didn't think X-rays would pinpoint the cause"The reason I went over your stump so
carefully was because you don't wear a prosthesis
I thought you might be experiencing tendernessOr
there might be signs of infection
"I guess I'm just not readyConsidering the work
you're doing, I'd have to say 'If it ain't broke,
don't fix it' applies hereI can't wait to see them on display at
the ScotoI'm bringing my
white chanel bag w