One False Step And...

Two more steps and he'll make the couch. Three if he shuffles. This pain, this never ending intense ache deep in his bones, radiating like a searing beacon of Hey Stupid, Way To Go. Feet. Dang. So many small bones, all jammed up, tight together, a perfect symmetry when everyone gets along but one unexpected twist and fall and bam, thanks for playing but this is where you get off. Such bad timing. Eight weeks of work coming up after a blissful, recuperative month off; now he has to figure out how to shuffle gracefully in a hidden cast on camera while pretending to be grounded, solid, whole. Easy peasy. Ha! And the itching, oy. The chopsticks and wooden spoons and modified backscratchers jammed down the cast. Inflate, deflate, elevate, ice, compress, release, oh my god why did this have to happen NOW? Sigh. Ah well, a hitch in his giddy up, a tilt in his hips, an even slower, purposeful gait. S'alright, s'allll good, what evaaaaah. This will wind it's way into the myriad of stories and tales, become a part of his history, writing down the bones. The familiar anecdote hauled out for strangers who are eager to glean insight from every interview, backstory, photograph and episode. Intimate knowledge shared with the world to what, humanize, personalize, bring people in. To the inner sanctum. If only that inner sanctum contained some really wicked weed right about now. Man, get on top of the ache. Music helps, playing helps but how do people do this, this discomfort, day in and day out. Irreparable chronic pain, that would be the death of him. Store up some meds, take a long slow walk off a very short pier. Provided he was still able to walk. Or a roll maybe, a final leap into the great wide open. The inability to articulate physically the desire to move with ease and grace, strength of purpose. The loss of play, no more bounding and running and frolicking in all sorts of seasons. That solitude found on long hikes in the interior, up a mountain, down to the lake, in a car, on a bike, by foot. Feet. Ahhhhhhh, feet. Don't fail now. This too shall pass, apparently, but in the meanwhile, wow, this is somethin somethin. One small step for mankind, one random act of carelessness for him.