I guess I should rewind.
Alec and I were watching TV. Lola peacefully stared out of the window in the Conservatory, the most beautiful room in our house. She sits on a chair in the Victorian bay window for hours, watching the world go by. I heard a loud noise. I knew what had happened and started running, screaming her name. The window was broken like a spider web, a large dagger shaped piece, missing. I saw the window and grabbed Lola.
I wanted to see her feet. The fucking window was already broken.
Lola watches the world in the Conservatory, but from time to time, a rabbit or cat will run through the yard. She bangs on the window with her hands. On that old, hundred year old glass. I stop her, but have been fearing the moment that the glass might break. I had a nightmare that she jumped straight through the window and broke it, running free into the world.
Her foot was bleeding. Alec and I put her in the tub and rinsed it off. We poured peroxide on it and I applied Neosporin. The bleeding was not too bad, but she had a long gash along her toe. Lola was agitated, pacing. Wound up. I was too. We sat in the TV room half of the night. I petted her and got her to lay down and got drunk.
My alarm went off. I had to go to physical therapy for my finger and to Spider Pig to get it X-rayed again. Lola pulled closer to me, pushing her back against my chest and stretching her neck up to my neck. I hugged her. It was gray and raining. I put plastic over the broken window and called the doctors to tell them I wasn't coming. And then, I laid down and hugged my dog.
I got up at 12:30. I needed to leave by 1:25. Lola laid on the bed, licking her wounded foot. I got ready. Yeah, I had blown off the doctors but was going to be early for work. I took Lola for a pee and let her settle into her crate. I set the alarm, grabbed my coffee, and went out to my car.
As I stood in the driveway, I heard an alarm going off. Was it...my house? I walked closer and realized it was and ran inside and turned it off. The alarm company would call in a minute. MOTHERFUCKER. I stood there and waited, watching the clock, knowing I would be late. Finally, I grabbed the phone. The battery was dead. I couldn't have heard a ring even if they called. I dug through the drawers, trying to find the number of the alarm company. Lola was howling and whimpering, terrified. I locked the door and left, phone in my hand and calling everyone I knew to come to my house. My dog was afraid and I left her alone. If the police came, they would see that broken window and think something had happened. They could kick the door in.
I had called my sister. She had a migraine and wasn't answering her phone.
"Mom!" I screamed into the phone, tearing right out of the Krog tunnel.
"I need help!".
I ran down the hallway as the bell rang. The kids were in the room. I was surprised. They were sitting calmly and the woman that had taught the previous class had remained with them.
"Oh my God, thank you" I said to her.
"Hey guys, thanks for your patience. Here's your warm-up, I'll be back in two minutes, I have to get your test off of my desk downstairs and then I'll tell you everything".
My phone started ringing.
"Get a late pass!" the students called, "and turn your phone in!"
Holly had warded off the cops and taken care of Lola. I was almost hyperventilating. The kids did their test and gave me no problem. I went home and set up a bunch of make-up doctor's appointments and called my good bro to fix the window.
I walked out this morning to go to work, determined that things would go better. My car wouldn't start. I was parked BEHIND Alec's car. He and I pushed my fucker car into the street and I rolled it into the grass and took his car. I was speeding again.
I had ten minutes to make copies of the test, drop my shit off at my desk and run up three flights of stairs. I made it with time to spare.
My finger was pulsing, veins bulging and red. The physical therapist held it, crunching it into a fist. My feet were tapping and I was sitting up straight. It fucking hurt.
"Five more seconds" he told me.
He released it.
"I think in two more weeks you'll be able to push it into a fist" he informed me.
"But the knuckle, it still has some fluid in it, it might not get much smaller, it might get smaller, but it will take a while, a long while".
It is bigger than my thumb. It looks like my big toe.
"How do you say 'does your back hurt' in Spanish?" he asked the family member of another lady who he was working on.
"Le duele la espalda" I answered, and kept doing my stretches.
No comments:
Post a Comment