16,207. RUDIMENTS, pt. 1,383

RUDIMENTS, pt. 1,383

(closing out this mess. Arthur, pt. 3)

The Devil is in the details, right? I

really want to be done with details.

While I was standing there with 

the blood streaming to the floor,

they'd wheeled Arthur away for 

some treatment or other, so that

was the end of him, for me. I hope

he makes it. He'd mentioned to me

about some 'service' in Vietnam, but,

being born in 1976 as he was, it didn't

seem right by the date. He was gone,

so I'll never know. Maybe he was all

made-up stories? Hospital roommates? 

I guess it's all and always a crapshoot. 

You never know what you get until 

you get it. Sounds like disease, right?

-

Two short and final things here, and 

then I'll drop the subject. The scene with

the nurses was very strange for me. They

were each very friendly, and talkative.

When I was first rolled up from post-op,

every nurse from the nurse-station I was

rolled past looked up, doing a cursory

glancing at the new arrival. Smiles and

nods and hellos. Then, once in the room,

they began filtering in; mainly there were

4. Judi (or Jodi, I forget), Jenna, and 

Joan, I think it was. I commented about

all the J's. Then the fourth nurse came

in and said her name was Kelly. I said,

'I think I was expecting Jelly.'

-

That was a big joke, and everyone was 

laughing. Arthur was in his spot, but

was curtained off from me, and it stayed

that way. The only two times I saw him

were the two times he was slowly walked

or rolled past me on his ways to other

places.

-

Finally, and most weirdly, three different 

people told me, three different times  -  

and I'll never know why, nor what I looked

like to cause this  -  their comments about

'What a wonderful head of hair' I had. God

only (maybe) knows what they were talking

about and why it was said. I simply smiled,

and said thanks. It was awkward and also

uncomfortable. A weird manner of being

singled out.