Ox Fall Down

Matchday 12: more evidence of the construction workers. The old tv sits in a new console. The whole room is neater now and feels larger. Kids crowd the new tv waiting for a turn on the Finding Nemo video game. The graphics look like the movie not a game.

It's open mic night in the waiting room. The usually reserved crew is entertained by the aperture machinist. Heavy Boston accent. Late 50's. Patriots fan. He's passing around photos of his trip to Key West. He lost a bet, presumably, and had to wear a dress. Got enlisted to perform in a cabaret but turned them down because they wouldn't let his friends in for free. He once sent a case of Sam Adams to a patient from Stuttgart. The patient from Stuttgart, he was German, and he loved Sam Adams. The guys at UPS said it was exporting and therefore illegal. So they removed a bottle. He sent 23 bottles and it was ok. It cost him $80 but he didn't care. It was the idea of it. He says goodbye and then you realize the three audience members aren't together. At the table next to you sit a couple from Ontario. You may assume they went oot on Newbury Street last night. At the table next to them sits a blonde woman from Nashville. Oh, really? We have friends in Athens. Georgia? Yes. My daughter went to school in Athens, Georgia. She crashed her truck there, ran into a cow. The cow just slipped the electric fence. No brand. We had no way of knowing who it belonged to.

The machinist crossdresser comes back for his second set. "I've got handmade Christmas cards for you." He hands out sheets of paper with capital L's and the circle-and-slash forbidden sign. No response. "Look at it." Blank stares. "Look at it." Crickets in the background. "What's that?" An L? "Get it? No-L. Get it?"

He leaves again. They talk of housing and fatigue. The blonde has met somebody. They've had the best time together. It's the first time she's seen anyone since the divorce. Oh, that's wonderful. Boston men know how to treat women. Nobody holds the door for you in Nashville. You climb into the truck on your own.

Phil comes out to retrieve you but the Canadian woman rises first. Phil points at you and the woman sits back down.

You offer her your dose.

She doesn't want it, Phil chimes in.

Walking down the hallway he continues, And you don't want hers.

Up onto the table. X-rays. Back and left fields accessed again. No pattern anymore. Phil and his brother-in-law are making applejack in CT over Christmas. He'll save you some.