he set the small blue enameled pot of fresh diced ginger and cinnamon tea back on the burner it irritated him that the range was electric not gas he grew up on fire fire on the stovetop at campsites in fireplaces
at barbecues at spits he felt neglectedworked
over by the glowing lying coils fire had
personality electricity was a
prostitute
setting the pot down he
recognised he also had a pot of sugarwater on the stove for the dozens of
hummingpigs he fed and a third pot of
boiled date seeds
he
and an Ethiopianborn cab driver got into a vigorous conversation about health
diet as he returned to Ballard from SeaTac the Ethiopian insisted he ate a pound of dates a day and kept the seeds
boiled them and made tea Yah. Boil them.
Let them steep ten minutes. Then drink it.
prior he came off ten months of
excruciating bilateral joint pain doctors couldnt agree but what endocrinologists
did agree on was he should ingest a drugfuck if he could remember its name all he sharply remembered it was a cancer
treatment drug with too-numerous-to-memorise horrible side affects That shouldn’t concern you, you won’t be
taking a dosage comparable to active cancer patients . . .
like that made it better
he was combatting pain
he had too much respect for
cancer patients
You cant say whats afflicting me
but youll prescribe a cancer drug Youll
excuse me altahell Im contending with the painIm okay with pain Ive told you But maybe youre not listening Pain keeps me presentIll take pain and presence to your apparent willful ignorance Too many patientshuh Too many to be
a good physician the scientist the P H D you trained to be Youll excuse me your quick fix treats the symptoms not the
root cause but apparently youre not even
curious and I find that offensive Youll
rarely meet someone whos as fucking curious as I am So please dont insult me All youre getting out of me Doc is a seventyfive
dollar copay
Thanks for nothing
the Ethiopian who was much younger
than him said hed never seen a doctor
Not even a witch doctor
his eyes came up quickly in the
rearview mirror a big white grin followed immediately You’re teasing me, man.
I am I thought youd have a good sense of humour Humour after all is the best medicine
the Ethiopian laughed
they laughed together
when he hears their collective
laughter nowin his head its compounded by time his healing held no reoccurrences knock on woodhe knocked on his
skull he overlays the laughter with brand new
chuckles
looking
at his assembled stovetop he realised his ministrations concoctions were similar to the
witchcraft he accused his girlfriend of when she seasoned her pasta and their
other meals
to her sauce shed add eye of newt twitching lizard tail earth and stirring in and later tasting she tried
it on him What do you think? he tried it it was marvelous Its delicious hed say shed try it again No it’s not. It’s missing something. he shrugged Tastes amazing she didnt hear him she was already tasking her taste buds sending
them off to investigate scour for what she was missing and how much
Comere, Joe, try this now shed
say as she held a wooden spoon out to himshed feed him Careful. she blew across the spoonher breath
painting his face It’s hot.
mygawd it was better than beforeimpossible Man thats fantastic! It pops!
shed smile Thank you. she dipped the spoon into the saucehelping
herself to more she tongued the spoon she was ever so erotic when she ate
she smacked her lips Almost, we’re almost
there, baby.
OhferChristssake witch why dont you leave me out of your intrigues Yer killin me
Because I want to. I like playing
with, torturing you. Secretly
you like it, you want it.
everything
she did to him he liked Yeah I suppose youre right
Comere. Would a kiss help? The
sauce has to simmer a bit more . .
.
. Before our next bout
How ‘bout we play until then? I’ll
make it worth your while.
I can be made
maybe after all these years
maybe
he was becoming a warlock derived by contact highs
1332, Sunday,
14 10. 18
1111, Monday,
15 10. 18
