he looked like a man who hadnt
dreamt in a while
his ill daughter told him so as
he stood beside her bed
No he said I havent had a dream in a long time
he hadnt dreamed since he was
awaken by a telephone call from his soninlaw who was in the ER and told him he should
come to Los Angeles
Anniel needs me
Both of us, Dad, come.
he had already packed for the
weekend every weekend through Wednesday
afternoons he was in LA
his cats food and water were
full their catboxes fresh
he arrived at 344
urinated in the parking structure
washed his hands in the restroom
off the waiting room to the ER as personnel sought to find where his daughter was
the ER gave him an adhesive tag deeming him a Visitor
he was tersely instructed to place
it on his left breasthad to be on his left and dispatched him to the ICU FUCK he hoped things hadnt gone badly
Intensive Care Unit
Follow the signs and the arrows
affixed to the wall to the ICU. said the
enormous black security man
If Im
entering a maze I prefer to follow Ariadnes thread
like water off a ducks back Arrows on the wall.
Jason The Minotaur The Labyrinth Ariadne
Arrows on the wall. ICU
Yah I see you too
the huge man shook his headhis
jowls moved
he wasnt wearing a sidearm
wouldnt he prefer not to get his hands
dirty if he didnt have to
it was LA
just follow the yellow brick road
Dorothy
the closest thing to a munchkin
he saw was a deformed child asleep or
unconscious reclining in an adult
wheelchair
loose bloodied gauze bandages sweating Baggies filled with melting ice suggestions he had been beaten
he was pushed off to a side by
himself outa sight outa mind
there were at least a dozen adults
in various postures and grimacing who were waiting
he couldnt recognise one who
might have been attached or there for the damaged boy
the kids got plenty of room lotsa leeway
had he time he would have eyeballed
hands for split knuckles or swelling or bruises but like a sidearm why would somebody use their fists on a child rather
than something else at hand
the huge black man said Follow
me. and ducked under a doorway that he didnt have to duck
with a blunt finger he punched a
security code into a keypad on a wired glass metal door
Los Angeles Theres no place like home . . no place like
home . . no place like home
There you go, man. he said as a bell
sounded and the double-wide security doors unclasped noisily
Thank you sir
You’re welcome. I hope your
daughter recovers.
Thank you
he dreamt for the first time in a
cloistered sleep-deprived month
everyone in the hospital waiting
room with him had to be catheterised
a masked nurse and male attendant
in green surgical garb approached him
he was empathetic If you got a reason spill it otherwise keep moving
We were told . .
.
. Thats not a reason . .
.
. We were told . .
. . Keep
moving
apparently they
werent often confrontedfaced conflict
they blinked in unison almost
mechanically stalwart health
professionals who like all professionals
were assured by their camaraderie and vernacular that a laymanthey
believed couldnt know better than they or knew better than the superior who told
them the function they were to perform
they followed orders
were replete
and thoroughly accepted their place in the hierarchy
however where the rubber meets the road when push came
to shove
Whos your Daddy
they could be
persuaded that an unorthodox approach or method might represent an alternative innaresting
hypothesis
besides
by his abrupt stymienow
out-of-stepnot-in-synch they broke eye contact and looked back up over their
shoulders and recognised a body of patients who were willing to be cowedwilling
to submit to their instructionstheir medical directions
so without as much as a Hadayado
without a Solong they turned their backs to himin brisk unison and ventured
into the quiet milling obeisance
as they went that way he went the
other and found himself in a large commercial kitchen off the hospitals
cafeteria
two teenaged girls candystripers were preparing a cake batter in an enormous mixer that was to be poured
into large rounds and baked for layers for a tall celebratory cake
frosting was chilling pale blue
he thought that they were
fortunate to have access to the commercial equipment and appliances
as he watched them get up on
stools and lean forwardtheir skirts shimmying up the back of their thighs he
was flipflopflopped disoriented disconnected blacked out but not then found
himself breathing salt air leaning on a birdshitted railing on a pier looking
down into roiling dark water lacquered with yellow moonlight
he was unsurprised
he watched an enormous paleblue
frosted cake sinking layer by layer
he really wanted a slice of
that cake
he rarely ate cake
as a boy he remember licking the
beaters and liking the batter raw
hed be lying if he didnt admit it
occurred to him how nice the batter would taste slightly warmed after generously
drizzled on the backs of the candystripers thighs
he once enjoyed a breast like
that
a tattlers breast
his next door neighbours his girlfriend
at the time
she invited him over to make an impromptu
cake and without saying a word she stripped down to her panties and bra perhaps she didnt want to risk her clothing getting
mussed
her father was suspicious of him
he was also a detective
he was dismayedconfounded that his daughter
was seeing a Polack
working on the batter together an
extra egg rolledtried to make a great escape and lunging for it across the counter
to save it from certain suicide she dipped her breast in the bowl of batter
Nuts! she said as she reached for
a dish towel
he stayed her hand Here Lemme help
What . . she began to say then Oh my . . as he unclasped her bra with
one hand and slathered the offending breast with the spatula from the bowl with
the other
he kissed it lapped it then smeared the other breast and had her hold them for him
ended up they only enough
batter to make some cupcakes
that they were too full to eat
he heard it told by a friend of a friend about his girlfriends exploits he wasnt mentioned too bad a guy can always use good presshis reputation preceding him one can dream
he hadnt said a thing
1906, Saturday,
4 1. 20
1338, Twosday,
19 5. 20
