Your Heart Attack is Scheduled for 0800
by lawrence-hall
When I don’t know what to say – I write
This morning I entered the barber shop prepared
To laugh, “Make me look like a young Robert Redford!”
And to hear in reply, “I don’t work miracles!”
As is our custom
But she was slumped into a chair – pain, fear
The bypass and stents hadn’t worked after all
911 / “Call my daughter” / “I can’t dial the phone”
“Where are my glasses” / “Where are my keys”
The EMT arrived
“I need my husband” / “Where is he?” / “Do you know?”
I didn’t remind her that he died years ago
Pain, fear, dizziness, nausea, pain, fear
The EMT spoke soothingly and measured everything
The ambulance arrived
The neighbors gathered and hovered in circles
The oxygen hissed, the gurney clanked
Kind, reassuring words, squawking radios
The ambulance rumbled down the street and away
I locked her little house and little shop
Wondering if I was locking away an unfinished book