on sale for 89 cents a pound. First-off, he was yellow and the skin was hanging off of his bony ass in such a way as to accent his skeleton so that you knew you were buying more bones than meat so it probably wasn't such a good purchase, after all. Actually, that is exactly what I thought, "I'm not buying this!". I went and checked the name tag on the door outside, again; yes, there was his name, it was him.
It all started a few days previously with a phone call. "I'm going to the Oakland Naval Hospital, actually I'm not too bad; pancreatic cancer, when they do the surgery, they are coming-in through the back, they'll be able to get rid of the ulcers, too, kill two birds with one stone; and, I'll probably be able to eat those real hot jalapenos, again, those special ones I get from my Mexican friend at the Gold Nugget. You really don't have to come down.?" I hung-up pretty quick, so I could focus on decisions...money, transportation, length of stay.
I took the train down the coast. It was beautiful. I hadn't taken a train since I was a child and it's my favorite way to travel. I thought he'd like this. The train cuts away from the busy cities and urban sprawl after Tacoma. It parallels the highways in a lot of places, but, then it cuts-away and mavericks through more wild country...the mountains and the trout streams, that's what he liked, for the fly fishing...that and the ocean, that ocean that always changes while it stays the same. I was thankful I knew him, he gave me my love of the outdoors. I'd have to tell him that.
Martinez was the sleepy one stop anachronism just before the train snapped into Oakland. It wasn't too hard to catch a bus up to the hospital. I like the way they put hospitals on hills. I was glad he was without visitors, I didn't want to talk to his wife and her relatives.
I really didn't think it was him, when I first saw him (that's why I checked the name again). I was staring at him when he woke, then I knew he was uniquely himself as all people are when you know them well.
oh ...this is election reform, isn't it.? for a sec, I thought I was posting in the wrong place...