~ Spring Break #4

 I found my way upstairs and had a smoke, and somebody spoke, and I went into a dream…*

427 words, 2 minutes read time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Someone said, “Be still. Don’t move! Help is on the way!”

Moments later, another voice: “We’re connecting you with our support team.”

Then someone else said, with urgency, “The Department Engineer, Dr. Hapless, will join us just as soon as  he’s available.”

Apparently, I was presenting myself as being very unconscious. I also found time to be very transparent. It was difficult to keep track of time, to see or taste it, much less comprehend its passing. Certainly, a length of time had passed and must still be apparently passing. This offered a new quandary: if time is still, how can it still be passing?

Had I somehow stumbled into a new axiom of quantum physics? I was pretty convinced that I may have stumbled upon a way to manage nuclear waste and resolve the perplexities of perpetual motion as well.

The problem was that I could only hear, and what little I could hear sounded distant and muffled. I also felt inconvenienced because I retained no other senses than my hearing. None that I was aware of. Also, I couldn’t move or feel anything.

The sudden loss of all sensations made me feel curious. It seemed I should be feeling alarmed or panicky, or at least be somewhat more anxious than I was, but, honestly, I felt fine. Not a care in the world… Maybe this was just part of not feeling anything at all.

I could hear fine, though.  Even through the noisy beeps and hums of this electronic peeked environment, I could hear clearly when someone said, “We have his chart, we can read his chart now! Someone brought it from the scene of the accident.”

Then, to my surprise, I heard Mel! She seemed annoyed, “It’s not a chart, it’s his bar tab. I just brought it by to make sure that it got paid.”

“I see,” an earlier woman’s voice said, “that still could be a great help. “Ask that woman (she must have meant Mel) if she can help us to fill out some of the paperwork on this John Dow.”

Hearing Mel’s voice warmed me somehow. I felt a tingle at hearing someone out there who existed and might validate my being. Even though the sensation was remote and tiny, I felt vaguely identified. I was no longer John Doe, I was someone else, and someone named Mel might know who I am!

~~~~~> more to come…

>~~~O~~~<

*Lennon, McCartney- (A Day in the Life)

-dalton

4/23/26

(432)