So, I think I got this bad chicken steak last Friday. I'm working the day shift, you know, one
twelve hour shift starting at oh-six-hundred and things are great; no calls
all morning. I order a chicken cheese steak
early; I call over there at eleven and they say the grill's already on and it's
no problem so I grab a radio and walk across the street and pick up my
steak. I'm hungry; the thing smells like sex on a bun. Walking back to the
house the tones drop for some chest pain thing over on Westmont. I sprint back and jump onto my special white bus
with the flashy red lights and the woo-woo noises.
I throw the brown paper bag into the map console and we go screaming out of
there over to Westmont for the chest pain thing which turns out to be a fucking
cardiac arrest, CPR in progress. We do the
whole thing, whatever. After that it's
back-to-back calls for the next eight hours, going on two hours after I'm
supposed to be off shift. Finally we get back to the barn so I can
clock out. I grab my bedraggled steak
from the ambo... The bag looks
fine. That steak tastes fine. I'm so hungry I eat it right there in the
goddamned dayroom before going home. I
eat the hell out of that steak and then I drive home. I start feeling queasy before I even get to a
hundred and thirty second street. I gotta
pull over and vomit, right there on Franklin, in the park and ride. Awesome, I get home, she's annoyed not just because
I got held over and we missed out on some important plans she thought we had
but also because I vomit on the carpet right when I get to the living
room. Smooth move, I know. So I drag my ass to bed. Right away I start getting these crazy hot
flashes and weird pains in my thighs, abdomen, right shoulder and neck, and
head. I'm sweating like a dog, totally
drenching the sheets. She bails for the
sofa, understandably. I'm a sweaty, achy
mess. I toss and turn. Finally, I drop into some sort of broken, crazy sleep.
While I'm sleeping, I have these weird dreams regarding the neighbors. I know it's the neighbors in my dream because
they always wear those stupid goat and marmot outfits. Anyway, I dream that I'm woke up by a
knocking at the door and when I get it, it's the neighbors and they come in and
ply me with alcohol and various illicit substances and concepts. The next thing I know, there's some big fire
out in the yard and goat and marmot are dancing around it chanting
something about healthcare plans and gerrymandering and I'm like, this is
boring so I'm out of here. Anyway, after
that weird dream I wake up on the sofa.
Somehow she's in bed, no longer the sofa, that's the best thing,
really. But I don't remember the
exchange. And somehow I've bumped my
head and seem to be bleeding ever so slightly.
Anyway, I don't work Saturdays so I sleep in until there is no more sleeping. Making coffee, I look at my phone and find a
new photograph.
1 comment:
Best viewed while listening to the "Forever Doomed" zine soundtrack by Tenebrous Kate:
http://8tracks.com/tenebrouskate/forever-doomed-1
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