The Fall

It was very hot outside. I was taking Eddie dog for his evening drag. Outside, a man was cleaning the driveway of our apartment building with a pressure hose, making the sticky day steamy too. I waited for him to spurt elsewhere and walked past with Eds.

As the outer gate clanged shut, I slipped on the wet pavement, and fell hard and headlong. As I went down, my ankle doubled under me. I knew it was bad.

There was no-one in sight. I grabbed Eds, who had wandered over to lick my face. I dragged myself upright by the gate handle. I staggered back up the drive, the ill-favoured cleaner staring, saying nothing. Safe indoors, pain and shock took over.

In quick succession then: cab to clinic, x-rays, broken ankle diagnosed, plaster, hospital bedroom, tubes and drips, baby food supper. And next day, pain, anaesthetic, surgery, vomiting. A second night then home.

I haven’t been outside the front door for a week now, or seen the sun, or walked on two feet. I wait for milestones – bandages came off yesterday; stitches out a week today, then a big biker-boot walker. After that I can go outside again, and marvel at all the things I was complaining about before the fall. People…shops…blue sky and clouds…same old woods with Eds…up and down the aisles at the supermarket. Choosing where I go and what I get.

Almost the first thing I did at the clinic was to contact my brother and sister in London, via Facebook, Facetime, Whassup. (I live abroad).  Also my daughter-in-law and sister-in-law. Their concern and bracing kindness have been a lifeline since my world lurched. I scribbled this short poem in bed at the clinic:

After the fall

When I fell, I fell
alone and hard on the shuttered Spanish street.

Afterwards, in relation, I fell again and
again and this time,
my loved ones caught me.

On the Net, and in the air, they caught me and held me,
in relation.

I started this blog to while away the captive days, and to reconnect with ‘the extraordinary ordinary’ of daily life, through writing. I hope you like some of the poems I am working on and welcome hearing your stories and comments too.

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