May 31, 2023

Dark skies, though no rain.

When L was here we discussed why I “chose” to remain single, considering my tastes and preferences and propensities. I realized sometime after– as I have at intervals in the past– that I remained single because no one wanted to spend his life with me. The simplest explanations are often the correct ones. 

More than a week ago I noticed that one of the knobs on my ruined left leg was growing and discolored. I pointed it out to L, and she noted that it was red, and thus getting circulation. When I went to the doctor I pointed it out again, saying I feared it was gangrene or the like, but the nurse said if it were gangrene the whole leg would be involved. Thinking it was just one of those horrors brought by ruined circulation, I tried to ignore it, while noting it grew and changed color. I hoped that like a blood blister it would eventually disappear on its own. Today in the Ingle’s parking lot I took another look, and saw that it had grown antennae and a leg. It was, in fact, a tick, now gray and as big as the end of my thumb. I pulled it loose and dropped it. I went in, did my shopping and asked the pharmacist if there was a way to guard against tick fever, and he said doxycycline, which I, miraculously, have. When I went back to the car the hideous thing was dragging itself across pavement approximately the color of itself. I had said to myself ten times “it looks just like a tick,” but, as I do, I assumed something other than the simplest answer.