CXIII. Eat TV, Watch Ice Cream. July 2, 2023

>driving Lyft

>pick up this older Black dude

>he doesn’t look fragile, but he is badly hobbling

>has two canes

>when he gets in the car

>he tells me the whole story

>whether I want to hear it or not

>”Man I gotta go to the orthopedic today. Missed my last appointment and my foot’s hurting bad, real bad”

>”Dang man, what’d you do?”

>”I tell ya, man, I was at my sister’s house 

>”it was about a year ago

>”we was having a good time, chilling

>”I was dranking Chivas Regal, and man we drank A LOT of Chivas Regal

>”and it’s dark as fuck out there, and I was turnt

>”so I fell of the porch and landed wrong on my ankle

>”I shattered it man, fucked it up REAL GOOD

>”doctors had to put pins in it. But it ain’t getting no better, man it hurts bad, I gotta get some medicine for it”

>I say “The doctors couldn’t do nothing for you?”

>”They gave me some medicine but I ain’t got no more

>”I was supposed to do all these exercises too, but it hurt so bad I quit doing em

>”I ain’t seen the doctor in six months. I missed my last appointment, and the one before that is when my second penile implant fell out”

>. . .

>what the fuck

>”Your what now? Did what?”

>”Yeah I went to the doctor and they gave me a urine test. Nurse had to watch me because I’m on parole and she said ‘What’s that? What’s that right there? And I looked down and it come out in my hand”

>”Your penile implant…”

>”My SECOND penile implant. I got the first one back when I had insurance and got prostate surgery but then I got a DUI so I don’t have that job no more

>”I was messing around with this girl from up Waukeenah. Knew I shouldn’ta been doing it, but it felt too good, man I couldn’t stop, and ripped my stitches, They had to put a new one in

>”and THAT one fell out when I was supposed to get this ankle fixed

>”But I’m on Medicaid so they gotta do it all in order

>”They said they had to clear up my infection and put the implant back in before they did anything to my ankle”

>”Jeez, dude, that SUCKS”

>is the best I can think to say

>and then the guy says

>”You get used to it. I’m gonna get some medicine today and I’ll be alright

>”But my brother-in-law, he’s fucked up bad

>”he had some sort of a brain bleed and they put a stint in his head”

>”Wow, I’m sorry to hear that” I say

>and he says, “I ain’t. He used to run around on my sister all the time. Now all he do is eat TV and watch ice cream”

>he cackles

>”he don’t run around on her no more I can tell you that”

>well

>yin and yang I guess