Hullo again

Awakes, he does, in the foldable bed.  Swims to the surface, breaks water.  Beats the living daylights out of whatever it was they gave him.  Geez, maybe it’s been a long time, he thinks.  The daylight smarts his eyes.  There’s a vague smell of stale urine.  Pupils adjust, and he sees the sea-green serenity of the room.  The netted curtains on their curvy tracks.  The vectored reachings of a needy houseplant.  There’s an ache in his arm  as he moves his hand to feel his face.   That damn tape rips out some hairs and maybe a layer of skin too.  Oh boy.  Now, touch those bristly whiskers.  They remind him of his stiff hairbrush at home.  How’d he get into this state?  There are two white-capped young nurses just outside his door.  They chatter a mile a minute, in low tones, about some difficult patient.  Down the hall?  Their lilting banter stirs him, and invokes a wide smile that cracks his lower lip.  Yep, it’s been a long time.  Fumbling for the bed switch, up he sits. Hey Nellie Bellie!  You got any chapstick?  Two girlish heads turn.  One drops her jaw, the other rolls her eyes heavenward.  Yes….there’s going to be some devilry today.