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(A Vacation Trip to the Southland... -- continued)

Act III

The figure in the grey robe lies once more on his back on the table, head toward the audience, surrounded by five figures in white who alternate in moving toward and away and around him. A male figure in white stands close most of the time and appears to be ministering to him. The two female figures in black robes and veils continue to dance seductively with their robes and veils around the table, but gradually they seem to decrease their presence and disappear into the background. The figure in violet stands to the right wiping his eyes and face and wringing his hands in grief.

Act IV

The figure in violet leads the figure in grey slowly in from the left side of the stage to the table and helps the figure in grey slowly lie back down, head toward the audience. The figure in violet then stands quietly by the figure in grey, stroking his right hand and shaking his head slowly up and down. The figure in grey slowly pats the hand of the figure in violet. Then both come to rest.

 

Act I: Discovery in the Berkshires and the Trip to the Hospital

When I woke that morning in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, I had an urgent need to empty my bladder. The pain was lean-on-the-wall acute. What came out was half a pint of blood and an inch-and-a-half long dark red mass that looked like a dark, evil version of a distant red galactic gaseous mass. I thought, “This is coming out my dick??? I haven’t put my willie anywhere that the Kaiser or Tony would disapprove of, and I haven’t had any clues that anything was wrong, so what IS this!!!” I lay down for an hour to sleep and then repeated the experience without the galactic mass.
Tony and I decided to call the doctor and go home to Lewiston. We got a lab appointment for late afternoon and Tony drove us home through Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine in torrential downpours. (We’ve encountered these outpours before in Massachusetts.

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I have taken to calling them “George Bush Memorial Climactic Disturbances.” I love being in Massachusetts, and I love driving in Massachusetts, but this summer we have encountered torrential, 30 mph, red-flashing-light experiences every time we drive on I 90.) At 4:30 pm the lab drew blood and I went home to sleep. My fever was 101 degrees.

Acts II and III: Surviving at St. Mary’s

An hour later I woke up shivering cold, twisting my body in an effort to breathe, and calling to Tony for blankets. My temperature was 103 degrees. Instead, Tony took me to the E.R. at St. Mary’s Hospital in Lewiston. They started me on IV saline solutions and general antibiotics. My temperature had risen to 104 degrees, there were five medical personnel attending me, and Tony says I was rambling and non-sensical. Silly me, I thought I was using humor as a defense against anxiety.
St. Mary's Hospital in Lewiston, Maine
Preparations were made to admit me immediately. The medical staff later told me that if I had not come in just when I did, I probably would next have experienced hallucinations and then died. Knowing me, if I had been alone, that’s what would have happened. After all, who values himself so highly that he’s worth calling an ambulance for? Let alone, being able to get downstairs to unlock the door!
The diagnosis ultimately was sepsis of the bladder, that is, an infection of the bladder, that had somehow caused hematuria, a systemic infection of the bloodstream that caused the blood supply system to collapse. Sepsis and Hematuria. I saw them as Greek goddesses of death, dancing seductively in ghostly veils around me as five figures clothed in white moved among them, toward and away from me, trying to preserve my life, while Tony stood somewhat to the side wringing his hands with tears in his eyes.
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