Show of Shows

#Agnes R. Keatley
115 So Kimberly St.
Shady Spring, WV 25918
(304) 763-3991
12, 407

SHOW OF SHOWS

Agnes Keatley

How did I come to be here, in this place? A hospital yes, but I do not know of coming here! This bed beneath my tired old bones feels mighty good to me, the blankets and sheets so smooth and warm. Comodo! Yes, comfortable. But there is much pain, oh peno, pain yes. What has happened to me? No matter! My stay will be short, for one way or the other I will soon have to leave here. I should rest and enjoy the comfort while I can. If only I could shut off the tape; that continuous reel that plays over and over in my mind. . . “Mie espongo de espongo” - “My show of shows;” the best and the worst of my life as it plays out on the screen of my mind. If I could but turn it off for a time, perhaps then I could truly rest. But oh, the tape of memories will stop only when the body stops, I know this, for that is all that is left of this life - the memories.
Oh, Eleanor stretch your old bones; let them warm and flex in comfort, and with the medication, whatever they have given - take rest. But painful, painful. Aha! The nurse comes.
So , young nurse, you tell me what to do; to sit, to lay, lift, open, close, turn; but otherwise you do not talk to me, or even look at me. Can you not look at me and talk to me? ME! Look at ME! And what is it that you see here nurse? A nobody, of little importance? I cannot speak, and I don’t know why - but you could tell me!