Something About What You Carry Or Have Carried

 Something About What You Carry Or Have Carried

“My brain hurts.”

“Aww, sweetie. Did you take your pills?”

“The usual ones: the blue one and the two aspirin. And I took the allegedly prophylactic

pills at six, as prescribed.”

“Well, come here. Yes, really. Come rest your head on my shoulder. I’ll stroke your hair.

Mmm, it’s getting so long, like it was when we were first together. Have some more water.”

“Headache shall be always with us. With me, anyway. Sometimes it’s like a thing of its

own, dropping in to visit. Or maybe it’s always there, riding on my shoulder, maybe, and only

brings itself to my attention from time to time.”

“Like a little guy with stubble on his chin whacking you with a hammer?”

“Heh. There’s the secret of our success again: I’m not old enough to have seen those ads for

whatever that medication was, but I know about them anyway. I’ve seen him in old magazines,

and parodied in Mad magazine reprint books. So I’m honorary old.

“Hold on a sec, let me get my water bottle. Yeah, now go back to stroking my hair. Feels so

good.”

“Are you feeling better?”

“Starting to. Wow, it’s amazing how different I feel while you’re touching me. It hurts so

much less.

“But I do wonder if there’s something else I could do about these headaches. Or this

headache. The headache.”

“The great granddaddy of all headaches. I’m so sorry. I know it’s a burden on you. Mmm, I

do like your hair like this.”

“It’s not all that much trouble. I could keep it this way if you want.

“I do like it when you stroke my head like that. Well, when you did stroke it. I sure do miss

you. Everything reminds me of you, even my headache. It knew you, too.”

Sharon Olds Late Poem To My Father

https://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php%3Fdate=2005%252F11%252F17.htm

The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Take care of yourself."