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Dreams 09/17/06
Carting a Man in Shock

Janet Kuypers, 09/17/06 #1

I think I was out of town for a weekend or something,
at like some sort of big get-together
and people had said that a friend of their was missing
and they were at one of the events that weekend
so no one had any idea where this guy could be

so I was going someone one day
while I was out of town at this group get-together
this one weekend
and I was driving away to somewhere,
I don’t know where I was going to, but there I was
driving what seemed like maybe a scooter or something
and towing my suitcase behind me in a wide cart
it was like I had a trunk behind me,
and my suitcase was laying down
in he back of my cart on my ride
to wherever I was going

so I was on a tiny little suburban side street
and a cop was right there,
turned his sirens on, so I stopped
right near a light onto a bigger street
in this little neighborhood
I don’t know why he pulled my over,
I think he gave me a warning or something
because I got no ticket
and he let me then go on my way

but before I left, I saw
that right behind me at this tiny little street
when I was pulled over
was this friend of everyone’s

he was just sitting there, behind the wheel,
looking forward,
waiting to go

so instead of going, I started walking behind my scooter
to see if this was really our friend
and I walked over to him, and I asked if it was the friend
that has been missing
and he didn’t answer right away
I could see that it was our friend
but I got the feeling,
since this guy had been missing fir a while,
that he was in some sort of physical trouble,
like he has been in an accident or something,
and he was about to pass out
and he was in shock

so finally he started speaking
and I can’t remember what he was saying
but he was acting like he felt fine
but I could see by his condition
that he wasn’t acting normal
co all I could think
was that I had to get him to the hospital
which is on this next street,
maybe less than a mile away
if I just turned left on this upcoming street
and took him to the hospital myself
(I didn’t think he’d want to go with me,
and I didn’t have a phone to get an ambulance
so I had to take him there myself)

so as he vaguely talked to me about nothing I could understand,
I just picked him up,
that’s when I could see that something was coming out of his nose
not blood, but like a metallic pus
and it got me scared
that something was really wrong with him,
so I was able to lift him up
and bring him over to my little scooter

I opened up the trunk-like lid
on the back cart of my scooter
and I had all of my stuff in there,
like it was my luggage for my trip

good thing I didn’t pack a lot,
so I’d be able to put my friend in this cart
and they’d have room,
curled up,
while I took them to the hospital

so yes, I managed to lift him up
while they were still conscious
(but not arguing with me to stop carrying them)
and put him into my cart,
closed it,
hoped this wouldn’t suffocate him,
and then got to the front of my scooter
just started driving to this nearby hospital

got up to the main street
turned left
went straight for probably less than a mile
and the hospital was there, on the left
so I turned in
knew I couldn’t carry him to the hospital
so I unhitched my cart from the scooter
and started wheeling him to the hospital

but instead of going to the emergency room in this hospital
I went to like a waiting room area
where there were a bunch of patients,
having to wait in line
waiting to see a doctor
so I must have entered my name into a list
to be called up
as I wheeled my cart towards the back of this crowded room
and I started to open my cart
when someone called my last name
so I started to move forward
apparently with this friend in my cart
filled with clothes for my weekend trip
and I started lifting my belongings out of the way
and saw this friend,
I think they were unconscious at this point,
and he was all curled up tightly in my cart
and there was a small stream of metallic ooze
coming out of his nose
and I didn’t know what to tell any doctor
whenever I got up to the front
to help this man


Copyright © 2006 Janet Kuypers.

U.S. Government Copyright © 2004
Chicago Poet Janet Kuypers
on all art and all writings on this site completed
before 6/6/04. All rights reserved. No material
may be reprinted without express permission.


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