Worthy Witness

I was sitting in the back yard when it happened.  The low-to-the ground lounge chair had been saturated with rain the night before, and it was still smelled damp.  I was dumbstruck when I saw the flash of white; a long, scraggy animal flashed up from the pond, skipped beneath the hostas, slid around the daylillies and disappeared into the dense grasses.

My headache came within the hour.

We were doing last-minute chores in the house the next day, and as I stooped to pick up the dog’s toy, my shoulder hurt, all the way to my neck, and it radiated into and became part of the headache from yesterday.  I paid no attention to it.  We were going to Newport!  I packed my overnight with the new red nightgown, the black bathing suit with the thin ribbon of bright blue at the bust that made me ten pounds thinner and  my stylish Picasso smock with black leggings for dinner on the deck.

When I breathed in the salt air and warmed in the Narragansett sun of Beach No. 4, I let go of the headache and pained shoulder and neck and walked the beach with a Nikon in hand.  The ebb and flow of the tide soothed my cares as it washed across bare feet; toes dug into the sand, butt relaxed in the bleached, brown beach chair.  I visualized the color or rainbows, felt the wings of butterflies on my cheeks and soon was asleep.

Dinner was grand at the outdoor deck overlooking the Jamestown bridge.  Our table faced the bridge with sunset rays glancing gold, a beautiful site to a spectacular day.

The long, luxurious soak with salts from Israel was relaxing, and the shower selection of rain-forest heightened my interest.  I dried off in the thick white towel, dabbed on some Shalimar and skimmed into the red, silky nightgown.  My headache returned with a vengeance.  I felt the sharp pain in my shoulder.  “Nothing,” I said to myself as I turned the door and entered the room.

My prince of 25 years was already in the bed, a look of love and longing in his eyes.  As I lay beside him, the elephant in the room settled on my chest.  I turned to one side, and he was there.  I turned to my husband, and the elephant came with me.  Pericarditis.  I knew it well.  I took off the nightgown, folded it while my frustrated mate went for the Motrin.