sensory fibers exposed

"Once we expose the vagal nerve, we’ll call you," said the doctor to the nurse.

This came out of the hallway earlier, in response to the nurse saying, "I want to be there, but it’s always so long until you get to that part. I have other places to be."

Work busies my head and hands today. This drop from the eaves is the fruit of such a day—outside force field, the speed of light, and a couple of space cadets each in motion with respect to one another—when I have been congenially irritable. I can’t explain the paradox; call it green tea. Call it the body purging itself of trash.

Next time you and I are making plans together, I will say this: Once I expose the vagal nerve, I’ll call you. In the meantime I may be eating dinner, petting the neighbor’s cat, showering, digging a grave, tending buttons, who knows. But once the vagal nerve is exposed, I’ll call you.