Discomfort feels comforting. Numbness fatal. He remembered the snake wrapping itself around his body, mouth open looking to be fed. Who isn’t searching for sustenance in these trying times? Then the head of the snake fell cleanly off, bisected by the bullet. He was cut by the bullet. Why did they shoot? Who were they? It wasn’t a movie. They had time. Even in a crisis there is usually more time than you think. It was an early competitive chess lesson. Once endless time was removed as a possibility, you had to relearn how to thoughtfully consider the next move. What was his next move? He lived. Accordingly, to the doctor, presumably for the foreseeable future. Prognosis for recovery? One more procedure, physical therapy and then discharge. Would or wouldn’t he return? Hospital white functions like a canvas that sterilizes memory and isolates desire. From his hospital bed, Miami loomed large. Escape felt distant. A poster on a building read $25,000 prize for the biggest snake. The Governor pointed like old Uncle Sam. He would return to the Everglades and resume his hunt.
