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Show CHRYSALIS PAGE 174 My Micky Mouse wristwatch is running again. Reassuring. His orange gloves measure out the minutes and hours. He smiles while the #20 needle descends and punctuates the vein that waits darkly under the pale skin inside my elbow. The blood runs red and frothy into the pyrex tubes. This vampire is a practically painless sticker. The vampire (as the lab technicians like to call themselves) releases the tourniquet and marks the spot with a band-aid, and that is that. Until next time. The mouse smiles. Eleven-thirty. "Hang in there, Mouse," I say out loud. "Mouse?" says the vampire. "Have a nice day." I wave and make a graceful exit lest Dracula think I am the kind of lady who talks to her wristwatch. There is a glorious strong sun. It is nice to be warm. I feel I am something wrapped in a cocoon ~ it shuts me in; it shuts others out. When will a butterfly emerge from this chrysalis that is me? Vincent Van Gogh wrote to his brother: "I. should like to know whagt I. am the, larva, of. myjelf.." Me, too. The book is coming along. I have set up interviews with some special people who share my experiences in one way or another. I think we can help each other if we will. |