64 - Mushroom shaped.
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Was over in the old part of town again the other
evening, to test the back-flow assembly at another
one of those falling-down houses. I mask up and go
knock on the door, and I'm talking to somebody
living there for a minute. And while she's looking
aside and down into her notebook for some records,
something in her living room catches my
eye. Sometimes you can't help but notice what's
right in front of you. Sitting on the sofa there
watching the TV, there's this poor soul afflicted
with some kind of
genetical-cranio-megacephalic-deformity syndrome
or something. Their head is bald and hugely
overgrown, so that their forehead is like twice as
wide side-to-side as their face is, but the top of
it comes to a rounded point. Their face and body
seems kind of shrunken, with stumps for arms and
legs. There's this little girl sitting there on a
stool, feeding them pieces of waffle with a fork.
They're sitting there rocking side to side
slightly as they chews, and this reminds me of
something but I can't quite place it. And then
what pops into my head: they're shaped like a
mushroom.
The woman looks back up from her notebook, and I
guess she sees me glancing past her, and her eyes
go narrow and dark. Is there anything else you
need right now? No ma'am, I have what I need,
thank you. And she closes and locks the door, and
I go around back to do the job what I came for.
I'm not trying to be funny, not trying to take
away anyone's dignity. I've sure done stuff I wish
I hadn't, and looking into their room is one I'll
add to that list. But I'm not an uncompassionate
person you know. I'm just saying I saw a shape is
all, and that was a mushroom shaped person.
