It was a mistake to ask him how he had been. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t so damn polite. He started with a tinnitus update, then worked slowly down the body. When he started on about the problems with his lower back, I picked up my coffee and drank it dreamily. He continued with the medical tour. An aggressive rash between his toes was definitely the low point. “Oh, and how are you?” he finally asked. “Fine,” I responded, just a little too sharply. I rolled my new wheelchair nearer the table, secretly pleased that his coffee had gone cold.
John Holmes’s writing has recently appeared in Paragraph Planet, Fragmented Voices, Pen to Print, Glittery Literary, Globe Soup, The Drabble, and Ellipsis Zine. John’s a UK-based writer and cyclist, presently injured! Find John at johnholmeswriter.com and on Twitter @jwhxxx.