Monday

Two more shots today: my last freezer pop of rabies and an elaborate cocktail of tetanus, diphtheria, and whooping cough. This is a pretty disarming one-two blow to the system, and I can already feel the rabies going to work on my leg muscles while the lockjaw feels like someone hit me in the arm with a hammer. Of course, I also feel a little systemically used, and unsure whether little tics and oddities of feeling are all in my mind or connected to my four new diseases. Today's nurse wasn't great, either. For the first time since all this started, I had an injection that was worse than merely unpleasant: she had to spear a little deeper into my arm making sure it was securely embedded in muscle. When I finally took off my little round band-aids, I discovered they didn't even cover the vaccination sites. Sheesh. She did give me a frozen surgical glove to keep Sunshine's oral typhoid refrigerated in the car. Then I headed to Metro Center for coffee before taking the train to Silver Spring. I luckily managed to get my latte before a six-headed family piled up to the counter. I watched the parents order while four kids wandered around systematically visiting innocent destruction on the tables and stations: straws and napkins were scattered, trash was distributed, general chaos. I was thinking about how I might lecture my own hypothetical kids about enslavement; how forcing someone into your servitude by being too inconsiderate to pick up after yourself is no better than just assuming you are better than they are. When the family left with their drinks, the father kicked over the little yellow plastic A-frame wet floor warning, looked at it, and left it laying there as he trundled on by. [Cavin]