A Few Minor Adjustments by Cherie Kephart

Author:Cherie Kephart
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Memoir
Publisher: Cherie Kephart
Published: 2017-04-30T16:00:00+00:00

On Saturday, Alex drove me to Penny’s house, about five miles away. I fought to keep still on a massage table in her living room. A small green statue of Buddha sat by the front door; vibrant peach and fuchsia drapes hung from her windows. Penny looked like a modern hippie, wearing stylish hemp clothing and beaded bracelets.

My heart raced as she twisted and turned my neck, arms, hips, and back. Each modification overpowered me. Only a squirrel receiving a chiropractic adjustment from King Kong would understand.

At the end of the hour, my symptoms were worse than when she started. Propped up against Alex, I paid and thanked Penny, and then he led me outside.

My legs gave way, and an acute pain shot through me like barbed wire wrapped taut around my muscles. I fell to the ground screaming. Alex lifted me up into his Jeep.

“You can’t go back to your place. Doesn’t Sandy live down the street from here?”

I nodded.

“I’m taking you there.”

Sandy and Alex carried me into her master bedroom and put me on a queen-size bed. Fresh lavender filled the air, and I could hear the faint melody of jazz music playing in the next room. I stared at the ceiling since I couldn’t risk moving my neck.

“How you doing?” Alex whispered.

“My chest hurts, and my neck, it’s so stiff. My left arm feels numb. What’s wrong with me?”

“I don’t know, hon.”

Hours passed. Sandy and Alex stood by as I sobbed and screamed. Sandy called Paloma, a homeopathic healer, a natural beauty who often wore converse shoes and silver jewelry. She treated her patients like family, and her compassion and caring ways were always a gift.

Sandy, Paloma, and an energetic healer named Will, all leaned over me, touching my arms and legs. Images of Zambia flashed through my mind, when Kyle sat beside me, consoling me as I jerked out of control, but this time I wished for life. I pleaded silently: Please end this torture. I want to live.

Tears flooded my eyes, yet I could see Alex watching from the back of the room, head slightly hung. My belly convulsed. I screamed.

The three healers encouraged me to let out everything trapped inside. I had no choice. My body took over. I cried for hours until the tears departed and a hollow sensation consumed me.

“You’re in no condition to go anywhere. You can stay here until your appointment on Monday,” Sandy said.

I didn’t have the energy to answer.

Sandy’s oldest son gave up his bedroom for me, a gracious present from a seventeen-year-old boy. Alex put me on the twin bed and curled up next to it on the floor with a blanket and pillow.

Although I had so many cradling me with such care, that night in that room, the isolation of my unceasing intense agony made it difficult to see the presence of others. I thanked them for helping me, and extending such friendship and concern, but I still felt far away from everything but pain.

Sandy, her two boys, and Alex all slept, while I begged for an end to my suffering.

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