Shot Thru the Back

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And you're to blame.

Damn.

Another shot in the back to alleviate the pain in my hip and you wanna' hear the best part?

My hip feels the same and now my back hurts.

I'm supposed to feel relief, if there is any, in 3 to 5 days.

I headed to a job the morning after the shot and walked with an old buddy of mine up the stairs to the 4th floor. He was telling me about his stress test and how they shut him down 7 minutes in because his heart was skipping a few beats.

"Well you had a nice run," I told him.

"You bastard," he said. "You're supposed to be making me feel better."

We were on the 4th floor after our successful trip and we were looking out at the City of Buffalo behind the heavy glass.

"Make you feel better?" I asked. "If this window opened, I'd have to think about taking the quick way down."

"I'd land on top of you," he said.

"The worst part about it is I still think I'm 18," he added.

"That is the worst part, isn't it?" I said. "So hard to believe we'd wind up like this."

Yet my buddy was certainly frightened with his failed test. He spoke of how he isn't ready to pack it all in yet.

"I'm just over 60," he said. "I was planning on working 5 more years at least. What if they shut me down? I don't have the money to retire now."

"Homeless shelters," I said.

He laughed.

"You are a bastard."

By the time we hit the bottom steps we were talking about being smart.

"Get off the hip before you do more damage," he said.

"And you follow doctor's orders," I told him.

"Yeah, like you do."

We both laughed.

"It really has been a good run," he said.

I actually felt better as we parted.

Hell, I got 12 good years left before I start failing stress tests.

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