I drove down to Orlando Health for a Cystoscopy which is an outpatient procedure where a camera is inserted up the penis to look at the prostate.

The drive down was quite pleasant with open country and many country cabins with metal roofs much like I have been searching for. I allowed for extra time since it was rush hour, but there was no rush hour on the roads I drove on.

In the waiting room there were a few other patients. I recognized their faces from the last time I had been to the office. The guy in the back row was always on the phone talking business. I was sitting on the opposites side of the room which was empty since the TV was above my head. A program was on about a young couple buying a home in Maui. They had to keep the budget under a million dollars. I felt bad for them having to settle for a place where the bedroom had a view of whales swimming buy. Maybe I should move to Maui, I bet no one has a swollen prostate there. No I don’t think it is in my budget, unless I find some wreck of a place on the rim of an active volcano. But think of the views before being burnt to a cinder. I did go to Maui during the making of Lilo and Stitch, and there are lovely homes with metal roofs and chickens in the yard.

A nurse came in and let us all know that there was a delay since a patient before us had complications. Dear god, what kind of complications? Was I about to experience similar complications? Should I sneak my way towards the door? The couple in front of me was called in first. They never returned. Then I was called in. It took me a while to pack up my art supplies. When I am in a nervous rush the supplies have a habit of refusing to go back in the bag. I eventually had to stand up with a paint rag dangling out of the mouth of the bag like a colorful tongue. I walked towards the nurse. I am sure everyone was thinking the same thing, “dead man walking.”