Putting Pen To Paper

Saturday, July 22, 2006

The Button

posted by Ruth at 7/22/2006 06:15:00 PM

I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a chest that big, but I could be wrong. I am here to get my eyes examined after all. The waiting room where I was placed between dilation and examination is just a tiny nook with four seats on each side and hardly room between them to negotiate to the last remaining seat, but she managed. Tip-toeing, gently and with determination, she came. Stopping, she hovered over the chair, bent to pick up a magazine left there by some former occupant, and gave us all an excellent view of the smooth curve of her buttocks straining against her tight fitting navy blue gabardine slacks.

My male brain quickly calculated those hips to measure about 38”, a good and proper size for a woman of her maturity - but those breasts… 46”, 48”?!

She smiled brightly as she caught my eye, her blue eyes moist from the dilation drops, but she said nothing, just opened the magazine and flipped page after page until she found something of interest. Squinting, she pulled it closer to her face to read, and then realized that she couldn’t read. With a great sigh, she bent too quickly to retrieve her purse from beneath her chair, going for glasses I guessed. A loose button, straining for release, finally popped its last remaining thread and shot across the aisle from the expanse of her chest to the cuff of my jeans, disappearing… taking refuge there. I wonder if anyone else saw it go. I wonder how they could have missed it.

Glancing around at my seat mates in our intimate little nook I saw a child of ten or so engrossed in some electronic game or other; her mother crocheting to pass the time; two elderly gentlemen comparing their aches and pains; a middle aged woman, her red hair askew against the wall behind her, mouth gaping, but not yet snoring; and one teenage boy openly staring at that expansive chest. Grinning, he made what he thought to be a surreptitious “thumbs up” signal between his legs. “Sweet!” he mouthed in my direction.

“Mr. Johnson?” the nurse called, forcing me to avert my bulging eyes and pick my way through seven pairs of fidgety feet to follow her into the doctor’s office.

Fingering the button I’d retrieved from my cuff, I stared into the doctor’s eyes during his examination, I wondered what he saw in mine. Were those 48’s as indelibly imprinted on my retina as they were on my brain? My cheeks reddened at the thought and I dropped the button into my shirt pocket, a bit of memorabilia to reflect upon some other time.

“Now read the smallest line on the chart which you can read comfortably,” he repeated robotically.

I guess there’d been no imprint.
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click to post a comment or read comments from: Blogger Ruth, Blogger PeggySueO, Blogger WDavid, Blogger Peter,

4 Comments:

  • I jotted down some "inspirations" while scanning poetry web sites yesterday.. words or phrases which might be used to inspire a poem or something one day. This piece came today from the phrase "a loose button".

    By Blogger Ruth, at 7/22/2006 06:31:00 PM  

  • I had to read the end several times to finally "get" that the last line was referring to the fact that there had been no imprint on his retinas. Maybe I'm just slow.

    By Blogger PeggySueO, at 7/24/2006 09:58:00 PM  

  • Ruth...A cute character piece. Light humor and a slice of real life. I like it. Any thoughts of looking for a publication to run it?

    You might want to adjust this phrase: "...a child of ten or so engrossed in some electronic game or other..." I think the "or other" could be omitted. We're already ambiguous on his age so I think it's pushing it to be ambiguous on his toy as well.

    This sentence seems awkward and might be best split into two by putting a period after "examination": "Fingering the button I’d retrieved from my cuff, I stared into the doctor’s eyes during his examination, I wondered what he saw in mine." A semicolon in the same place might also work.

    By Blogger WDavid, at 7/25/2006 01:58:00 PM  

  • Peggysueo -- you're obviously not a man!!!! (Or at least, not a straight one...) but then I thought Ruth obviously wasn't either... and that definitely sounded like a man's voice... good job!

    Anyway -- no problem here with understanding the "retinal burn syndrome"! I try not to stare, but sometimes it's impossible.

    Though I agree with Peggysue a little about the last sentence... I thought the story ended too quickly.

    By Blogger Peter, at 7/25/2006 08:38:00 PM  

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