In Transit two

                                        
                                             
 Two                                           
                                               
 Shortly after I was born/ I was taken back to the   
hospital.  Somehow I had contracted impetigo.  That
disease is contagious.  I've been told I was placed
in a warm room and was unclothed.  Recollections of  
those days are nil, but I have an unprovable theory 
about them.  Since it was somewhat like returning    
to the comfort of the womb, I think it may have had
a positive effect on me.  On the other hand, since 
I was unclothed, I think my exhibitionist tendencies
and/ may have begun there.                          
                                                   
Although I do not recall those times either, I was,
apparently, somewhat aggressively precocious.  One  
of my sisters has told me I would get up on top of   
the kitchen table and attempt to argue with my dad,
but as he wanted nothing to do with it, he would
just eat a little faster and go outside.  One day
when I was yet quite young I had a conversation    
with an adult female neighbor while sitting with
her on their family's front steps.  The contents  
of that conversation I have no memory of, but I  
later found out she told my mother I talked like  
an adult.                                         
                                                
We and our neighbors lived near what then was the    
west edge of FdL, yet we had sidewalks and sewers
and street lights.  Oh the stories they were props
in!  Unlike most other kids--being a dreamer and
adventurer, during my tricycle days I sometimes  
pedalled beyond our corner lots.  Two such got me
into trouble.  Around two blocks to the south/
the sidewalk along the street our house faced/   
passed a vacant lot, and there was a shallow dip.
Don't recall how I got past it going south, but I
do recall deciding to ride through it on my way
back north.  Suddenly, the dip proved/ I was the   
dip.  Incident two was propelled by curiosity.  I
heard music in the distance to the east, and I
pedalled off in search of its source.  I found it:  
a band, a marching-type band, near the railroad 
tracks just north of the train station.  That
station was nearly a mile from where we lived.
On my way home, my parents showed up in the 
family car.  Am unclear about that, but I think 
that is what happened.                
                                              
When I was older, my sisters and I got the   
brilliant idea of twirling our bodies around in our    
livingroom.  It was a dizzy idea, and who was
the first victim: I was.  Splat.  My forehead  
against the wooden arm of dad's easy chair.  
Mother called the family doctor and rushed me  
to his office.  4 stitches.
                                          
One of the first questions a neurologist asks 
when you visit him/her because you have had a  
seizure is: "Have you had any head injuries?"  
I haven't kept a count.                        
                                                      
                                                     
                                                   
                                                
Rho00117                                   
                                                 
                                               
Gustav Holst  The Planets  Op.32  
Mars