botched toe

2020-09-12

We were on a garden terrace and there were all these tiny little tomatoes. So ripe, they just burst in your hand.

But I discovered that I was incredibly allergic to them in a weird way: if the juice of one of the tomatoes came in contact with my skin, then my skin would immediately start to peel and melt as though the tomato juice was acid.

I had a couple of serious wounds on my arms and legs at this point, and I stood up to leave and get medical attention, but the way out was steep and narrow, and my brother was blocking the way. He refused to move, or make room for me to pass. I pleaded with him and showed him my gaping wounds, but he merely shrugged and continued to block the way.

We were at a game or sporting event, and getting to our seats involved climbing up a small, narrow ladder and then kind of swinging yourself up and over onto a catwalk beside the ladder.

I watched a kid ahead of me do it agilely and effortlessly.

When I tried though, I overthought it and got kind of stuck, and eventually kind of brute force hurled myself up and over. On the swing up, though, I struck my foot on a beam, and it hurt something fierce.

I took my shoe off to look, and my right big toe had been cored like an apple. The center, the core, was still attached, but barely. It was wiggly and loose, and looked and felt like it might come out at the slightest provocation.

I started limping around looking for help, trying to find an elevator down to the main floor. I found a custodian who was mostly helpful but slow and liked riddles and jokes. He said there was a staff elevator he’d unlock for me down half a flight of steel stairs. The kind with a see-through grate on the step.

My dog was with me, and he’s terrified of stairs anyway. Given the look and feel and sound of these ones, there was no chance in hell he’d ever step foot on them. And I was in no shape to carry him.

I made the hard decision to leave my dog, and followed the custodian, excruciatingly, down the stairs.

Later I was getting a splint wrapped up on my toe, and I kept telling anybody who would listen to go back up and find my dog.