May 22 2008

The Ankle Incident as it Unfolded

Published by at 6:10 pm under Cinque Terre,Italy

Here are some pictures of the Incident. I made them all black-and-white to give them that gritty, breaking-news, as-it-happened feel. Trust me, it’s like you’re at the scene.

AnkleStory1

Above, I’m standing right where the Incident occurred: at the Riomaggiore police station, on the landing of the stairs that are to my right, leading to our parking garage above. Meredith is aided by valiant paramedics to the waiting ambulance. She sets her jaw, a glint appears in her eye, and she boldly hops forward.

AnkleStory2

Above, Meredith, with ankle wrapped and moving with determination, bravely approaches the ambulance door.

AnkleStory3

Above, through the ambulance back door, another paramedic straps Meredith in for the twisty, treacherous 20-minute drive down to the emergency room. You can’t see her face but, take it from me, it shows true grit.

AnkleStory4

Above, the orthopedic technician is overcome with emotion and can’t go on. Meredith must take charge, pointing and directing him on what to do next. Her strength is unwavering.

AnkleStory6

Above, the next evening, we go to a cafe with rules. Emboldened by the latent reserves of power revealed during the Incident, Meredith laughingly calls them: “rules.”

AnkleStory5

Above, emboldened by her victorious dance with death, she places her plastered foot on a chair, scoffing at signs clearly meant only for the lesser.

 AnkleStory7

Above, Meredith confidently uses her crutches to vault away from the cafe and up the near-vertical streets of Riomaggiore, smiling with the thought that she can put her feet on chairs now with impunity.

And that’s how it happened. Trust me. I was there.

– Dave

One response so far

One Response to “The Ankle Incident as it Unfolded”

  1. Mom and Dad says:

    You’re right the black and white gives it that movie/newsreel feel that I think you were going for. A lot like “And that’s the way it is” of Walter Cronkite. I wonder if I could get some of his old stuff on VHS or DVD to let you share in that art form? Thank you for being there so Mer has someone to flaunt the rules with. Tell Meredith I had missed the a in flash about the first four times I looked at the photo of the sign.

    Good to see you still have that wonderful sense of humor about you.

    About the Walter Cronkite reference. As my age progresses (towards Homer’s dad on the Simpsons) I am becomming a “rememberer” well on my way to a “forgotaboutiter”.

    Russ