Novel. The Old Funeral Home. Chapter Four. Part Three.

 

The Beloved with her sister up in Wendell, Idaho. Friday, April 1.

2022. They are discussing Musica Universalis.

The world will listen gladly to/great nonsense from some buckeroo/But when a prophet speaks for God/most people think it very odd/and say it isn't true because/it's not what his close neighbor does/And so in darkness most proceed/just starving on mere chicken feed!

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Tailbone pain — pain that occurs in or around the bony structure at the bottom of the spine (coccyx) — can be caused by trauma to the coccyx during a fall, prolonged sitting on a hard or narrow surface, degenerative joint changes, or vaginal childbirth.

Tailbone pain can feel dull and achy but typically becomes sharp during certain activities, such as sitting, rising from a seated to a standing position or prolonged standing. Defecation and sex also might become painful. For women, tailbone pain can make menstruation uncomfortable as well.

Tailbone pain, also called coccydynia or coccygodynia, usually goes away on its own within a few weeks or months. To lessen tailbone pain in the meantime, it might help to:

• Lean forward while sitting down
• Sit on a doughnut-shaped pillow or wedge (V-shaped) cushion
• Apply heat or ice to the affected area
• Take over-the-counter pain relievers, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol, others), ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others) or aspirin

If your tailbone pain doesn't improve (chronic coccydynia), consult your doctor. He or she might do a rectal exam to rule out any other conditions. Your doctor might recommend using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to find out if you have a fracture, degenerative changes or, in rare cases, a tumor.

Possible treatments for chronic tailbone pain might include:

• Physical therapy. A physical therapist might show you how to do pelvic floor relaxation techniques, such as breathing deeply and completely relaxing your pelvic floor — as you would while urinating or defecating.
• Manipulation. Massaging the muscles attached to the tailbone might help ease pain. Manipulation is typically done through the rectum.
• Medication. An injection of a local anesthetic into the tailbone can relieve pain for a few weeks. Certain antidepressants or anti-epileptic medications might relieve tailbone pain as well.
• Surgery. During a procedure known as a coccygectomy, the coccyx is surgically removed. This option is typically only recommended when all other treatments fail.

This information from the Mayo Clinic website will come in handy during the following narration.
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Part 3

Wendell, is the lemon-growing  capital of Idaho. Since they can’t grow any lemons there anyway, there is no one to dispute that. In 2020 a man posted on Carl's Jr. Twitter account that he’d lost his dog at the Wendy’s in Wendell. It looks like a black lab. The post has never been updated. (and since there’s no Wendy’s in Wendell . . . there’s no one to dispute that!!)

The area around Wendell is known as Magic Valley. I don’t know why. (Most people talk of the dairy farms and the aroma surrounding that industry. I personally had only noticed the aroma at moments of driving past the large feedlots along I84 as we drove to my sister’s place. The last time we stayed there though, I was wakened in the middle of the night by a distinct odor emanating from the cows. I had never experienced that before in the 5 off and on years I spent in her house.) The reason we are writing about Wendell, Idaho instead of Tioga ND right now is because we just got back from a trip to Wendell, ID. A matter of 4 hours driving. I15 to I84. 

The reason for the trip was so my beloved could spend time with her sister on their farm in Wendell. It was my birthday present to her. Because, you see, I hate to travel more than a few miles from home anymore. One of the main reasons for this is a bruised tailbone. When I sit in a car, any car, After the first hour or so, my tailbone is on fire. And so, I need to get out of the car about every hour and walk around for a good 10 minutes, to let the pain diminish. 

I injured my coccyx in Denver Colorado, back in 1972 when I was a first-of-May with Ringling Brothers. We were doing the Bakers Gag. Dougie Ashton and Swede Johnson were the groom and bride respectively, who came into the center ring, transformed into a bakery, to purchase their wedding cake. After much byplay, Dougie, as the bride, swipes the wedding cake and begins to run out of the ring with it. He trips and falls face first into the foam rubber cake, which is hollow and filled with shaving cream. And goo goes flying everywhere. Black out.

I didn’t have much to do in the gag because Prince Paul, a dwarf clown, had the job to beat the snot out of me with various oversized baking utensils and rolling pins. In Denver, Prince gave me a standard blow to the face and I fell backwards. The rules of slapstick, mandate that when you fall on your back you break the fall with the palms of your hands. I neglected that rule for the first and only time during the matinee. And was temporarily paralyzed from the waist down. I had to be carried out of the ring.

I spent a week in bed and then went back to work. But as the years have sped by my bruised coccyx, like a trick knee, acts up from time to time. Mostly curing long car rides. And so today I prefer to stay home always.(the children have other reasons they don’t like car rides. I would travel with them buckled in the car seats on long car rides. Visiting my parents when we didn’t live with them. Traveling to new places to live when we were moving away from them. Visiting Tim when he would have jobs that took him away from Minneapolis, when we lived there. Each of the children down to Virginia have a story about riding in those long car rides. The one thing they rarely did was complain about how long of a ride it was. I kept them busy with their own travel bag that had coloring things and snacks – I have never let my cars get nasty with dropped food or left over drinks rotting, I hate that smell – They were good little travelers. None of them ever complained about picking up the trash as soon as we stopped anywhere. The ritual was always: pile out and go to the restroom, get a drink of water and pick up trash. Once in a while I would tell them there would be an extra snack if they found all the crayons or markers. I always made an extra sweep of the car when we stopped at our destination. Using the vacuum cleaner on the car was my job until Adam was old enough to actually like doing that job. Our cars were many. My parents gave us their 1973 blue ford station wagon when we were married. When that one was ruined one fateful trip back to Minneapolis they gave us their ‘69 gold colored dodge station wagon. It didn’t last long since it was older than the ford.I found a toyota station wagon and we limped along in that until my emotional brother felt generous and gave us his 1978 Toyota Corolla two door. The catch was that I needed to get to Utah and retrieve it! Yep. I went there to get it. I was expecting Irv. Tim was in Mpls. while the kids and I were with my parents. On the way back from Utah Mom drove one car with the boys. I drove the corolla with the girls. Sarah and I saw a moose. We told stories to each other because I didn’t have a car seat her size and I was holding her when my youngest sister had the driver’s seat of the girls’ car. The next time we went to Utah was two years later for a family reunion. I drove 6 children and me in the two-door corolla. Tim stayed in Mpls, he suffered with the coccyx issue. We were a sight! My other brother told me to find a vehicle to fit my family and he would buy it. I looked in the want-ads of the newspaper – it was before the days of online search popularity – I found a ‘90 chevy Astro van. He bought it for cash. That was a very quiet ride home to MN. That van stayed with us until after the birth of our 8th child.)

Now I’m going to try to explain what my Beloved and her sister Kathy talked about while they were together. I have my own theories and reasoning about the subjects, which may or maynot jibe with what the two sisters have put together as a sort of theory/ theology.

In my mind they were talking about what is known in philosophical circles as the music of the spheres. Philosophers have long posited that each planet in the solar system, along with the sun itself and all the moons, resonate with different and unique harmonic chords. For the most part the human ear does not hear these vibrations as an audible sound. But they can influence both our spiritual well-being. Sort of along the lines of playing Mozart for your plants. Although that is a gross oversimplification. (I think this is a paragraph to invite me to share here. I can only share that my sister and I often talk of things to do with bringing together mind and heart. If someone wants to know about it they will ask. Tim asked me to expound on what she and I were talking about, so I told him a little. If anyone wants to know the information is out there. I have spoken about asking questions. I encourage people to ask! Ask God and He will direct your path.)

Now I am going to brush my teeth. I just bought an Oral-B electric toothbrush and it’s giving me a lot of hygienic pleasure.