Second From the Sun

Body Memories

I just walked across the parking lot where, a few weeks shy of nine years ago, I was overcome by shaking so violent that I couldn't get my key into the lock on the car door. Earlier in the day, I'd left Scandinavian Designs on Highway 4 near Concord, already feelng very poorly. But then I had still possessed the coordination necessary to load several long, heavy flat-pack boxes of furniture into the station wagon. Less than seven hours later, I stood shivering and increasingly desperate for fifteen minutes before I finally got the door locked and could go inside to Borders to use the bathroom and get a coffee. I hadn't been back until tonight and the flashbacks coursing through me are almost too much to bear. It's no exaggeration to say that the bug I had in November, 2000 wrought profoundly negative long-term effects on my life, ones I still deal with on a daily basis. It's enough to make me shiver all over again, even though I'm not sick.