Mystic Deliverance

Mia digs under my large white comforter for warmth. I can feel her behind pushed up against my right hip as I prepare for sleep on the couch. I have been suffer...ing on and off all week with long aching pains in both my legs, and my left ankle I feel I must’ve sprained it a few days ago. Which has made it difficult for me to put any weight on it to walk. The pain from my ankle stays right around my left ankle trying to cripple me. But that’s not the reason I’m sleeping sitting up on the living room couch. I hold my need to pee as long as I can. TV becomes not just for entertainment, but as a distraction. Soon enough the dancing pictures across the TV screen are not enough. So I begin flopping around like a fish out of water trying to make my way to the edge of the bed. All the time panic and fear creep through my head prying thoughts of being unable to get out of bed to the surface of my mind. Then, I swing my stomach from my right side of the body and in a quick fashion I hope swinging my stomach to the left side will help me rise up from the bed to stand up and journey to the bathroom. My left leg cramps up and the pain causes me to try and bend the leg down to the ground along with the right leg. The cramp in the leg causes my weight to drags me back to bed and I collapse. I feel defeated and still in pain and needing to pee means I must push forward the fears through the pain to get back up. I grab a corner of the nightstand to pull me up. I refuse to ask for help to prevent myself feeling shame. Shame that chokes the air out the room whenever I sit down in a chair. Hoping the chair won’t break, and that I’ll be able to back out of the chair. And that’s what prevents me from getting back into bed. Finally, I gather enough strength not just to pull myself up, but to have enough strength to carry the weight on my hips and legs. I balance my weight between my two legs to go to the bathroom and out. I walk back to my bedroom. The crisp three O’CLOCK in the morning air and darknesses brooding bolstered by my shame ends my night in bed. I gather my large white comforter dragging part of it on the ground like a tail. Which for Mia follows easily behind. I prop up a pillow on the couch for my head. Postition my body and stomach in a way that’s comforting. Then I cover myself up for warmth. However I do know that if I don’t begin to end my obsession of food I’ll soon be trapped in bed. Unable to get up on my own, and as of Wednesday night 12-2-20 there has been no word from any doctor; not even at UC Davis. So I called. Both the bariatric bypass doctor and UCD. UCD said they didn’t have any information. The bariatric bypass doctor said they sent the information. Then UCD said they need to call first before just sending the information. The bariatric bypass doctor said okay we will call. Back and forth like a ping pong ball. See more

The story is a fitting centerpiece in the book. Tomas, having crossed the U.S. border, walking alone, not knowing where to go except onward, is picked up by a w...oman named Vera, who also speaks Spanish, as a likely prospect to work on her father’s big ranch. He’s hired, and later Tomas rides out with Vera to the back forty. He closes his eyes as he feels the rhythm of the horse match his heartbeats. He can smell the dry grass whisper in the air, reminding him of his younger days as a boy on his grandfather’s farm on the outskirts of Mexico City. Henson has an eye for small things. There’s King Amos the cat in All Hail King Amos, and a dog on the hunt narrates Obsessed. There are poems and stories about disappointed love, spiritual yearning, and riderless horses running free. And so is the writer’s imagination. Dan Barnett teaches philosophy at Butte College. Send review requests to [email protected]. Columns archived at https://dielbee.blogspot.com. https://www.chicoer.com//story-collection-inspired-by-a-ph To purchase: Tomas & Vera and Other Stories: Henson, J R: 9798624202894: Amazon.com: Books https://www.amazon.com/Tomas-Vera-Other-Storie//B085RRT4PX

My second interview was replayed on the radio last month(October 2020): Currently running for state assembly, J.R Henson is a fourth generation Paradise resident and survivor of the Camp Fire. Storytelling has been apart of his family roots from both sides of the family and one of his ancestors, James Russell Lowell was a well known poet. https://www.newsbreak.com//best-of-nancys-bookshelf-camp-f

Jim Henson is a fourth generation resident of Paradise. He graduated from Chico State in religious studies. He wrote a book of short essays called Reflections and Dark Truths about nature, family, depression, and his dog Smokey. https://www.mynspr.org/post/nancys-bookshelf-jim-henson