Autumn Harvesting

where is your health card?
asked the nurse
with ever so trembling hands
he felt for his back pocket
in a gesture reminiscent
of slow motion pictures
and pulled out a black wallet
the effort fatiguing
he sat down on a chair across from me
and laid his hand clutching the wallet
on his thighs as his chest heaved
after a minute or two
he recovered to unzip the wallet
from the bottom, to the side, to the top
and from the now open-jaw wallet
out came a stack
held by two crossed rubber bands
with quivering fingers
he removed one rubber band
and hung it on his left thumb
then he removed the other band
and hung it on his left thumb
then he looked for his health card
and smiled ever so subtly
as he pulled it out
and placed it on his thigh
under the wallet
pulling one rubber band he
stretched it across the stack
and then the other rubber band
vertically across it
placing it back in the wallet
he zipped it side to side to side
gently, slowly, quiveringly
and put it back on his thigh
over the health card
time to rest
and take deep breaths
one, two, three, four…
he had the same look
on his face that pilots have
as they run a mental check-list
yet again, just before the take off
then with an unexpected agility
he got himself off the chair
the wallet and the health card in each hand
the effort visibly draining
he just stood there for a minute or two
then in slow motion he replaced the wallet
back in the rear pocket
and took two steps forward
towards the nurse’s window
and said, here