Bea's Knees

Bea complains of knee pain. I help Lisa swing my mother up on one hip in order to reposition the sheepskin. How flat her body has become! From this angle, she resembles the coyote in the cartoon, after Roadrunner has just run him over. The boney kneecaps seem totally out of proportion to the stick-figure legs.

Lisa notices the right knee is warmer than usual. “How much does it hurt?” she asks.

“Comme ci, comme ca,” Bea replies.

“Translation, please!” Lisa says.

I do the honors: “Sounds like a 7 or 8.”

“Oh, you know what, Beatrice?” Lisa exclaims. “I just saw a friend from Vermont, who asked about you, because she follows Sandy’s blog.”

“Wow!” Bea declares, breaking into a gleeful smile. “I should go on Oprah!”