My health care providers know quite a bit. What I know compared to what they know, will fill one thimble or maybe two thimbles. A thimble does not hold as much as a tumbler, and two thimbles don’t hold as much as two tumblers. But a full thimble is worth reckoning with.

I was thinking of this, this afternoon, as I was chatting with a chiropractor. My lower back started hurting a week ago, and it seemed to be feeling worse instead of better. My imagination (as is often the case in such instances) went into overdrive, which was why I decided to get the problem checked out.

I would have gone to see a therapist at Body and Balance, a local physical therapist, but decided against this because I didn’t want to have wait at least a month for an exam. Instead, I made an appointment at Bioinic Chiropractic, located in downtown Palmer, three blocks from the Meeting House.

I got in this afternoon. I knew that unlike going to Body and Balance, that this would be a quick chiropractic fix. And it was.

Pete had said that James Owens, the chiropractor, was a nice guy, and this turned out to be an apt description. He greeted me in the doorway – he was about my age, had grey hair, was trim with good posture, and wearing a greenish-gray synthetic shirt that on anyone else would have conferred them with nerd status.

He asked me if I was a reader because I was wearing a Tidal Waves Bookstore, Portland, Oregon hoodie. I then immediately told him about the book project then watched his eyes grow wide. He then related a story in which a friend of his, a bookstore owner, obsessed, and wrote about the Masons, then when he finally had his book in hand, died of a heart attack.

It was nice to have something in common with this fellow.

He first did a brief physical, checking blood pressure and reflexes, then had me explain to him where I felt the pain. I told him about my lower back problems, then had me lay on a table when he went to check me out. I yelped a few times – he got the idea – lying prone hurts.

He did some adjustments and ran a vibrating roller over my back. All the while he talked about the importance of books and how artificial intelligence may be used to rewrite history. This made me think of Milan Kundera’s The Incredible Lightness of being.

Chiropractors rack and crack. This fellow did a bit at the end, then told me that I most likely injured a muscle. I, in talking with him, figured this out. I have a rotation injury – this occurred (I think) when I tossed manure over the compost station pallet. I was to go back on Wednesday, but the appointment schedule is full. I will go back, but after my trip to Barrow.

I left his office, with my two thimbles in hand.

Next: 121. 5/3/22: Spring has Sprung