Mr. H Dropped A Prune

Monday the young man interested in Wellhausen’s documentary hypothesis about biblical transmission (which assumes that the miraculous is impossible therefore some other explanation for Scripture must exist, J,E,P,Q,D, etc.) …Anyhow the young man told me that Mr. H, an elderly gentleman on my block, had busted his hip and is just home from the hospital, and could be in bad shape.

Tough.

What’s that got to do with me?

I’ve got plans and duties and responsibilities. I can’t be bothered. Besides, although I’ve spoken to Mr. H, I hardly know the old man.

This morning, Tuesday, I had a yard long 2do2da list beginning with brunch with my friend Wes. While I waited for Wes to arrive I read Peterson’s rendering of Mathew in which Jesus said, “I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was homeless and you gave me a room. I was shivering and you gave me clothes. I was sick and you stopped to visit… Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me – you did to me”.

When Wes arrived he got to talking about “opportunities to exercise righteousness” in relation to a charity he favors. His words reminded me of a sermon phrase I heard long ago: “The call of God always comes at the most inopportune moment possible”.

Well, between Scripture, Wes’s words, and that sermon phrase, my reaction was, “The poor are always with you -- and are always a pain in the ass”.

I’d much rather read about Christianity, or write about it, than to live it. But, what the hell, I’ll go visit the old codger and see what he needs (hopefully, nothing). So I unwillingly trudged around to Mr. H’s house hoping nobody would be home.

Turns out that Mr. H is only ten years older than I am. He served a 20-year hitch in the U.S. Army, then a 20-year hitch in the U.S. Air Force, then he served 25 years in the Merchant Marine. When he was a kid playing stick ball, he got hit in the eye, and the stick punched his eye out; he has worn a prosthetic eye (a glass eye) ever since.

Got that?

As we visited, Mr. H told me how he’d chipped his hip bone.

He was getting something out of the refrigerator when he dropped a prune on the floor. As he turned, he stepped on the prune, slipped and fell. It was a long time (maybe an hour or two, he said) before he could drag himself to a phone to call for help.

Rescue took him to a local hospital emergency room. They could not get hold of his regular doctor so hospital staff doctors began to treat him.

They x-rayed him, ran some test for other age-related problems, and began to prepare him for emergency brain surgery.

Brain surgery?

Yes, obviously this old guy had lost his balance and fallen, he’d chipped a hip bone; his speech was slurred from pain and medication – and the pupil of his left eye would not respond to light or dilate – obviously, he’d suffered a stroke or some sort of brain trauma.

They planned to operate to determine the extent of the brain damage.

Fortunately, about that time Mr. H’s daughter arrived and explained about the glass eye… the doctor’s comment, “Well, it sure looks realistic”!

Mr. H was released, without even needing a cast, and sent home the next day; he can get around with the aid of a walker.

Know why I find his tale of particular fascinating interest?

Well, I have a doctor’s appointment this afternoon….