After I ran out of opiates, OTC painkillers didn't seem to be working well. Two people recommended that I try naproxen, so I resolved to do so. I wasn't driving (one arm and rather out of it), but there is a drugstore a mile or so away, so I walked to it. On the way I saw a photograph lying face down on the sidewalk. With faith that the universe structures the world so that my life is interesting, I picked it up and looked at it. It was unashamed amateur pornography - a woman with some interesting tattoo's in the back seat of a car, naked and spread for the camera. I love my life.

I continued on to the drugstore. Unfortunately, it had just closed. As I turned away despondently, a car pulled up and its window rolled down. "Is it closed?" asked the driver. "Yes", I replied. "But there's another one a mile down El Camino that's open later. Want to give me a ride?". She looked me over. "Sure."

I get in the car. She's about 70 and grey-haired, but a real funky seventy. I tell her about my shoulder, and we talk. She tells a story about how she cracked some ribs when her boyfriend, who was younger (of course), gave her a bear hug, neglecting to take into account that, despite her youthful attitude, she is fragile. We get there, and as we get out of the car I remember that I have a moderately offensive T-shirt on ("Butt Pirates of the Carribean"). Fortunately I'm wearing a jacket. Whoah - her car is a red Mustang convertible. Cool. As we walk towards the door and into a lighted area, I notice that she has a tasteful, miniscule nose piercing. Cool. We get our stuff and she drives me home, while we talk about exercise and healthy eating and not being normal. If only she was 30 years younger :).

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