a brief but unexpected intimacy

i was barefoot when my former computer guru stopped by to bring the tangerine flake baby iBook back after a little tune up

he stayed to chat

dont fix your toes, he said, my mother did and she is in constant pain

oh he noticed my toes

he meant my "hammer toes" which a nurse pointed out to me when i was in for cataract surgery / doctor so and so can fix them, she said

until then i thought the knobby knuckles on my second toes was a form of arthritis

nope

hammer toes

i imagine the fixing to involve hammers