If I had a pencil in my hand and a piece of paper in front of me, I might scribble something. A big soft-leaded pencil, maybe, that could make dark black lines across the page.<\/p>\n
Except that isn\u2019t true.<\/p>\n
I wouldn\u2019t make dark black marks. And if I had a brush, I wouldn\u2019t paint dark strokes. I might do something with black paper, cutting out geometric shapes (little triangles and trapezoids). But even then, when I got done, I just don\u2019t think the thing would be dark. Sure, there\u2019d be black. But there\u2019d be lots of colors. And lots of shapes. And there would be movement across the page like maybe a breeze blowing. Or someone walking across the lawn. Or a path thru the woods.<\/p>\n
But not dark.<\/p>\n
And anyway, I don\u2019t have a pencil right now. No paper on the table. No brush. No scissors to cut with. And my digital tablet is sitting under a clutter of miscellany that really needs to be organized.<\/p>\n
So here\u2019s the thing of it. There\u2019s no easy way to say it. I have cancer. Again<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n A swollen lymph node on my neck that\u2019s kind of hard to miss. I wonder if the forth graders noticed. Cancer growing at the base of my tongue. The doctors have seen it in scans. And biopsies.<\/p>\n