That sound

Jerry tried to open his eyes but couldn’t. He had the faint taste of silver shavings in the crevices between his teeth and cheek. And he smelled feces, the kind when you’ve sat on the toilet twenty minutes after a diarrhea attack. Had he voided? And had the fillings leaked out of his teeth? He heard a faint beep in the distance, the kind always done in B flat that sounded like a circle, a little soft around the edges at the start and again at the end, all in the space of a half second. It repeated about once every second or two.. And he heard a shuffling sound, like a soft shoe dancer perhaps? Each shuffling sound became a little louder, and then softer, and then not at all. Then after a few minutes, he’d hear it again – softer, then a little louder like the approaching steps of a Depression-era hobo, then softer again. And a third time, while all along he heard that blond little circle beep, every one to two seconds, racing faster at times but slowing down, only to race again.

After an infinity of trying to open his eyes, but failing, he gave up. He felt a rough talon of claws –he couldn’t count how many, probably three or four, grip his left wrist. Or was it the right? He couldn’t tell, but it gripped him hard and then went up to his neck and gripped that, then the talon touched his face. Puffy like a profiterole, and then the claws touched his forward, and then flattened on his forehead. Jerry felt something cold on his forehead after this, and a wet dripping feeling that fell down into the corners of his eyes. Blood? Had the talons pierced his scalp?

But he didn’t think it could be blood. Jerry had a sense of the smell, a sharp odor like clam juice – no, what the juice of a lobster smelled like. Yes, that was it – but that wasn’t this smell. He couldn’t smell anything, not even his feces any longer. And what about hearing? He still heard that sound, the blond little circle beep. And then he felt his eyes fluttering.

Something white blasted itself into Jerry’s eyes and he shut them again, fluttering them open, and then shutting them when the pain raced from the front of his brain all the way to the back and Jerry cried out. He heard a groan like a train’s brakes screeching on the tracks, a call for help and then something new, entirely new, words from a voice that sounded familiar –

He couldn’t make out the words, but the soft melody of the woman’s alto lilting into him softened the blasting white sensation when he opened his eyes, and he opened his eyes for a longer flutter, then an even longer flutter, and finally altogether open, he saw white everywhere, no color, no black, just white, except for the woman with sloping shoulders and long hair and a jutting chin. That blond little circle beep slowed down while Jerry sensed the pain being released from his head, his body, and a sense of calm radiate from his chest to his head, to his arms, hands, and fingers, and to his legs, shins, feet, and toes.