Hags Riding on His Back

28 the minnesota review Rubye Gibson Hags Riding on His Back In Rochester, New York, my father works at a company called BernzO -Matic where they make fire extinguishers. My mother makes his lunch and usually sets it on the dresser so he can grab it and run out because him and his friend Oscar would carpool. As my Dad got up from his afternoon nap he couldn't move. My mother rushed in like water breaking from a dam. I said, "Moma, look at Daddy, he's acting like a fish that couldn't move." His eyes were popped out of his head and his legs were locked together while his neck was like a turtle. "Quick, Ruby, run and get the broom from the kitchen." I broke and ran Uke a horse in the Kentucky Derby. She grabbed the broom and began to stroke him as though he were a dirty carpet. FinaUy, after the miraculous sweeping, as though frozen in time, he returned to his normal self, picking up his lunchbox to go to work. ...