02 JUN 26

Yali’s arranging his Andrew Garfield Spiderman into dozens of different poses while we wait for the call back to Cardiology that morning... action figures effectively distract from hospital nerves...

Echocardiogram... watching “High School Musical” on the wall screen... not exactly Yali’s top pick but it’s still a distraction...

EKG in another room... “Did I mix up the leads?” the nurse wonders aloud... “Oh... dextrocardia...” I explain... when a kid’s had 200 medical appointments in the past 11 years you start forgetting that not everyone knows his medical history already...

Back to imaging for a better look at the coronary arteries with the cardiologist watching over the screen...

“It all looks really good!” he smiles... “I will say he doesn’t need to come back for another five years!”

This news requires McD’s for celebration... so Yali chomps on a Big Mac while coasting over to Dutchtown for more brick work...

Two and a half hours of chopping mortar... two women screaming at each other on the corner for awhile... after the “cat fight” Yali heard in the back alley the previous week and the arrest being made at the gas station down the road over the weekend... he’s already used to it now... “It’s a rough town...” he shrugs... back to the chisel and hammer... occasionally brushing off another spider of the many many shapes and colors into the mortar dust...

When we return for a brief hour... Patience announces that she kept Oxbear fed well while we were away... plates of cheese and salami and fried rice and... “Nineteen meatballs!”