The doctor always put a black hood over my face before
he guided me
from the transport cage, down a long corridor, in which I
heard voices
behind glass, to a cool and seemingly vast high-ceilinged
room. He left
me there, alone, instructing me to stand absolutely still and
not make a
sound. I detected the tang of steel polish in the unmoving
air. My bare
feet froze on the slick laminate, while the hairs that
covered every inch
of my otherwise-naked body bristled. I tried counting
the seconds and
minutes, but I eventually lost count and thought only
of my tired back.
*
*
*
*
Did I dream blinding lights and needlelike pains between
my vertebrae
and the room’s becoming smaller until the walls touched
my shoulders?
I felt as though I emerged from cold sleep when I, still
standing, heard
the approach of shoes in sterilized plastic casings. The
doctor took me
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