funnybone

 Friday, 11 October, 2019

The workers are all in the cafeteria today. the

workmen that do the electrics. At another table,

a group of engineers from the reactor. All perched

high on the pew-like seats.

Sit at one of the low tables beside the window

look out at the lawns beside the chemistry

department

.

. There are a few fallen leaves on

the grass, the first harbingers of Autumn.

Outside, all is neat and settled. Inside the

cafeteria, it is not neat, neither is it settled.

People are

uncomfortable, self-conscious.

And it is cold. The air conditioning function

well in the winter.

The design has a flaw,

the place is not welcoming.

A twinge in the arm, at the elbow.

Suddenly, there is pain all the way

up the

left arm, the nerves of the neck, on the left

all radiate pain. Take

the elbow off the table,

this must be nerve clamped somewhere. Do

not scream, this is a public place. Put the

arms down, hands on knees. Lower the

head. slowly, the pain fades, then it is

gone, nothing left but a numb feeling in the

left arm.

What was that? Maybe it was the elbow

propped on the too-high cafeteria

table. The pain started in the elbow's

funny bone after all.

The cafeteria is filling now. There

are late-awakening scientists, in to take

breakfast before they go to work.