Soundtrack:  The White Stripes, "Icky Thump"

I have never been that big of a fan of Halloween, but I did have plans for how I wanted to dress up this year.

Since I turned forty this year, I thought it would be fun for me to dress how I dressed when I was twenty.  The 80's style costume would have included a long black wool coat, a dangling earring, and hair that sort of defied gravity.  Think Robert Smith of the Cure, except without makeup.  I would also have had the round sunglasses that were popular at the time--sort of like John Lennon glasses except larger and more opaque--kind of like John Lennon meeting the Three Blind Mice. 

But it was next to impossible to find a long black coat.  At some point, they became very unpopular.  I found a few John Lennon-like sunglasses,  but they were more John Lennon style than 80's style. 

After searching several thrift stores, I realized that dressing like 1987 would not be practical, but dressing like 1967, the year I was born, would be more practical.  Not the way *I* dressed in 1967--I have no desire to dress like a baby--but the Summer of Love hippie style.  I have a flowery shirt that would fit the style, and the John Lennon sunglasses would have worked just fine.  Also I am in need of a haircut, so I could probably pass for a hippie even though I don't own any bell-bottoms.

As it turned out, though, I was sick last weekend when Halloween was celebrated across Madison.  But I was invited to a Halloween party that would have been last night, and I would have attended if it weren't for an unexpected mishap...

On Sunday, I was crossing the street in front of my house, and when I stepped on the grass on the other side of the street, my foot, for some reason, turned sideways.  I looked down and noticed that rather seeing the top of my right shoe, I was seeing the right side of my right shoe facing up at me. My ankle had just buckled.  I quickly straightened my ankle without losing my balance, and I thought "Wow, that didn't look pretty."  But my ankle wasn't really hurting so I figured I'd dodged a bullet. 

That wasn't to be the case.  Monday night right before bedtime, I noticed my ankle hurt quite a bit, and Tuesday I found myself limping around my bedroom and in and out of my shower.  I ended up packing my foldable cane in my backpack.  

The foldable cane is the best invention since sliced bread.  It's similar to a modern pop-up tent pole in that it consists of a series of tubes connected by an elastic cord.  Not only does it fold compactly for easy storage in a backpack or briefcase, but I can also get it to assemble itself with one little shake, kind of like a low-tech version of the Transformers movie.  I can say "Insta-cane!" and then clack, clack, clack, clack, and it's ready to go.  (Though I did scare the house dog while doing that trick.) 

Anyway, I did my best to stay off my foot, but it was clear to me that I needed to see a doctor about it--particularly because I sprained the same ankle two years ago.  So I went to the Dean Clinic on Madison's West Side right after work and had it looked at.  I almost didn't go--staying off my foot made it feel a lot better this afternoon, and I was in next to no pain.  The x-ray showed no fracture, and while the doctor found a few tender spots, I wasn't hurting nearly as much as I did a couple of years ago.

So I was surprised when doctor came back with a box that said, "Ankle Sprain Care Kit," and started to talk about rehabilitation. (This, for some reason, made me think of the line in Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant" song where the sargent says, "Kid, have you re-hub-BILL-itated yurself?")   The doctor said that the tenderness in my ankle indicated a sprain.  The kit consists of what's referred to as an "air cast" but is really more like an ankle brace that is inflatable.   It looks like I'll have to wear this for a couple of weeks.  The idea is to get me walking normally as soon as possible while still  keeping my ankle from going "splat!" again.  The kit also includes an ankle wrap, a cold pack, an elastic band for the cold pack, and a videotape.  (Except that there' s no VCR in our house.)  I'll also have to do some strengthening exercises.

I put on the ankle brace, and I have to say, it made it seem harder to walk, not easier.  It was rather funny, though.  The neighborhood near Dean Clinic at High Point and Old Sauk Roads is sort of a weird place at night.  No one is out and about, though the neighborhood seems safe.  The bus stop itself is next to a wooded area.  So under a moonlit night, it seems like an ideal place to, well, enact a Halloween scene.  The brace I was wearing made me limp more than I had before, and I imagined I looked like a rather scary creature hobbling down the sidewalk with a cane.  I realized that I was getting to wear a Halloween costume after all--that of a zombie-like creature shuffling down the street that would occasionally growl, "Spra-a-a-a-in!"