Can you guess?

I ordered a stuffed duck toy on Amazon for Will’s classroom. The second graders will love hearing the story about Dorothy. And they’ll enjoy the duck, once Will unpacks it and lets it puff back up.

Last year’s buffalo gift was a huge hit. The story of Buffy, the blind rescued bison here in Idaho, entranced the seven-year olds no end.

And now in a few weeks they will have their very own Dorothy.

I will not tell them that in the process of rehoming our little Khaki Campbell duck, I slipped and broke a bone in my foot. Which is healing nicely, by the way. The huge boot has worked miracles and I have worn it faithfully. I have also whined a lot while clomping around.

Last week I had my first cataract surgery. I left the hospital with a bandage over my left eye and a big plastic patch over the bandage. I was starving–it was after 3 PM and I hadn’t eaten since having dinner the night before–so I asked Banjo Man to take me to Serv-A-Burger.

He looked very uncertain.

“I am STARVING,” I reminded him.

“The drive-through?”

“No. I can’t see well enough to eat in the car.” I thought that was obvious, but I guess not. That’s when he said he needed a few groceries and how about if he dropped me off to eat while he was shopping three blocks away.

Fine with me. I needed food and I needed it immediately.

It wasn’t until I saw the look of horror on the teenager’s face as I stepped up to the counter to place my order. That’s when I realized that my huge plastic eye patch, my huge plastic boot and my huge pink cane might not add up to an attractive picture.

In other words, I looked like I’d barely survived a brawl in the nursing home. No wonder Banjo Man balked at going inside with me.

I was too hungry to care.

Twenty-four hours later we were back in town for the post-op eye check. The patch was removed, but I now had a black eye and still looked like a corpse. This time Banjo Man was hungry, too, so we picked the darkest restaurant we knew and asked for a booth.

Perfect.

I’ll go through the whole thing again next week, but I might not have to wear the boot by then. Or use a cane.

Things are looking up.