Hick is Unmasked

Hick was in a tizzy Thursday night. He went to bed at 8:30, but was up again at 9:15. That is unheard-of! Hick never leaves the bedroom once he has retired. Not until ten hours later.

"The mask broke on my CPAP! I think I kept the old one. I'm going down to look in the basement."

It was not there.

"I guess I will try to sleep. But the air comes out all around the mask. I'll try to find a new one tomorrow. The Veteran said they gave him a couple extra at the VA. I'll ask him first."

The Veteran must not have had a mask to spare, because Hick went to the medical supply store where I got The Pony his aluminum crutches to get around on his broken ankle for the two weeks nobody would treat him for his Worker's Comp injury.

"They said it will be here Monday. But look! I fixed the other one for now!"

Hick proudly displayed his CPAP mask, with two bandaids across the bridge of the nose area. Necessity is the Mother of Invention, and Hick is the Father of Rigged-Contraptions.

The new mask was delivered on Saturday morning. About 30 minutes after I laid down to sleep. The dogs were barking their fool heads off. I didn't get up to see why. I heard no knock or doorbell. But when I got up 30 minutes after that, because I couldn't fall back asleep, I found the box beside the door when I looked out. My little Jack was guarding it. Or possibly getting ready to pee on it...

The box felt empty, but the return address was that of a medical supply company. So Hick got lucky. I assume he will be saving his bandaid mask as an emergency spare.