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20
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Kathy stepped through the doorway of the house and closed the door behind her. She walked, carrying a totebag, and began removing her coat and shoes. She saw that Ed was not at the typewriter and smiled, then saw that the light was on in the kitchen so he was probably there. She started off towards it. "Oh, Ed. You'll never believe what I found when I was a--"
She immediately stopped at the sight of Ed sprawled across the floor. A gasp escaped her lips; she hurried over, kneeled down beside him and touched him on the shoulder. "Ed! What happened? Are you all right?"
Ed had fallen asleep while he was waiting for Kathy to return, and when she touched him it scared him, he flinched and let out a small shriek. His being scared had scared Kathy as well, and she flinched and shrieked at the same time.
"Ed, why are you on the floor? You're making me nervous, please get up."
Ed tried to move again, but could not. "I can't."
Kathy shook her head, not understanding. "Why not? Tell me what happened, maybe I can help."
Ed looked up at her. "Well... I slipped on my spoon here and fell... I think I threw out my back."
Kathy looked at his back. "Oh my... what can I do?"
"Maybe you can get a doctor or something?"
Kathy nodded slowly. "Yeah. A doctor." She stood up and turned to head for the phone, then turned back around and bent down again. "Umm..." She looked down at the floor, ashamed at what she was about to ask. "Do we have enough money for a doctor?" She asked softly.
Ed looked away from her and was silent for a moment before speaking, then finally replied. "I don't know."
"Well, I can't just leave you here. We have to do something."
"I don't know," Ed repeated quietly.
Kathy placed a finger to her chin. "Hey, you know, I've heard of people doing this thing called 'yoga' to cure bodily aches."
Ed looked up at her. "Yoga?"
"Yeah. It's like all these moves that you do and they make you feel better."
"Yoga?"
"And I think it would cost much less than a doctor's bill."
"Yoga."
"Yes, we've established that it's called yoga, Ed. Do you think you'd be up to it?"
"I guess so."
"Great! Um... where do you sign up for yoga?"
"No idea. You know what would really be greater, though?"
"What?"
"If I could be helped up off the floor which I've been lying on for about four hours."
"Oh! Whoops!" Kathy took his arms and attempted to lift him, but she was usually never successful at doing so, and this time it was no different. "Okay. I'm going to try again. Harder this time." She tried, but still had no luck. "I know! I'll put a chair in front of you, then push you up so you can grab onto it for support." She moved one of the chairs of the table to where Ed was. Then she took him by the arms again and tried with all her might to hoist him up.
She was finally able to get him partially up and he was kneeled on the floor, resting against the chair. "Alright, now I'll try to get you sitting in the chair so then you'll be off the floor at least." She manoeuvred him around so that his back was against the chair instead of his front, then struggled to get him sitting on the chair.
After she was done, she let out a long breath and brushed her hands together in completion. "Well, what now?" She asked.
Ed gave her a mysterious look. "I know something you can do that would really make me feel good."
"Oh, okay. What is it?"
"Can you um... get me my typewriter and notebook?"
Kathy frowned, then let out another long breath. "Well, I guess if that's really what you want." She disappeared into the living room and came back, hauling the typewriter and notebook into the kitchen. She dropped them onto the table in front of Ed.
Ed's eyes lit up when he saw the typewriter. "Oh Kathy, you've made me so happy."
"It's the least I could do." She kissed his forehead. "I'm going to go see now what I can do about the yoga."
Ed's listening had stopped after his last sentence and he did not hear Kathy or anything else in his surroundings because once again he had fallen into one of his magical Brinkley trances.
His writer's block was gone and he started up his writing slowly just as before, then his pace quickened further down the line until he was spewing pages out. Mr. Brinkley would certainly be happy with this.