February’s fragment

From that rocky ledge about 20 feet over the shining blue-green water, I jumped and landed on the water’s surface on my ass rather than quickly and elegantly plunging into the cool water toes first.

Maybe I had already had a hairline fracture or some other bizarre, previously undetected injury at this vertebra, but that doesn’t matter because—on impact—my first lumbar vertebra burst. Exploded in the middle of my spine. Over time that place on my spine evolved into a tender but strong knot of bone. For a couple of years after it happened, I explained to people it was a sacrifice to the Mayan Goddess of Poor Judgement. But now I wonder if it wasn’t a sacrifice to a more benevolent deity.

Laura Ann Klein