Shingles.
Such an odd name
for a disease
I wasn’t supposed to have.

For weeks I’d had
aches and pains
One night the pains
were in my chest.

I embarked on
an adventure-filled trip
in an ambulance
to be
hooked up to every
heart monitor in
the hospital.

“Not your heart” said the
friendly physician.

“But you have a rash
On your back
that looks an awful lot
like shingles.”

“No” I said.
“My mother never had
chicken pox and
I never had
chicken pox. I am
immune to shingles”

Turned out I had shingles.