church bell down the street is ringing off key

femur bone felt like it was pulling away from my leg today. as though enough strength could separate flesh, muscle, nerve endings and the bone. if the bone broke away, took off like it tried to do so many years ago, where would it go? i felt it pulsating under my jeans, radiating a muted ache from past injuries like fruit flies looming over compost. i could almost hear it. the waves of that dull pain, a near numbness, fled from the femur to the knee i twisted. the knee, that has it's own problems. the knee that came undone, under the piles of flesh and plastic padding and sweating bodies amidst a game of football. the knee, now aged like some geriatric artifice. knocking out and around if there's too much static or too much tension, ready to run away from the leg. the knee and the femur bone would jet out like two teenage lovers, eloping in the summer sweat. but that pain, the knee pain, radiated down across the plains of my foot, spotted with crystalline veins and scar tissue. the pain stopped at the base of my foot, where the three broken toes lay. big toe, the king of the foot, done for when i was still a child. broken after putting my foot into a wall. the middle toe, broken in football, again. not related to the knee injury, but they know each other well enough. they're kissing cousin when a storm rolls in or when the impending is speaking to me through fracture limbs. the second to last toe, broken. broken while drinking twice. this toe was the stand out, the celebrity of my foot. it went the way of it's neighbor after i fell down stairs with shoes. it popped to the side, from the base, crooked liked a home equity sign reading to blow in the wind. that was break number one. second time, same guy, same style of break. this is where the fame came in, broken in front of a crowd by a car with an unconscious driver. the wheel overtook the base of my toe and it was there, done for and out. i popped it back in without so much as a second thought, before the pain started up. before the nerves realized they had been torn from the base of my foot, before i cared about it. the crowd watched. shocked, reality television, sure why the hell not? i popped it in and went along with my night. the feeling hasn't came back. so if the the femur bone and knee are eloping from my leg, splitting to reno nevada for a drunken hitch up would they take the toes with them. it feels like the toes are trying to leave too, but hell, i don't want to force them out. my leg has an open door policy. they can stick around for as long as they want, the injuries. the can hang out as long as they get a job (keeping me walking) without too much back talk (stop fucking hurting so goddamn much) we'll be all right. i'll skip the numb arch and torn ligament since they don't seem to opposed to sticking around. they watch the femur, knee and toes break away from the bone structure and integrity of my right leg like they're breaking for high ground after the heavy rains. they'll watch them tear right out of the skin or under cartilage or hairline fracture and leave on their own accord. they'll watch those injuries, gossip some , maybe be bitter they weren't as brave. they'll know the leg is a good gig, it will keep up for some time but they'll be bitter their injuries weren't as bad, that the torn ligament didn't team up with the acl or the arch didn't collapse under pressure. they'll watch the other's go, leaving me limping and they long to do the same.