There Was A Crooked Man

I thought there was a rhyme about a crooked man with a crooked stick. Maybe not. There's this:

There was a crooked man
Who walked a crooked mile.

But that's something different.

Today I had to go to the hospital to visit and bring home a loved one. It's a pleasant task for many reasons, not the least of which is the interminable wait they subject you to. I think they learn that in medical/nursing school, how to walk, talk, phone, and do everything very slowly. Then at the end of course it is vital that they take your vitals again. Slowly. Finally, dear loved one, go for the car, to which another nurse will wheel out the patient.

That happened today, mostly just like that. Then at the very last second, just as I was about to pull the car into place, I had to smile because of this old guy suddenly coming across the parking lot. He was a crooked man with a cane that had one of those weird bends in it.

There was a crooked man
Who had a crooked stick.

And I saw him walking along, not exactly in a crooked way, but if I crooked my head a bit and squinted, perhaps I could say he indeed was walking in a crooked way. May as well. Who would know?

This actually was the one thing about my visit to the hospital that I enjoyed. Because I was thinking of the issues of timing, how perfect it was, that to hold me up that final few seconds it would have to be, inexplicably, a crooked man walking with a crooked stick.

Too bad I couldn't put it all together with another rhyme, but this would be totally false:

There was a crooked man
With a crooked curl, right
in the middle of his forehead.