verb, transitive. To make something unpleasant, painful, or intense less serious or severe. To alleviate the mental or physical pain of something.
verb, intransitive. To become less serious or severe. To make something happen more easily, to facilitate. To move carefully, gradually, or gently. Also a noun.
She closed her eyes, hoping the pain would ease. If this became worse, or even continued, what was she going to do? She feared that the deep, unprecedented ache in one hip joint signalled the degradation of the cartilege there and presaged its impending failure. If that was what it meant, it would be a disaster. She was too young to be on Medicare and had lost her health insurance when she lost her job. Hip-replacement surgery was simply not possible at this time.
The pain diminished and she prepared to stand and test the joint. Tentatively, she scooted to the edge of the seat and gripped the armrests. Breathing deeply, she opened her eyes and saw that the cat was sitting on its haunches directly in front of her.
"Shoo. Go away," she told it, waving one hand in its direction. It uncoiled to all fours and craned its neck toward her fingers. Annoyed at being interrupted, she hesitated, then reached down and scratched the furry head. Good thing she had looked before she got up. Falling over the cat would have been a bad omen and could have exacerbated the problem with her hip joint. She continued rubbing and scratching the animal, exploring the crannies of the skull beneath its skin as she did. Funny how neither of us would be able to stand and move without these bones, she thought. Somehow, the cat's presence and her interaction with it was banishing her anxiety. Sometimes, she mused, the cat seemed to read her mind.
Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.
No comments:
Post a Comment