Webb, Charles Harper

English

The Open Repository @Binghamton (The ORB)

After years of studying how t0 relieveworld hobbling, Warthog standsin a white coat, gnashing his tusksunder a blood-red sign: Warthog Podiatry.Will the four wart-like protrusionson his head upset patients? Will he needconstantly to explain, “They’re greatfor storing fat, and useful when malesfight over females-which happens a lot”N0 need, if his patients are warthogs.That sign, though, muddles things.His name is Warthog, that’s for sure:Warthog A. Warthog. But is hethe animal, or the jiggly butt of a parentaljoke about his cloven feet? (Clover feez‘,he used to say‚ and thought them luckyuntil children jeered.) Did he “go in for”podiatry, as wackos do psychiatry,to heal himself? What if he's not the doc,but came to see a doc who may or may notWebb 1281Webb: Warthog PodiatryPublished by The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB), 2014be a warthog and fix warthog feet?“One way to find out,” he grunts,backing through the office doorthe way, in Transvaal, he’d backinto an abandoned aardvark burrow,ready to burst out in a devastatingCharge, if needed-which, bad feet and all,it often was.1292Harpur Palate: a Literary Journal, Vol. 14, Iss. 2 [2014], Art. 44https://orb.binghamton.edu/harpurpalate/vol14/iss2/44

Warthog Podiatry

https://orb.binghamton.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2113&context=harpurpalate

Warthog Podiatry

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