Indomitable Bob - Hailey

His traverse to the pumps caught my attention. Using those crutches with a cuff that attaches to the forearm, he half dragged himself the distance; the expletives brought me over. They were sparked by his annoyance at having parked too far from the pump. He needed both hands to walk and doing it while holding the hose was too much. But he declined my help. Still, I was unable to leave.

He was 31 when he rolled his CJ5. His head hit against the rollbar putting him in a coma for two months. He awakened to find his right side paralyzed.

I didn't get the sequence of things, but he showed his enlarged right elbow; he'd torn loose ALL the ligaments in a skiing accident. His recovery(ies) peaked around age 50, but since then things had gone downhill. He'll be 74 in October.

He's had nearly all the vertebrae in his spine fused and had stopped counting the surgeries after the 30th. The most recent, three years ago, for the top of his spine, was done through his mouth. A lower vertebrae, still unfused, causes constant pain in his right leg. At some point he'd broken both collar bones.

• As he settled into the driver's seat, I asked why he hadn't checked out. He gave a glib reply, so I asked again. He folded his hands in his lap, leaned back a bit and said, "I never really thought about it."

We talked a bit more about his history. He'd been drafted in 1968 and after boot camp, spent two months in Paris, France. He was then sent to Kaiserslautern where he was an accountant. He'd had a ball!

His wife is still alive although it sounded as if she too has health problems.

I'm STILL incredulated he's never thought about it.