The Wrong Button

Every few years

the cardiologist calls me in

to do a nuclear stress test

I get excited

They always are impressed

at how well I do on the treadmill 

Or so they say 

(They probably say this to everybody)

This last visit the technician said

my target heart range

because of my (quite advanced) age

would be one hundred twenty

No problem

I do that all the time at the gym

When I reached one twenty, he asked

how I was doing

and I said I’d like to do more

I’d like to set

a new personal record

He raised the incline

He jacked up the speed

Run run run run run

Run run run run run

When I reached 136 b.p.m. the technician said

“Oops, I pushed the wrong button

“I’m afraid we’ll to have to stop”

He said he was very sorry, but he’d

gotten all the data he needed

No need to start over

I was more sorry than he was

I wanted to beat my old record

And I don’t really believe

that he pushed the wrong button

He just said that

so that he could stop

without asking my permission

I’ve been practicing every day on the treadmill

Next time I plan to set an even higher record

No wrong buttons allowed