PET Scan   It sounds so gentle — just a light caress, nothing intrusive, nothing rude or rough, just a feathery touch, a lover’s kiss, a whisper barely there, barely enough but enough all the same — you can’t say no.   Or a light knock on your door: open it. A nice young man, clean as a Mormon, stands there smiling brightly and asks: How many kittens? Puppies? Tropical fish? And he hands you a pamphlet, a rose — you can’t say no.   Think of these things when you’re in the machine: the brush of a heron’s wing, the soft knock of knuckles that have never known work, clean sheets, clean slates, clean blood. And one day we’ll talk of this and laugh, or cry — you can’t say no.                                                                         for Marti     © Michael Fleming Brattleboro, Vermont August 2011