Unbound on a Tuesday Morning

Margaret Chen had not stood up straight in eleven years. A degenerative spinal condition had curved her body forward until she walked staring at the pavement, her world reduced to sidewalk cracks and other people's shoes. She adapted. She learned to cook bent over, to watch television from an angle, to avoid mirrors. When a new orthopedic surgeon in Portland offered a experimental procedure in 2019, her insurance company denied the claim.…