Setting the Scene

Spatters of blood painted the wooden porch. The macabre crimson stains stood out in stark contrast against the cozy grouping of an Adirondak chair and wooden bench revealed in the muted glow of the porch light. The leafy fronds of a fern by the door rustled in the warm breeze. Inside the house, a trail of scarlet drops traced a path through the living room, over the carpet and hardwood floor. The trail continued through the kitchen, the dark stains almost invisible against the Brazilian Cherry flooring. A trickle of bright red blood flowed down the blue wall in the bathroom. Pink tinted drops splashed and stained the sink as water mixed with blood poured down the drain.

Many a suspense novel or horror movie starts in this manner. You may be wondering what horrific crime has occurred or where the villain is hiding or where he may strike next...

But alas, there is no villain this time. Not even a dreamy vampire to be found. This isn't from the page of a book or script. No...the above simply describes the beginning of our night last Thursday.

It all started with a possum.

The hubby and I were sitting out on the porch enjoying the warm summer evening. As we chatted, I happened to glance over to the stairs. To my surprise, I saw a furry head poking out from between the top step and the porch floor. (The steps are in dire need of repair, which is why there is a gap between the cement and the wood.) I crawled up off of the bench I was sitting on and onto the ledge surrounding the porch and, quite calmly, told my other half about the critter. He told me not to make a sound and explained he was going inside to get his knife so he could stab it in the head. When he came back out, I made a hasty exit. Although I'm not an animal lover, I didn't want to witness any of that. A few minutes later he came back in and exchanged the knife for one of his hunting arrows.

At this point I pretty much figured it was a foregone conclusion we'd wind up in the emergency room. At the very least, he was going to need a rabies shot.

In the meantime, I finished what I was doing on the computer and closed it down for the night. I hadn't heard any type of commotion, so I peeked outside and asked what had happened with the critter. He said it had scampered away into the bushes. I told him I was going up to read, but then realized how nice it still was outside. It was only about 9:30, so I decided to sit a spell and headed toward my bench.

And that's when it happened. I stepped right on the hunting arrow he'd laid on the porch.

A half hour later we were indeed headed to the emergency room. After two-and-a-half hours in the waiting room, they put me on a gurney in the hall in the ward (It was so crowded they didn't have a room for me.) and I wound up with three stitches in the bottom of my foot and a tetanus shot. And got to witness the craziness of the ER on a Thursday night on the eve of the Summer Solstice. There were drunk people, alarms going off, cops everywhere, and they even brought in a lady with restraints on her arms and legs and a mesh bag over her face...apparently so she wouldn't bite or spit at the paramedics. The doc on call said I was his first set of stitches for the night and it was nice to have such a mundane task. (Gee, so glad I could oblige.)

We got home around two-thirty with a pair of crutches, instructions to keep the wound clean and dry, and orders to call my own doctor and set up an appointment to have the stitches taken out the following Friday.

Which meant we had to cancel our trip to Missouri. Crutching around down in the Ozarks while trying to keep clean and dry was pretty much out. And I can't drive, and the crutches are really awkward and hurt my arms after a while, so I'm pretty much staying here at home. However, it's been rainy and dreary, so it hasn't been too much of a problem to be homebound.

On the up side of things...we'll probably need to replace the rug (which we both hate) in the living room (The blood cleaned up well off of the floors and wall, but not so much the carpet.) and I've gotten a lot of use out of the Jacuzzi tub we installed when we redid the bathroom, but usually gets passed over for the shower stall upstairs. Yep, it's been tubbies all week with the foot propped on the side out of the water.

At some point I need to work the experience into a book somehow, right?

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

Be sure to check out my other blog, Authors By Moonlight, for a chance to win a Kindle during our Summer Solstice Bash. Just click on the contest link for more information.