44 Land of the Lost

It was such a cold morning. Snow falling and temperatures hovering around 34. Rain was prevalent I guess, with snow intermittent. We heard of occasional power outtages and once in awhile we would see a surge in the electric here. After several years of warm falls and winters, we seem to finally be having a "normal" winter. Remember the old fashioned(yeah, like even 80's is old fashioned now) winters, when we actually got deep snow and extended cold spells? I dressed appropriately this time, with several layers, gloves and nice wool cap.

Sitting in the treestand, it doesnt take long for the warmth to leave your body. Even quicker when the rain and snow are quickly soaking through layers. What's the saying? We suffer for our art? Well, there was a bit of suffering today, let me tell you. As soon as the gloves get soaked, your fingers start getting numb. You try to move them and work it out, but it's only temporary. I can usually stay through it, but today was the first day, so I figured" I've got the rest of the season, why get sick now?" and decided to go home after only a few hours.

I stopped on the way home to grab some coffee and noticed the headlines on the paper:" Virus claims 10 more children" and "Thousands feared infected" . This virus seems suspicious to me. We've been hearing about it for quite some time now and at first only a few were infected and very few died. Then we were told that over the summer the virus would mutate and be even more aggressive in the fall and even more deadly. It seems they were right. Worldwide it has been reported as less than the normal deaths from the seasonal flu. But now it's picking up.

I drove home and upon resting, decided to head to the big ol' city and do some shopping with the wife. Occasionally we would see a surgical mask over an ambiguous face and I cant help but think" Why are Americans so stubborn? Why cant we be like the oriental countries and prevent huge infections and outbreaks by simply not having so much pride and wearing a thing as simple as a mask?" Thoughts like these make my shoulders heavy and I quickly put if from my mind. Besides, I smell Gloria Jean's coffe waiting near the food court. As I stood in line, I saw a 20 something causing somewhat of a commotion in the throng of shoppers. He appeared to be drunk or more likely, doped up. He was swinging his arms and babbling incoherently on his wild-eyed mission. It is one of my biggest fears that my boys would even think about trying stuff that would cause you to do this kind of thing, but I have preached to them since they were small that it does you no good and whether your friends do it or not, you dont have to make that choice. You dont have to be part of that particular line of peer pressure. Security soon tackled the kid and he promptly bit one of the guards, a fat, gray haired gentleman that was probably working until he could collect his social security. He jumped up, and started to run away and me being me, I decided to act.

I jumped towards him and he lurched sideways, away from me and into the jumble of tables at the center of the court. I darted past a palm tree and around a trash can and made a jump for his legs. He came down hard on the tile and in an instant there were others on top of him. At the last instant before the guards got to him again, he doubled over and clamped down hard on the side of my hand. I felt like beating his face in, but I figured he was already in enough trouble, so I backed off and let the rent-a-cops try to do their job again.

They took me back and poured a little antiseptic on the bite and wrapped it up for me and asked for a statement. Then the Mo-town police showed up and wanted a statement. After that, they wanted me to go the hospital to check it out, but since he barely broke the skin, I said that if it started looking infected, I would go then. On the way home it was throbbing pretty good, but I chalked it up to adrenaline and put it out of my mind. I've usually been pretty good about dealing with pain. It doesnt really bother me most times. It's not really a pride thing, it's just that it doesnt bother me. When I got my tattoos it didnt feel any worse to me than a sunburn would. Even on the inside of my arm didnt hurt any worse, usually people say its too tender to get tattooed.

When we got up the next morning, I saw plenty of crappy news, as usual. Riots here or there, suicide attacks, random violence and more about this stupid infection. Sounds like Jersey on a Friday, right? ha. There has been war and violence most of our lives, but after 911 it just seems more depressing. I felt quite feverish and not very hungry and the bite that mr. dopey gave me was an angry red and very "weepy". I went to the e.r. and they gave me a shot and some anitbiotics and sent me home. I have felt like I should hunt that kid down and rip his face off for making me sick. Dope-headed freak probably never brushes his teeth, let alone puts down the crack pipe.

Laying down in the afternoon, I felt better when I got up. I tried to eat some taco stuff that Roz made, but immediately threw it back up. I'm getting madder by the minute. If that little bastard gave me a potentially fatal infection, I WILL hunt him down before I go. I feel very fevery right now and am covered with a blanket. The afternoon news has shown more and more people infected and there are numerous reports of fatalities.

Hey everyone, I'm sorry it took so long to post this, but I figured that Scott would want it posted and just wanted you all to know that he is in the hospital and has been admitted. He became very incoherent a few hours ago and then started mumbling to himself. I called a neighbor to help me get him to the hospital and on the way he became very violent. He seemed out of his head and he's not normally a violent person, but Iknew it was this infection causing his condition. He struggled quite a bit when we tried to get him out of the car and he leaned heavily on me and bit my arm. We got him admitted and they had to sedate him and put him on an I.V. His thrashing around got too bad and they had to restrain him to the bed. I'm sure he will post more when he gets out of the hospital and in the meantime, your prayers are appreciated. I may have to go get a shot later because of the bite. It really hurts and it looks a little weepy. BTW-have you noticed all of the violence and increased infection cases that are on the news? We've seen quite a few folks that were quite pallid with open wounds and they were being quite violent. I think we'll have to avoid public anything until this virus goes away for the season. Anyway--I need to go lay down, I feel a bit fevery.....


The preceeding has been made for entertainment purposes only. I am NOT in the horsepistol. This was merely my attempt at a short story. Enjoy your Halloween!