Chapter 16
Tied Fates
As I hobbled after my brothers on the farm, I never underestimated the importance of freedom to be a kid. I hated crutches even though it kept the stress off my legs and chest from ripping the stitches. I knew it would only be a matter of time when I could run and play, just like them. Pa kept us busying building the foundation around the back of the house; Ma had a problem with our plans. She added two more rooms to the house, plus a bigger dining room. That way, we had room for guests and extended family; so, we wouldn't feel like sardines in a can. Ma said, simply, "Wayne, dear, it would be nice to have a nursery, for when the baby comes."
Pa dropped the pencil as the rest of us gasped. My sisters squealed with delight at hearing the news. Pa's jaw dropped in dumbfounded astonishment as he turned to Ma, making sure he had heard that correctly. She nodded her head as he went over and laid a breathtaking kiss that made her wobble a few inches off the floor. It was a good ten minutes before he could speak again. "Boys, it seems we are in trouble," he said. "Apparently your Ma has other plans."
We all laughed as he tore up his plan and started all over once again; freeing us to play for the rest of the day while he reconsidered how to make the house larger. Considering it would be easier to build a new house, but there was no way we would have the time to do it. With a new school year approaching, we need to have it done by the time the baby arrives. Having money to do it was another problem and what it would take to make some with woodworking projects or selling the crops it seemed an almost an impossible chore. But come hell or high water he would find a way.
Fate has a way of changing the ballgame altogether for good or bad, depending on the outcome. Sometimes it steps in and helps things along when it is damn good and ready. I, for one, thought that fate had finished messing with me. Given to the fact I had everything I wanted. But I was wrong. It just so happened later that day when I was out feeding the horses; that is when had fate found me.
I reached over to place some fresh hay for the horses when a rattlesnake crawled out and bit me on the leg four inches above my knees. Like an idiot, I reached down to cover the wound with my hand. That stupid snake was hiding in the hay and spooked the horse enough to kick me in the head when I wasn't looking. Adding a black eye to the stars I was seeing as I fell to the ground.
I was lucky Robert and Will were nearby as they jumped down from the hayloft. Will yelled for Pa as Robert quickly tied a rope around my leg to keep the poison from spreading. Rattlesnakes are dangerous, but if you're bitten enough times, it can kill you. This was a little feller, now dead, after the horse stomped on him. To say I felt bad for him would be lying as I screamed in pain after the shock had worn off.
Pa ran huffing and puffing looked once at the dead snake, freed the horse so it could run to safety and stop kicking the barn apart. In one swoop, he picked me up and laid me in the wagon bed as Ma came in with the first aid kit. Rattlesnakes are rare out here on the farm, but they do come out every once in a while, but they tend to leave you alone, if you leave them alone. But it is always good to have a needle handy to slow the poison enough, so it doesn't kill you.
All I could say while laying there screaming. "Way to go to Ma!" She didn't even blink as she jabbed me in the leg with that long needle as Pa took out his pocketknife and cleaned out the wound. Having no boxers on didn't; even faze me when she hiked up the dress to give Pa plenty of room to work. It still didn't faze me as Julie and Anna saw everything from the waist down. While I screamed from the pain as the blood and poison ran down my leg.
It's amazing how pain overrides your boyish pride. Ma didn't bother to cover me up, yelling to Julie to call Doc Hatfield, then remembered with a loud curse that they were all up in Salt Lake City with my Grandmother attending a funeral. When it rains, it pours. Pa didn't waste time as we flew down the road back to Payson Hospital.
I had passed out from the pain long before we arrived; and woke up once more in a hospital bed; with a trinket on my leg and a cold cloth on my bare chest and one on the forehead with barely a towel covering my waist. Ma was holding my hand as I opened my eyes and groaned. "Not again." This was becoming a habit, so I checked to see if my name was printed above the door or above my bed in bold black letters. My nice bluish gown folded across a chair with my sandals placed underneath.
Pa walked in with Doctor Whitmore wearing a greenish gown today. Said I had earned another night or two here to keep an eye on me; didn't want to take a chance with it getting infected with the rest of my various healing wounds. But he wanted to keep me cool and dry like if that was possible in the summer heat. Apparently, snake venom likes it when the body is moving, and the warm blood is pumping. Hence the freezing towels on my chest making my teeth chatter. Although my mouth tasted like a cotton ball and was dry as a desert, I wasn't complaining. I was alive and well enough that even Jeff didn't come to visit me. I gave two thumbs up and went back to sleep as the drugs kicked in.
Pa called Grandma, telling her not to worry, but it seemed she was already heading back with Doctor Hatfield in tow. I knew the moment I woke the second time I was in deep trouble; finding my Grandma taking my other hand with a face that said I was about to get a tongue lashing and perhaps a spanking for making her worry. But all she did was kiss my cheek and said next time to watch out for hidden snakes.
Trust me before I get near a stack of hay it's getting stubbed with a pitchfork a few times before I get near it. Doctor Whitmore removed some more stitches after going over me with a fine-tooth comb. For once I didn't even blush as I laid there in all my magnificent glory, while my Ma and Grandma watched as Doc and his nurse went to work, removing them from the back of my legs and back.
After they finished, I couldn't turn back over before Grandma slapped my bare bottom. Pa laughed so hard he had to brace himself from falling over. Personally, I didn't think it was a bit funny, but I wasn't about to argue the point. I just said what was that for. She said just to prove that she still could and then gave me a silly grin. Ma wanted to wash my only gown before I put it back on, but decided that it could wait until we got home. She didn't want to leave my side, not for one minute; so instead, she shook the loose dirt and hay on to the floor. I couldn't have been happier to have parents that actually loved me. But apparently, something happened to Grandma during the time she was in Salt Lake City. She didn't seem to be herself, I asked, but she said. "Just a little run down that's all."
I overheard them talking in the hall thinking that I was sleeping with a good sleeping pill that helps avoid most nightmares, (but takes a while some nights.) I heard them talking; that Grandma had a slight heart attack nearly knocking over Mike's casket, and apparently it wasn't her first. I hated the thought of losing my Grandma when I and Aaron needed her the most. (Not to worry Grandma doesn't die until January 2001 almost twenty-five years later.)
I needed to find a way so that my Grandma didn't have to worry about me. I had everything I needed. Feeling Ma and Pa kiss my cheek, wishing me goodnight, and place a cool folded towel across my waist. I was really glad that my sisters were home taking care of Sam and Aaron. And I didn't feel bad about my other sisters being returned to my parents so my aunts could have a break. "Misery Likes Company," is all I can say.
Doctor Whitmore wanted me to stay in bed for two more days, keeping me as cool and dry as possible without the gown seeing that infection around my chest hadn't cleared as fast as he wanted it to. I hated staying in my room alone, so I begged to at least lay me on the couch during the day if I promised to be golden. Ma couldn't see the harm. To her one bed was as good and another. Mostly it was because I had nothing to wear besides the gown.
I gave up caring about being modest a long time ago, besides by now there isn't anything my sisters haven't seen already. I would streak through the farm with Sam and Aaron if it meant not staying in my room, and I told Pa and Ma that as they agreed. Ma said. "Well, Julie did say he has the cutesiest little bottom she had ever seen, and I tend to agree." With a kiss on the cheek and a clean sheet wrapped around my waist. I was once free.
Grandma followed us home to pick up Aaron and returned him to our parents to avoid going to jail and having family services place Aaron in a foster home. But the fight wasn't over by a long shot. Instead, she moved in with them. I bet that made them thrilled. Doc said she could as long as she took her pills and visited him once a week. Or he would hunt her down as if he was a dog on a coon hunt. There was nothing I could do but give him a great big hug as he left with Grandma. I knew without a doubt that he was safe while she was with him. It worried me more when she wasn't. I hated to see him go, leaving loving parents and brothers and sisters that thought of the world of him.
Life just isn't fair, but what could I do about it? I couldn't even face my parents without peeing my pants in fear. Aaron was a lot braver than me, and he was only 9, almost ten in a few more months. Maybe with my grandma there, things would be ok. I sure hoped so anyway, but deep down I knew it would never be ok. Even in bed or on the coach, I still had plenty to do to keep me busy. Grandma left me a whole pile of novels, begging me to read. I also had my dreaded homework too. So, with a pencil in one hand and notebook in another; it was testing time watching my councilor come by with a large envelope with tests for all my classes. I was ready darn tooten.
Ma and my sisters quizzed me for nearly a week, making sure I would pass with flying colors. Ma made me a bright green gown to celebrate the occasion; I had just barely put it on and sat down at the table. I was glad to. Considering she was a woman, with raised eyebrows seeing me in a dress instead of farmer overalls and barefoot; nothing new to me. Ma promised me I didn't have to wear shoes in the house if I didn't want to. In fact, she preferred we didn't, and that included Pa. All she said to her. "Fewer things he has to throw at you. If know what I mean?" It had been months since I have thrown them, but we weren't going to tell her that. Why spoil my rep?
Ma was happy, as calm as I passed all of my subjects with high marks. It helped to have a plate of my favorite double chocolate chip cookies as an incentive. I eagerly awaited going back to school with Will and Robert by my side, as I had the remaining summer free. But I knew trouble was coming. Even though Jeff has said nothing, I had a bad feeling that something was on the horizon.