Returning Home

I heard that itty bitty voice talk to me again this morning, the one I always listen to carefully. It said, "come home from the lake earlier that mid afternoon." So after our morning coffee and gaze at the lake, I packed up the car and drove the hour and 15 minutes to return home.

As I came in the house, Raquel said to Dennis, "you got some 'splainin' to do, man!" With a curious look on my face, I put down my bag and strolled over to the table where she and Dennis were sitting. I asked, " What's up?" and Dennis told me he had fallen down once again. I gave his body the once over, and all I saw was the usual ketchup stain on his face.

After the story came out, I found out it wasn't a ketchup stain, but rather a gash and seven stiches.

He has an office chair that isn't sturdy or strong. He insists in keeping it, even though he has tipped over before, while sitting in it. This time when he had tipped over, he hit his face on the metal plant stand holding his new pot of succulents. He had cut his face on the edge of the stand. As if that wasn't humiliating enough,the pot of cactus then fell on top of his head and gave him a small bump on the noggin'.

All this had happened just hours after I left our flat on Friday, to cash in on the weekend away that Dennis had given to me for my birthday. After Dennis and Raquel ate dinner, Dennis fell. They took a taxi to the emergency center at his regular hospital a mile away. Because it was both a Friday and a full moon, they ended up waiting until the wee hours of the morning to have the large gash stitched together.

Bless him, once again. Raquel wanted to call me and Dennis said no, he did not want to spoil my weekend. Neither one of them said a word when I called home to check on them.

The chair is in the garbage, the carpet now has blood and dirt stains, in addition cola, food and wine stains. I imagine replacing it now would just be fool worthy. Soon, we will probably be able to pass it off as a pop art carpet. It may turn out to be worth some big bucks, one of these days.