Hi Odile,
I was cleaning out one of the bedrooms for Christine's visit with the kitties while we were out of town on vacation and I found a pictures of us with mom two months before mom passed away. I remember Helen was asking us to get closer and keep on smiling. The three of us sitting with you and me leaned toward mom and posing for the picture. Looking at the picture I don't remember what we did that day but I do remember we wanted to go to see the sunset by the Gulf. We were, at that time, what the hospice worker said in "denial" stage. Well, I didn't know that there were that many stages of death! Did you?
But I remember vividly the day I flew to Florida to visit mom. I wanted to do a long run before the flight and I knew once I was in Florida I won't be mentally or physically alert enough to run. That morning I went out for a run in my neighborhood, the same route I have ran for years after work or real early in the morning. It was different scenery to run at mid-day, funny how the sun can change the look of the road or the houses.
I was about half way into my run, I saw a lady with a black poodle or some similar type of poodles. The dog was on an expandable lease and the lady was busy looking at the wild flowers along the road. The dog saw me and I saw the dog, we made eyes contact. I didn't think I was a threat to the dog or I didn't think the dog thought I was a threat. As I ran pass the dog, all was fine and dandy until the little black poodle lunged and sunk his teeth in my right calf. I screamed and his owner turned around and gave me a puzzle look. I stopped my run and told her the dog just bite me. She told me that her dog doesn't bite. I pointed to my calf and show her the dog's teeth marks and the blood started dripping out. I couldn't talk for a few seconds but it seemed like hours and asked her if her dog had all the shots. She kept telling me that her dog doesn't bite. I finally asked her for the address and I need to get back to her after my run. I tried to repeat the poodle's house number and the many ways that helped me remember the house number, since the poodle lives just around the corner.
When I got to the turnaround of my run which was near the fish hatchery, the surface of my skin where the dog bite was now swollen. I walked in the fish hatchery visitor center and asked the people if they have any first aid kits that I could use to clean out the dog bite. The workers couldn't find the first aid kits or have any band-aids. I went in the public bathroom and tried to clean the dog bite. I think it was a little late to clean out the bacteria but I kept on cleaning it with soap and good thing the wound didn't sting but my calf was tight and hard as a rock. The bruise was turning blue and became the size of a small lemon. One ranger from the hatchery was waiting for me outside the bathroom and handed me a band-aid from his car for me to put over the infected area. The run back was long and tortuous but I kept on running and started to cry. I don't know why I cried, I guess I needed a hug at the time, or maybe I just needed to hear the owner apologize to me, or knowing the trip I was about to take would be my last trip to see mom. But I was so determined to finish the run since this might be my last long run for a while.
When I got home I called my doctor and told her a little ugliest poodle in the whole wide world bite me and I was going to be out of town for few weeks starting tonight and I need some medication for the infection. The nurse gave me some advice of what to do with the bruised wound and the number to call to report the dog bite to the County. By the time I was done with all the telephone calls, the poodle's owner called me to say that she found the paper works and that the dog was up to date with all his shots. I came to the poodle's house to get the copy of the shot paper and the ugly poodle acted like he was so happy to see me and I was his best friend! The owner saw the bruise on my leg and continued to convince me that her dog doesn't bite. It reminded me of a film clip from Peter Seller, the Pink Panther movie, when he asked the hotel owner "does your dog bite", the hotel owner said "no, my dog does not bite". Then Peter Sellers petted the dog and the dog bit him. Peter Sellers said "I thought you said your dog does not bite" and the hotel owner said "that is not my dog".
That evening Bob dropped me off at the airport and the flight to Florida that night seemed so long and I wish you were with me on the flight.
The picture of the three of us smiling but I can tell that we were both forcing a smile. Mom's smile has a natural happiness, I knew she was happy that the two of us were there visiting. My smile looked faked and sad and your smile was somewhere else. But if you look down by my right calf, you can see the black and blue bruise had covered the entire lower leg.
I remember you and Helen boiled the crabs for dinner that night after the trip to see the sunset, and how mom wanted to fry the crabs with salt but we didn’t want mom to do anything but watch us boiled the live crabs in half water and half beer. I won't remind you of the loud noise coming from the pot full of live crabs. I just couldn’t believe how many crabs Helen, you and me ate that night.
Few months later I came back to Florida for another visit and it would be my last visit with mom. Helen brought more crabs for Trung and me, what a sweet heart Helen was and still is to this day!. Trung put on band aids on his thumb and his forefinger to eat the crabs because he didn’t want his fingers to get all beat up from the hard shells. I couldn’t stop laughing for a while but I did the same thing. After the first crab, I had to take the band aid off because I rather have beat up fingers from eating the crabs than eating the band-aid flavored crabs.
Love,
Odette
ps. you can watch the Peter Sellers' film clip from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue0fZfwHfzo
No comments:
Post a Comment