October 28, Tuesday, my dad’s birthday.
October 27, Monday, I can finally breathe after a couple of weeks of crises.
October 26, Sunday, Kyle’s nose looks much better. Maybe he’ll have a scar. The van runs but still needs a tune up.
October 25, Saturday, Dad walked to the mechanic’s and picked up the van. It was a fairly short walk, about 4,000 feet. He left early enough to beat the heat. The rest of the day was spent in the driveway, fixing up (or tearing out the bad parts) of the other two cars that have been out of order for months.
October 24, Friday, Dad called me from his errand-running “The van broke down. I’m in this parking lot. Call a tow truck.” The van had a bad fuel line. I called a towing company in the phone book that had the closest address to us. The guy on the phone actually knew where the Serpentarium was. I was wondering how I was going to get to my lessons that afternoon, but my 3:30 appointment called to cancel. Good thing. They live just up the block, but that’s a hottest part of the day. And the days have been muggy. I wouldn’t have minded walking to their house for the lesson, but then I’d have to walk to my next student’s house, making me late. I left at 5pm to my student who lives about a mile from the house. Pink, new skin is visible on Kyle’s wound.
October 23, Thursday, more honey.
October 22, Wednesday, Kyle had a big piece of scab falling off. I didn’t want him to tear it because the rest of the scab wasn’t ready to go. And you know how it is when you pull a scab that isn’t ready to go: Ya got blood. And blood coming out of your face is not a pretty sight.
October 17 through 21, Dad cleaned Kyle’s wound and put raw honey on it (for its antibacterial properties). Kyle felt special for getting Dad’s attention but mostly for getting a spoonful of raw honey during treatment.
October 16, Thursday morning, the children were playing outside because the days have been cooler – or not as hot as they have been for the past several months. Using the word “cooler” might imply “pleasant” – and they were finished with their home schooling and chores. Dad was home, too. He and I were sitting on the couch, shootin’ the shit, when Ty reared his head. I reminded him not to interrupt adults’ conversation. And Kyle showed up right behind him, crying and bleeding from his face. Again. His face was hit by the tire swing, and it opened up the wound.
October 14, Tuesday evening, just after I came home from the work, I was changing my clothes when Kyle slipped, fell, and got up crying. Ty had a scared look on his face and started whimpering. What’s the matter NOW? I thought. Good grief, there’s always something going on here. Kyle was wailing hard, and when I took a look at him, he was bleeding from his face. I was praying that it wasn’t his teeth that he knocked out. So we went to the bathroom, wiped off the blood, and discovered a moderate cut on his nose. It was one of those cuts that begs the question of stitches, but the angle was odd on the fleshy tip. How it that supposed to be stitched? So we sent him to bed in hopes that he wouldn’t open up the wound in his sleep. And he was okay for the next day and a half.
