You see that face? That sweet, innocent face?
That sweet little innocent face put TEN YEARS on me in a matter of three seconds. Turned my hair white. Sent my heart leaping from my chest in fear only a mother can know. Only a mother who KNOWS that the end has come.
She was around the age you see up there, outside in the backyard playing with her brother. I was in the kitchen making lunch. Or dinner. I don’t remember exactly what.
But I’ll never forget the SCREAM.
High C. Higher than that. A stratosphere piercing wail capable of bringing down passing aircraft. I. Am. NOT. Exaggerating. Not at all. A cry so awful, so dramatic it could only mean one thing. Three things. Blood. Broken bones. Death.
I saw it in my mind’s eye. AWFUL THINGS!!! Arterial spewing. Jagged bone jutting through muscle, flesh and princess tights. Lifeless children (except the screamer) tangled in the swings.
I dropped what I was doing. Raced out the backdoor. Took in the sight before me in a nanosecond. Two children, both alive. The screamer upright, standing next to the swing. Looking for all the world like she was posing for Edvard Munch. Her brother standing nearby begging her to stop.
No blood. No broken bones. No fallen aircraft, monsters or rabid dogs.
Just. A. Spider. A little, bitty spider. A spider that wasn’t even there anymore, most likely incinerated by her hot flaming piercing FREAKIN’ scream.
I fell to my knees, hugged her tightly, kissed her sweaty little cheeks. And then when things settled down I told both children that screams like that were only for the most dire emergencies. For blood. Broken bones. Severed body parts. And that Mommy most likely would not survive another one.
Well, I gave them the kid version. But they knew what I meant.
We all survived. They grew up.
The screamer graduated with honors from one of the world’s top universities.
And moved back home because there aren’t any jobs.
I was sitting on the sofa an hour or so ago. Exhausted to the point of vegetation. It was late. Probably 10. Quite dark when she took one of the dogs out in the back yard. Not a fancy civilized back yard, just a fenced in area to keep the coyotes out. And the bears. And mountain lions.
I was sitting here thinking I was going to skip writing a post tonight. I was too tired. I was okay with that decision and was settling in even deeper on the sofa…we have very comfortable furniture, a little ragged but comfy… I was almost drifting off when I heard THE SCREAM.
AGAIN.
The same scream. Except this time she’s an adult. And we live in the country. Wild animals. Hungry animals. And dogs so small, they’re no protection, just appetizers.
Oh. Dear. God.
I tossed the laptop aside, ran to the door, fully prepared to fight off a bear, wrestle a dog or my daughter from the jaws of a lion. We reached the door at the same time. Me from the safety of the living room, daughter from the wilderness. The dog was with her. I saw no blood, broken bones, gaping wounds.
WHAT??? What what what what WHAT?????
It took a few seconds for her to settle down, to explain what happened. And when she did, she sounded like she had a world class wedgie and a few hits of helium. But I was able to piece it together. Mothers can do that, you know.
We have to.
And if she ever sees another moth and screams like that again, well, I’m not about to lose any more decades over creepy crawly flying things, if you know what I mean.
Even if it was a really BIG moth.
Haha! Been there too! There is no more piercing-through-the-heart feeling than the experience of those screams is there?! Ah, a mother’s work is never done!
I figured this one will resonate with the moms, Bonnie : )
Lol. VERY well-written, Susan! Loved this.
Thanks, Naomi. Amazing how a post can write itself when the adrenalin is still pumping, lol.
♥Susan sweetums,
hahahahahhaha
teehee teehee teehee
guffaw, guffaw, 🙂 ha ha ROFL, 🙂
Do you know you are such a dag!….there’s no other word that describes you better! – said most ♥LOVE-ingly, of course……
How about just dropping doing everything else and putting your head down and write, write, write so we can all roll around enjoying all your wondrous truck-loads-of-talent all the time…..
And Yes I know you are the Queen of many other projects and being the creative One you are that would never do!!
♥⊱ lღvε ⊱♥ to You, Susie.
Dag? that’s Aussie for, umm…I give up. Translate please!
Writing full time is a long time dream. Oh, yes it is! It’s why I started blogging. And then painting comes along and tugs me away from the keyboard because I have a short attention span and so many fascinating ideas that just call out to me.
But I do have a novel in the works. One that I must finish someday. : )
xoxoxoxoxoand lovey kisses to you!
Oh my. These children don’t make life easy on us moms, do they? 🙂
Haha…not at all, Christina, not at all : )
poor dear Hilary….and I think she even got to see the original Scream here in Norway….its a wonder she survived my house during that summer with all the BIG HAIRY SPIDERS hanging around!!! Tor will submit en email photo to you!
Just so long as they’re photos and NOT THE REAL THING!!! haha. I remember Mama’s story of sneaking up the stairs to see what I was screaming about. She said you and I were on opposite sides of the room and I was screaming that you were hitting me. When confronted with the obvious fact that you were not, I said, well, she’s going to!
This reminds me of a time when I was little and may have let out a terrible scream over a what I thought was a moth but turned out to be a bat!
A bat is worth screaming about Patti, at least to a little kid!
I can picture than adorable (now beautiful) face in both incidents. She should have known her mother’s reaction to a SCREAM…which she most likely did…and wanted you to rescue her from flying things in the night…she knows that’s what mother’s do. Give her a hug for me!
I don’t think there was any thinking involved, Vicki, lol. Will give her the hug tonight if she’s still speaking to me after this post : )
You had me on the edge of my seat!
Hope you didn’t fall off, Karen!
Great Story!
Thanks, Lor!
What a great story and a great read! Thanks for the laughs!
Most welcome, Miz Debbie! Thanks for taking the time to tell me : )
I LIVE for these stories!! And I agree THE SCREAM should be reserved for kidnappings or compound fractures!! I was at a park and a little girl did it in standard everyday play!! I wanted to hug her until her head fell off.
hahaha Ali…you are going to be in for it, m’dear! And your mama and I are going to sit back with smiles on our faces, oh yes we are 🙂
xoxo
I love this story! It had me on the edge of my seat! Such good writing. As for the scream… they sure have a way of making us want to kiss and strangle them in the same instance sometimes.
Kiss and strangle…that about sums it up, Carin!
Enjoyed your Blog. It really is the everyday events that captivate us. Fellow flier. June Maddox
Hi June fello flier, thanks for stopping by! I agree, yes, it REALLY is the everyday events that make life interesting.
Sometimes too interesting, lol.