It's 12:38 am

and

something

woke me up

 out of a
 deep
 deep
 sleep.

  I had been asleep about 3 1/2 or 4 hours.

 All I remember is
 I woke up,
 not really knowing at that instant
 why  I woke up
 and

I reached my right hand over to my left arm.
I don't remember feeling it on my arm,
but I kinda dragged my hand over my stomach
and then
I
felt
it.

I felt it move under my hand.

The next few moments are very fast.

I fly up out of bed and 

peel out of my night shirt.

It's pitch black but I knew I had to move fast

and at this point I don't even know what it is,

but I kinda have an idea......

I quickly grab my glasses and turn on the overhead, room light

and slip on my Birkenstocks.

I don't see anything

but I start to feel the bites.

One on my left fore arm 

and 

one 

on my stomach.

They are starting to really hurt and burn and sting.

I get a freaky bone

and

 wig out

 trying to make sure nothing is in my hair,

while at the same time looking at the floor to see if its there and

I am looking all thru my night shirt and by the way the bites feel, 

I am thinking it is something big.

I am starting to cry,

for

 many,

 many

 reasons.

This makes it even harder to see.

I convince myself that my night shirt is safe,

which took

 some over and over and over looking

 to be sure

 nothing was hiding in a seam or fold.

I put it back on.

 I am getting cold.

Now I really start to cry,

the reasons just keep adding up in my mind.

I leave the room to go out to the front porch to get a flashlight.

I have a small one right by my bed, but I wanted the 

Big One.

I go back into my room and with the flashlight I look 

under the bed and don't see anything.

The bites are really starting to hurt.

I look thru the covers

and start getting freaky again,

just thinking about trying to get back in this bed,

and I still, at this point,

don't-for sure- know what it is,

but

 by the way my tongue is going numb,

my lips tingling,

my mouth feeling like I just ate sand,

I knew what it was.

I remembered all the times 

I 

shook that jar and tortured

that

damn 

scorpion.

Well - there you go-

What comes around-goes around.

Pay backs are hell.

You have to sleep in the bed you make.

Scorpion Karma.

I could go on,

but 

why....

I am starting to feel bad and just want this to end.

I slowly pick up my pillow

and

there it is

and 

it is

a 

Big One.

One big ass scorpion.

UNDER MY PILLOW.

Knowing my enemy well,

 and armed with a 

mag lite,

I kill it.

Dead Dead Dead

you nasty thing

I didn't take its picture,

I didn't want to.

I'm sure you can visualize.

Pieces of scorpion body parts and goo

smashed on the bed and pillow.

Scorpions are hard to kill.

If you have never done it,

come on over

 and give it a try.

Its harder than you think.

 I am just exhausted.

The bites

really 

hurt.

I'm really cold.

I am very traumatized.

I'm very tired.

No way, am I getting back in that bed.

I flat damn hate scorpions.

Where am I going to lay down at and feel safe and be able to relax?

I am so tired and starting to feel funny.

Not ha ha funny.

Poison funny.

Living in this desert set the stage 

for me to be bitten 

by all kinds of things.

Creepy things.

When I was about 10 years old,

I was  walking along a cement cinderblock fence

 with a friend  

and we came across a wasps nest

 and were both bitten

 ALL OVER

 our bodies.

I had a bunch of stings on me.

It was horrible.

 It HURT.

I didn't get sick or have any lasting scars,

but

I do remember laying on the couch

 and crying

 while mom put some kinda

 baking soda paste

 on the stings.

Fleas,

 ticks,

 bees,

scorpions,

centipedes,

 ants,

 wasps, 

hornets,

 general biting bugs,

wild birds,

 dogs,

 cats,

 monkeys,(yes we really had monkeys)

 horses,

donkeys,

 goats,

 pigs,

 rabbits,

 chickens, 

quail,

lizards,

 and snakes.

I have pretty much been bitten by all these creatures except the centipede, snake, lizard, quail, and believe it or not, a hornet.

Scorpions and ants have stung me more than anything.

None have been too bad.

The scorpion this time, got me good and are hurting pretty good by now.

All I could do was sit in the bathroom where I knew nothing could crawl on me, or fall on me.

I tried to get over the sick feeling I had.

It just urks me out.

  I put some cream on the bites.

I started trying to figure out where to sleep now.

There are 2 other beds,

one in the spare room

and J is in his room in his bed.

Both are very sleep ready, but both have heater/AC vents over them, just like my bed.

I decided I could go sleep on the couch,

 because the legs on the couch are made in such a way,

 that no scorpion could crawl up on the couch.

All I had to do was make sure my blanket didn't touch the floor.

One could crawl up the blanket and on to me.

There is no heater/AC vent over the couch either.

I had my suspicions

 that the scorpion

 may have fallen out of the vent

(from the attic)

 above my bed.

They have done it before.

We moved in this house when I was 6 years old.

We have always had scorpions and centipedes.

I named this house

"Centipedeville"

many years ago,

 after my little

chihuahua, Rocky

 woke me up to tell me

 about the centipede in the bed with us.

I was not bitten,

but I flew out of bed and threw the covers and centipede across the room.

I never did find that damn centipede.

I went and slept in my car that night.

Great Memory Bone     :-)

This time,

I finally did fall back to sleep on the couch.

The next day, J went around the house and took off the heater/AC vents and put a screen over them and then put them back up.

 He is such a good egg!

Thanks J.

Now, if a scorpion falls out of the vent, it will have to be smaller than 1/4 inch big.

I have seen them that small.

When W was only 6 or 7,

  I put him in his little twin bed,

and when I went to sit on the side of the bed

to kiss him good-nite,

a HUGE MAMA

 scorpion

 was on the side of the bed 

and I sat down

on her 

and her 10 or so babies that ride on her tail.

She stung me on the back on my leg and behind my knee.

All the babies just scattered every which way!

I grabbed W out of the bed and ran into the other room with him

and made sure there were no baby scorpions on 

MY BABY!

oh, my , lord.

What a night.

Try to get a kid to go to sleep after that.

Not too easy.

We lived way out in the boonies in an old ranch house.

When the wind blew out of the west,

 the cabinets in the kitchen would blow open.

It was an old, old homestead house,

 built out of orange and fruit crates.

They used what ever they had.

We did,

 over time,

 fix it up

 and it was a cool place to live,

 with no one around for miles.

Lots of scorpions there too.

Going thru this has made me tougher 

and

 has made my hate of scorpions

 even greater.

I will prevail.

I'll get 'em,

and then

they 

will

get 

me 

back.

What a bone!

Morning Moon

Little Jiggsy

ma