Watch Where You Step!

Moe bought the land he found on the internet. It seemed to be a good deal, but we didn't really know until we made a trip up north to check it out.

The land was not actually in Snowflake. In fact, it was almost 50 miles away, but when we went to see it I was impressed. Forty years earlier the area had been marketed as a large, planned subdivision, but very few lots were actually sold. There were three or four houses in the area, but they were spread out so widely it seemed like our lot was all by itself, surrounded by undeveloped rolling hills covered with cedar, gamma grass, and wild flowers.

Moe was thoroughly enchanted with the place. I had reservations since I really wanted to live in Snowflake, but I was happy we at least had a place to plan and dream about.

The first thing Moe did was build a tool shed for storing equipment. In the middle of July, 1994, we went up to the cabin for a week, taking the shed with us. Jodi and Jessica came with us, to keep Kami and Krissi company. It was always so much fun to have them with us.

It was late afternoon before we got to the cabin. Our plan was to drive over to our land the following day to put up the shed. I went to work cleaning the cabin and getting things settled in while the girls went down the hill to play. Pretty soon I heard shouting down below.

“Mom, mom,” Kami was yelling at the top of her lungs. “Krissi stepped on a nail!”

I stopped cleaning and went out onto the back porch to see what was going on.

“Mom, mom,” Kami repeated as soon as she saw me. “Mom, Krissi stepped on a nail down at grandpa's cabin!”

Jodi, Jessica, and Krissi trailed behind Kami, Krissi obviously limping as she climbed the trail.

“Did you really step on a nail?” I asked her when she got to the cabin.

She didn't look particularly upset.

“Yes.”

“Did it go all the way through your shoe and into your foot?”

“Yes.”

“It did, mom, I saw it!” Kami contributed. “She stepped right on an old board with a nail sticking out of it, and it was stuck on her foot until she pulled it off.”

“Why don't you go down and get me the board so I can see it,” I suggested to Kami, while I sat Krissi down on the bed on the back porch and started pulling off her shoe. Sure enough, I could see a red, round wound on the bottom of her foot. Now what were we supposed to do?

I got some soapy water and washed Krissi's foot, then put some antibiotic cream and a band-aid over the hole. Kami brought up the nail and I looked at it carefully. It didn't look particularly rusty or dirty, but heaven knew what kind of germs were on it.

“I don't know,” I told Moe. “She probably needs to get a tetanus shot, don't you think?”

Moe didn't know any more than me, but he suggested we call my brother-in-law, the doctor, next morning when we took the shed over to our land. We didn't have cell phone reception at the cabin, but we did at the land. Then, if Alan thought Krissi needed a shot, we could stop by his clinic on the way back.

It took all the following day to transport the shed and put it up. I called my sister Linda in the morning and asked her to talk to Alan when he came home for lunch to find out what we should do for Krissi. Linda called me back in the middle of the afternoon.

“Alan says Krissi doesn't need a tetanus shot as long as she is up to date on her immunizations,” Linda told me, “but she ought to take an antibiotic to make sure her foot doesn't get infected. He says he can bring some home from the clinic if you'll stop by here on your way back to the cabin.”

We drove over to Snowflake when we were done with the shed, and it was late very late before we finally got back to the cabin. Thank goodness we were on vacation and could sleep in the next morning, but the girls were up, ready to play, before too long.

“Mom, mom,” I heard Kami shouting while I was in the kitchen making breakfast. “Mom, Jodi stepped on a nail, just like Krissi.”

They had to be kidding!

I walked out onto the back porch and watched the four girls troop up the hill. This time it was Jodi limping.

“What happened?” I asked when they got to me.

“I stepped on a board with a nail in it,” Jodi admitted reluctantly.

“Did it go all the way through your shoe and into your foot?”

“Yes.”

We stripped off Jodi's shoe, and sure enough she had a hole in the bottom of her foot, almost identical to Krissi's.

This time we drove up onto a hill not far from the cabin where we sometimes got reception and called Alan again.

“Just give Jodi the same pills you're giving Krissi,” he told us consolingly. “I'll call in another prescription for you when you get home, so you'll have enough for both girls to take the full dose.”

“Thanks, Alan,” I told him gratefully. “It sure is nice having a doctor in the family!”

“You're welcome,” Alan said with a laugh. “You guys better hurry up and move here, though, so I can become your family doctor.”

I couldn't have agreed more.