As we pulled into the parking lot at Mountain City Presbyterian Church, Sammie gasped in surprise, "That man looks like Gabe!" Then, "And that's their car!" Then in excitement and through tears of joy, "It IS Gabe. There's Stacia!"
The four of us were in total shock. Four being Sammie and I and two of our stinking cute grandchildren. Stephanie, our oldest, and her other two children had just pulled in as well. We had been surprised when, a few days earlier, Steph had announced that she and her four children would be coming for the weekend to attend church with Nahnee on Mother's Day, but we did not know that our youngest daughter and her husband would be there, too. What a great surprise! What a great Mother's Day!
After church and the drive back to Bristol and a great time together at Cracker Barrel, Stacia and Gabe headed back to Dandridge and the rest of us headed for the house for our Sunday afternoon nap. What a great day for Sammie. Mother's Day with half of her four children and half of her eight grandchildren!
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Then things took a diff erent turn. After the nap I opened the back door to take Stephanie and the Nash kids out to show them the progress we were making on the deck and garden following Hurricane Helene; and it hit me right in the face. Something was stinking -- big time -- and it wasn't stinking cute grandkids. It really stunk!
I hollered at Sammie to join me as we tried to figure out where the smell was coming from. She ran toward the greenhouse/sunroom pinching her nose, trying to discern the source of the awful odor.
"Could it be a skunk?" she asked. "Yep!" I responded. "It is definitely a skunk!" I had located Pepé Le Pew. He was lying on the ground. Injured. Writhing in pain. Unable to stand or walk, but still able to stink.
"Oh my goodness!" I exclaimed. Then we started trying to determine in our minds what had happened to poor Pepé, while we were rushing back into the house. The odor was not as stifling inside, but it was still overwhelming. The only answer we could come up with was that he had been attacked and almost killed by some of the many feral cats in our neighborhood.
"Let's go somewhere out of the neighborhood for a snack," I suggested, "the poor little fellow will probably die while we're gone. Then we can decide how we should dispose of the body."
When we returned, the little critter was in the same spot -- still alive, still stinking up the neighborhood. So we decided to put it in a garbage bag and wait till morning. One grandson held the bag, another shoveled it in. Then they laid it, carefully, in the back of my old pickup truck. We all expected it to expire overnight.
It didn't. After the poor thing had suff ered all night, I felt that it should be given some relief, so we called the police and a very nice officer came quickly and put it out of its misery. He then suggested that I take the body to the local animal shelter for disposal, which I did.
A few days later the odor still lingers. Skunk stink, like sin, can cause lasting eff ect in our lives.
Another lesson: Some surprises are good, some are bad, and a day that starts off wonderful can -- sometimes -- end up turning awful. So always be prepared.
Steve Playl may be reached by email at [email protected].
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