Sister's Revenge

The heat woke me at 2:30 this morning. I guess we really need to turn the thermostat down at night because if I'm too hot, then the girls are roasting upstairs.

As I tiptoed with bare feet through the house to grab a drink of water, I couldn't help but think back to my visit to Mom's in October. Walking barefooted through the house at night is simply something that isn't done in the country. Walking barefooted through the house without a flashlight is just plain foolishness.

When the girls and I went out there during the summer of '06, We noticed this strange paper on Mom's fridge. Beginning with 2001 and going to 2006, there were columns with tally marks. We quickly found out that this was the indoor scorpion count. We also found out that scorpions glow bright green when a black light is present!

Each night before bed, Mom would grab her black light flashlight and scan the bedrooms. We found a total of six scorpions during our visit (one had me standing on top of the toilet seat, hollering for my Mommy - but we won't go into that).

That first night during our visit in October, I helpfully mentioned to my brothers that they might not want to walk through the house without shoes. They thought I was kidding, but Mom was there to verify the story. I then explained how none of the bedding touched the floor so the scorpions wouldn't climb up onto their beds.

The next morning, both brothers stumbled out of their bedrooms looking a little haggard. When I asked them how they slept, my brother Mark replied, "Not too well, actually. All I could think about were scorpions. Thanks for that, Sis!"

I think Dad would have been proud.