The Life of Oddley - Episode 7

Greetings, again, and welcome to our seventh episode of "The Life of Oddley".  Things are moving along here but still no one has left comments before.  Please leave one if you are moved to and tell me if my effort tickle your fancy.

Anyway, back to the story.  Last week, Oddley again avoided certain death when Brooke decided to take up Roy's offer of a dance.  However, the dance proved to be too close for comfort to Oddley, who then interrupted the dance and ended up punching Roy in the face, causing Oddley and Brooke to make a retreat out the door fast.

After a night spent at a motel in separate rooms, Oddley and Brooke returned to the road and Oddley then had to explain how he ended up in her car.  Once Oddley recapped the last five weeks of his story, Brooke refused to believe it.  Before Oddley could explain again, the car suffered a flat tire, stranding both him and Brooke on the side of the road.

After discussing walking back to town, Brooke spotted an approaching car, which turned out to be a truck, belonging to Roy, who doesn't look happy to see the stranded motorists...

THIS WEEK'S EPISODE - "Stuck in Tulsa", Part Three

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The expression was that of revenge as he saw us standing by the car on the side of the road as he pulled up with the sounds of the brakes. As he got out, I was hoping that he would actually help us.

"Well, if it isn't the Chicago Cowboy." said Roy as he walked up to me.

"Hello, Roy." I said.

"I thought you would left town after what you did to me." he said.

"I decided to spend the night and get some breakfast." I said.

"That's nice." he said.

"It's good enough for me." I said.

"Listen, I want payback for what you did." he said.

"Sorry, I'm not up to it." I said.

"I want my payback!" he then screamed.

"You're not gonna get it from me!" I said.

"Then watch this!" he said as he made a grab for my neck.

Quickly I ran away from the car into the countryside. I knew that Roy had given chase behind me. I knew that my running had gotten me here in the front place but I never do learn from my mistakes.

I don't know how far I ran but I don't know that my running came to a halt when I tripped over something. It took me a moment to regain my footing and see that I had tripped over, of all things, a rattlesnake who had been sunning itself before I ran my foot into it.

My fall over the rattlesnake was noticed by Roy, who I guess didn't see what I tripped over because of the events of the next few minutes. I had stopped my running to look down at the rattler, as they say. He didn't look happy that I had ran over him in haste, so I backed off.

"Why don't you keep running?" asked Roy as he neared my position.

I wanted to tell him about the rattlesnake but my fear over the snake had already shut down my mouth, so I watched as Roy slowed his steps and stepped closer and closer to the rattlesnake, still not a happy creature.

"Roy, I think I should tell you... " I said.

"I've got you now. I'm gonna beat you so bad, your grandchildren are gonna feel it." interupted Roy.

"I should warn you... " I said.

"I don't warn me of nothin' I'm gonna do you in." said Roy as his boot stepped on the rattlesnake.

Roy's boot stopped on the rattlesnake as he felt something under it. Quick as a flash, the angry rattlesnake sank his fangs into Roy's leg. Roy then fell to the ground as the powerful venom entered his body and knocked him out.

The rattlesnake let go and moved away as I walked over to the body and signaled to Brooke to come over to where I was. As she arrived, I could tell that she had never seen a rattlesnake bite before. Neither had I but I wasn't about to let her know that.

"Help me carry him." I said.

"Carry him where?" she asked.

"To the truck." I said.

"What for?" she asked as she grabbed his feet.

"So we can get him to the hospital, where they can save him." I said as I grabbed his shoulders.

"They can do that?" she said as we began to move it.

"Yes, they can. I know a little more about snake bites than you do." I said.

That was true, about 0.3% more than her. Anyway, we managed to drag him to his truck, collect his keys, get in the cab and begin driving back towards Tulsa. I couldn't believe it. I was driving back to a city I was happy to leave ten minutes earlier.

It took me ten minutes to find a hospital. As I pulled up, I wondered how we would get Roy admitted. After a moment, I decided to just drop him off and be done with him. That way, we could then look for a tire store and solve our own problem.

"Okay, Brooke. Here's the plan. We take Roy, get him admitted, then we go find a tire store, get what we need, fix the car, and continue westward." I said.

"What a plan." she said in near-disgust.

"It's a plan, and it gets us out of Tulsa today." I said.

"Have some feelings. We should stay for a while." she said.

"Why should we?" I asked.

"Because we caused his problem." she said.

"I guess you're right. We'll stick around to see if they can fix him." I said.

"Good." she said.

"In more ways than one." I said quietly to myself.

"What?" she said.

"Nothing." I said.

"Okay." she said.

"We're here. Quick, let's get Roy's body." I said, stopping the truck.

"You're so kind." she said as we got out.

We walked to the back of the truck, collected Roy, and slowly made our way inside. Inside, we saw that the waiting room was almost empty. That meant a good chance of getting Roy admitted quickly.

"Excuse me, ma'am." I said as we arrived at the front desk.

"Yes, sir?" asked the nurse on call.

"Listen, I need you to admit this man quickly." I said.

"Why?" she asked.

"He's been bitten by a snake." I said.

"Here, fill out these forms and we'll admit him quickly." she said, handing them over.

"This man is on the verge of death, and you want me to fill out forms?" I said.

"It's standard procedure." she said.

"Maybe you can just wheel him in there, because he's heavy and about to brake my arms." I said.

"Fill out the forms." she said.

"Fine. I'll go fill them out." I said, walking away from the desk, forms in hand.

"Have a nice day." she said as we left.

"We need to find someplace to put him down." I said to Brooke.

"How about this chair?" she said, pointing one out.

"Good idea." I said as we deposited him in it.

"Now what?" asked Brooke.

"I fill out these forms." I said.

"Don't you need personal information for that?" she asked.

"Right, and Roy's wallet should help." I said, putting it out of his pocket.

"You shouldn't take that." she said.

"Don't worry. I'm only using it for the information." I said.

"That's not very helpful, you know." she said.

"I can guess the rest just by looking at him." I said.

"Suit yourself." she said as she took a seat next to Roy.

"Fine." I said as I took a seat on the other side of the room.

I then quietly filled out the forms. The personal information came from Roy's wallet. It showed that he was a factory worker, member of a union, 43, and, most of all, married, as one can tell by the wedding ring on his hand, which I removed, as one should do when confronted by a snake bite victim.

When I finished, I walked the forms back over to the front desk, where the nurse took them without a word. I then went back to my seat and waited for further medical help to arrive. As I waited, my rage at Brooke began to grow. I was marooned, not of my own design, but because of a runaway housewife.

"It can't believe I'm still here in Tulsa. I should be somewhere near Oklahoma City by now." I said, after five minutes of nonstop rage-filled thinking.

"You brought him here." said Brooke.

"Because he stepped on a snake and I wasn't able to warn him. Technically, we shouldn't have even stopped if it wasn't for that flat tire, which we still need to fix." I said.

"I'll remember that." she said.

"What's really bugging me is you." I said.

"How's that?" she asked.

"Because we could have fixed the tire and been on our way by now. Instead, we're in this hospital because you don't wanna leave him." I said.

"We can't leave him." she said.

"Why? We don't know him. He's not a friend of mine." I said.

"You didn't let him." she said.

"He tried to take you into his bed. Not exactly a way to make friends." I said.

"Don't me you haven't done that?" she asked.

"I have, but not of married women. I stick with the single set, and there's a lot of them." I said.

"I don't care. I must stay by him." she said.

"You mean we should." I said.

"That's what I said." she said.

"No, you said 'I', not 'we'." I said.

"Slip of the tongue, nothing more." she said.

"Excuse me." said a doctor as he walked up to us.

He looked to be a nice guy, about the same age as Roy, with brown hair, turning a bit grey, slighty tired face, and wearing the white lab coat we often see doctors in. All in all, an average doctor.

"Yes, doc?" I asked him.

"I'm Dr. Mendel, the resident poison expert here. Where's the body?" he said.

"Right next to Brooke." I said, pointing him out.

"I see. Where was he bitten?" he said.

"In the foot, by a rattlesnake." I said.

"Do you know what kind of rattlesnake?" he asked.

"I don't know, doctor. I wasn't much of a scout." I said.

"The snakes that live around here aren't that poisonous, so he can be saved." he said.

"Thanks, doctor." said Brooke.

It then take long to get Roy wheeled out of the waiting room, once the doctor okayed his entry. Once Roy was wheeled out, the doctor followed behind, leaving me and Brooke to continue battling each other.

"Now that he's in, it's time to go." I said, getting out of my chair.

"Not so fast." said Brooke.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I mean, we stay." she said.

"I've stayed long enough, Brooke. It's time to get a tire." I said.

"No way." she said.

"What do you mean, no way?" I asked.

"I mean, no way we're leaving Roy here without an explanation." she said.

"I think a snake bite explains itself." I said.

"Listen here, we're not leaving until Roy gets well!" she screamed at me.

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It looks like Oddley's stay in Tulsa is becoming longer and longer.  How much time will Oddley have to endure in eastern Oklahoma?  The only way to find out is to come back next week to the blog when the next episode is posted and find out yourself.
 
Next week, Oddley reaches the end of his rope with Brooke, which forces him to seek other means of leaving the city, which he finds in a kind soul, who may be the new answer to Oddley's increasing list of unending problems.  This is getting very exciting indeed.
 
That's on Thursday, September 22nd, at 2:30 pm, here on the John Maxwell Blog.
 
Until then, this is John Maxwell, signing off, for lack of anything else to say...