Corn!

Another day of working for Ray, but that’s not the really interesting part of my day.

To tell you today’s story… I must first take you back six years.

Summer of 2004.

I had graduated, I had been to Guam, Micronesia, Hawaii, and now, I was on my way to Iowa. The corn state of the nation.

Why go to Iowa?

I was the Lodge Chief for the local Lodge of the Order of the Arrow (OA), Scouting’s National Honor Society. Every two years, there is what is known as the National Order of the Arrow Conference (NOAC). The OA is a youth run organization, but there are “Advisers” to oversee the youth and make sure they don’t do anything illegal, so, you can imagine how important my adviser’s where when I was Lodge Chief. When we got to Iowa, I told the two advisers that went with us, “I want to run through the corn fields”

I can honestly say, I don’t know why the extreme desire to do so, I just know, I really really wanted to. Their reply:

“ummm… ya… about that… maybe if we have time… (freak)”

On the last day of the adventure, we were driving in two cars. My friend Ryan’s father Les driving the first, and one of my favorite advisers, the Alfred to my Batman, Wayne, driving the car I was in. We were driving towards the airport, and I called Les and said, “this is the LAST corn field on the way to the airport… PULL OVER!”

To my surprise, he does.

I tell Wayne, “QUICK pull over! He did it!”

So, as our car comes to a complete stop, Les guns it, and Wayne laughing, also follows suit. I get a call from Car 1 in which all I hear is laughter.
I never did get to run through a corn field on a farm…


Cut to today!


Ray and I had already done a couple tasks; it was toward the end of the day, he was being a corn mohel like we both were last week. I had just finished spraying some chemical that he had left over from spraying something else for weeds. So, I sat there, watching him mohel away at these corns, and as I see this pile of corn begin to get larger…

I have this flash back of being robbed of an adventuresome run 6 years earlier…
I also happened to have my camera in the car.

So, I grabbed my camera, and walked over to the front part of Ray’s farm.

Then…



Then I had to run back of course… (this time, with the camera being held above my head so you can see something)



I get back to Ray and tell him I went for a run,

“Good, you can use it”
“ya ya ya, I’ve been waiting 6 years for that run”
“What! That’s why your fat, not running in 6 years”
“no no no, you see…”

So I tell him the story…

“Go wash your hands”
“ummm, ok” (I rinse off my hands with the hose, then I notice a slight itch on my neck – I of course scratch)
“you took a video of it?”
“Ya”
“let me see”
(I start scratching more as he watches)
“Bloody hell mate! You should have said something, so that your scout friends knew it was really you”
“ya, I suppose your right”
“how’s your skin?”
“umm… really really itchy now that you mention it”
“Ya, about that, 'member that chemical I just had you spray?”
“ya…”
“the one I told you ‘DON’T get it on you’”
“ummm… ya…”
“Where do you think I sprayed that first part?”
“Oh… F^(<”
“Ya, you’d better get yourself home and wash off, I’ll see ya Monday, go on git!”

I nearly ripped open my own neck scratching away at that itch. Nearly gave myself a new scar going down my sternum beginning at my “Pereira Spot”. And, my eyes of course… oh… my beautiful eyes… RED, RED like they were starring in a “Clear Eyes” commercial with Ben Stein. After a nice long very warm shower, I’m fine. Only thing

I’m scratching at is one of my 237 mozzie bites.


But you know what… after a 6 year wait...

Totally worth it!