Wednesday's Words on a Friday

The original Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and eventually taken over by a moveable feast of participants when Delores had computer troubles.

The aim of the words is to encourage us to write, a story, a poem, whatever comes to mind.
If you are posting an entry on your own blog, please let us know so we can come along and read it.

This month the words are supplied by me and can be found right here.

NEXT month's words will be supplied by Granny Annie 😊





This week's words are:

1. companionship 
2. extenuating
3. complaisant
4. nuns
5. competition
6. computer

and/or:

1. bedevilment
2. concoction
3. splat
4. eaves
5. clutching
6. institute

You might want to get a cuppa and put your feet up, I got a bit carried away, so it's a long one.

Woody Valley Rescue, part five (and maybe parts six and seven too)

Ross took a clean towel off a hook, dampened it in a water bucket, then gently sponged blood from Wayne's face and arms. Wayne moaned and shuddered a bit but didn't regain consciousness. Ross smoothed a section of the woodchip pile and laid an old horse blanket over it, then eased Wayne onto the blanket, covering him with a second blanket. He closed the cage style door to the woodchip stall and went into the house to see what Leroy and the kids were up to. 

He was greeted by happy smiles and a big stack of pancakes. Only Jessy seemed a little concerned, asking how her dad was doing with a raise of her eyebrows and a glance towards the shed. Ross reassured her with a smile, neither of them wanting to start the boys worrying.
"Look, Uncle Ross," said Josh. "Leroy showed us how to make pancakes. I stirred the mixture and Jeff poured the batter into the big pan and Leroy did the turning over. He couldn't flip them because the pan is too heavy he said."  "You've all done a great job," said Ross. "Where's my plate and where's the syrup?"  "Right here," said Leroy. "I've finished eating, how about I phone Dr Clarence to see how close he is then I'll take a turn watching Wayne. I take it he's not awake yet?" 

"He wasn't when I left him, but come and get me if he is. I want to see if he is himself again yet." He shovelled in a big forkful of dripping pancake while Leroy learned that Dr Clarence would be a while, he was driving slowly in hopes of seeing Maddy somewhere along the way. "What about Boy? Can you ask him to look out for Boy as well?" asked Jeff. "Who's Boy?" asked Leroy. "Our dog." said Josh and Jeff together. "We got him last year from the Nuns down at the girls school. Someone left a basket of puppies in their yard and Mum let us choose one."  

"Sister Mary said puppies give boys the companionship they need to keep them from bedevilment." said Jessy. "She loves to use long words that no one else does, says it might make people use their dictionaries more and a good vocabulary is important."  "So did you get out your dictionary?" asked Ross. "No, we looked up the words on the computer, Jessy's got one now to do her homework and she lets us share if we've been good." said Jeff. "We've learned a lot of new words." said Josh. "Like 'concoction' which is what they call weird funny stuff that people mix up in science class." 

Jessy said, "They learned that one when the museum in the old Institute building held a 'Young Scientists' competition  and Barry Hinkley tried to make that foamy stuff he'd seen on The Big Bang Theory. He did pretty good, but it didn't foam as much as he thought it would." Leroy came inside just then and said Wayne was stirring and mumbling, so Ross asked the kids to please clean up the kitchen while he went to see Wayne; Leroy went out to the yard gate to wait for Dr Clarence. 

Quiet Jeff said to Jessy, "I saw that look between you and Uncle Ross, is Dad okay out there? He scared us, but I want him to be alright still. I want him to get better, like last time." "Well, you saw Uncle Ross smile, so you know Dad's alive and then we heard Leroy say he's not awake yet, so he must be unconscious, then just now he said he might be waking up and Dr Clarence should be here soon, so we'll know more then. Now both of you start drying these dishes while I wash the big frying pan."

Just a few minutes later Dr Clarence's car came into the yard and he reached across to the other seat before getting out clutching the collar of Boy, the beagle puppy. Josh and Jeff were ecstatic. "You found Boy! Where was he?" "Sitting by the side of the road near the big bend, guarding your mum he was, she'd tripped and sprained her ankle and rolled into the ditch. Bumped her head on a rock too, when she fell, knocked herself out and was just waking up when I drove around that bend and Boy ran to the edge of the road and started barking like crazy." "Mum?" asked Jessy. "She's in the backseat." said Dr Clarence, "and she's fine. Go and help her into the house and have her put that foot up on a stool while I go and see your Dad."

Jessy allowed Maddy to lean on her as she hobbled to the house chatting along the way about Boy being such a good dog, Ross and Leroy's arrival and Wayne being unconscious in the shed. "Where did you all run to?" asked Maddy. "We went to the Fairy Tree and slept in the hollow, then the boys took turns keeping lookout at each end of the glade, Uncle Ross found us there this morning." "Where are they?" "In the shed with Dad," said Jessy. "We haven't seen Dad yet." "Mum, Mum!" the boys bounced out of the house and held the door open for Maddy and Jessy. "We made pancakes and cleaned up the kitchen!" Maddy lowered herself into the big old armchair and Jessy brought over a footstool. "Pancakes you say. And cleaned up the kitchen? I'll be out of a job if this keeps up." 

Dr Clarence, stood and observed Wayne, noting the steady breathing and the normal coloured skin under the scratches and splinters. "Let's have a look at him, has he woken at all?" "Not yet," said Leroy. I thought he was going to, he moved a bit and tried to say something, then went back under." "That's probably best right now, often enough the brain knows when to keep a person quiet and let the healing begin. Who washed his face?" "That was me," said Ross. "I just dabbed away most of the blood, from his arms too. I think those scratches were made by himself, Jessy was saying something about extreme itching and Wayne thinking it was aliens." 

"Hmmm," said Dr Clarence. "We'll get him into the ambulance and then I'll take a look at his pill bottles. We've had a similar itching-aliens reaction from one of the patients in the lock-down. It's quite a serious affair. One of the new Doctors turns out not to have been a doctor at all, he's a very good scammer with excellently faked credentials, we were all fooled, but he made a major mistake and we fired him. When we checked at his previous position we learned he'd fooled them too, there's a whole string of grievances across the country. Apparently, this "Bryce Johns", as we knew him, has been experimenting with medications on mentally damaged people, working out types and dosages to keep them complaisant and amenable. He's had several aliases, but he seems to have fallen off the map for now. Police are keeping an eye out."

Wayne woke a little as he was loaded into the ambulance and his bleary eyes focused on Ross first, then Dr Clarence. "Hey Doc," he said. "I think I need your help." Then his eyes lost focus and he passed out again. The ambulance left, driving at regular speed, there was no need for hurrying or flashing lights and sirens, and the three men headed towards the house. "Maddy, how are you feeling?" "I'm fine Doctor, the kids are looking after me." "Good to hear. Now where can I find Wayne's medications? I need to see what he's been taking. There should only be bottles with my name on the label."

Jessy led him to the locked cabinet in the ensuite bathroom and opened it to reveal several bottles with different coloured pills in it. "These are everything Dad's been taking, this new one here is one he got just last week, a couple of days before he said his clothes were itching him, then soon after that he went crazy saying the itching was under his skin and aliens had found him. Then he decided we were the aliens and he had to get rid of us. That's when we all ran away."

Dr Clarence took the new bottle, saying "This isn't something I would ever give him. It's completely wrong." He counted the remaining pills and was thankful Wayne hadn't taken too many. Back in the living room, he discussed treatment for  Wayne, saying he suspected the original brain injury from the crash may be affecting certain nerves and causing him to act strange, it was possible the embedded bits of metal they hadn't been able to remove had dislodged themselves. "Maybe now we can get in there and remove them. Then we can review all medicines and treatments and try a new approach. See if we can get him back on track and stable again."