Post
by gkmoberg1 » Wed May 22, 2013 5:18 am
"coalesce"
Ch.1. diabetes mellitus
The crack of a branch off in the woods caught her attention. She sat up and listened. Beside her a familiar shape remained still, and she knew from the steady low breathing that he was fast asleep.
She brushed down a bit of his hair poking up the wrong way and then quiet as a ghost crawled headfirst from her sleeping bag and then from their tent. Cold winter night air stung at her face. Fortunately there was no snow. The southern end of the Appalachians seldom had snow of any significance, yet the nighttime temperatures were below freezing and the ground was frozen.
She doubted anyone was out there. The trees and undergrowth along with the steep terrain made it difficult for anyone to get around. Come summer they would have company, fellow campers in Georgia's Chattahoochee National Forest, but such was not the case for late January. Their campsite might even be the only active one in the forest.
Lu loved the outdoors. The feel of moving fresh air, yes especially biting cold mountain air, brought her to life. It could only be matched by the air she found while out on her beloved kayak, working her way through the brackish waters of the Chesapeake. This was good living, she thought, being outside, away from the world of air conditioned cars and office buildings. This felt good and this is where she wanted to be.
Hearing another faint crack she decided to sit by the remains of their fire and see what happened next. It was still dark but she knew dawn as not far off. Soon light would creep from the east, gray at first and then develop into a pale blue. It would be hard to see any of the coming dawn through the forest canopy but she had experienced it so many times she could relive it even with her eyes closed.
Remembering her new toy, she reached into the pouch she kept on her waist and got out her trial Self Monitoring Blood Glucose kit. Her husband's research team had been working on this for about a year. Although it was still early in the development cycle and would be some years – perhaps 1986 - before it could be marketed, he was insistent that this was the future. She knew she was the drive for this. He would do anything for her – it was just one of the reasons she loved him so much.
A prick of her finger brought forth a few drops of blood. Its metallic bouquet immediately sliced through the cold air, and she wrinkled her nose in reaction. Carefully she re-angled the flashlight cradled in her lap. But her concentration was broken upon realizing something else in the air about her had changed. Had she been hearing a slight rustling sound nearby? Had it stopped at the same moment the smell from the drop of blood reached her nose? The quiet of the woods now seemed unnatural. But shining the flashlight in a long arc around the campsite showed nothing. Returning to her task, she performed the testing steps and found her glucose level was off but yet was good enough for now. She put the reagent strip down beside her and with a leaf wiped the blood droplets from her fingers.
She yawned and stirred the dull embers of their fire pit one last time. Again a faint crack of a branch off in the woods. This time it seemed far off. Feeling a need to climb back into their tent and get some more rest before the day began, she glanced over at her daughter's tent as she put down the stick she was using. The flaps of her daughter's tent were closed tight and all was buttoned down. Glad to know Kay was asleep, she got up and crawled back to her spot. Quiet as a ghost.
As Lu crawled back into her sleeping bag, he stirred a little. She put out a hand to him, resting it squarely yet gently on his back.
“What's happening?”
“Nothing,” she replied, “go back to sleep.”
“You too. What are you up for?”
“Thought I heard something.” And she kissed him on the back of one shoulder.
“Mmmm, I could just eat you up,” she said, as she always did.
With that she drifted off to sleep. No dreams, just sleep. Her last thought was a pondering whether that could a slight touch of footsteps outside her tent – faintly padding about where she had been sitting by the fire pit.
.
