On a
sunny 70°F (20.9°C) afternoon in December in South Central Pennsylvania I picked up
Patti from her care facility for an outing, rolled down the windows and cranked
up the radio to '11'. (As Nigel Tufnel taught us all in ‘This Is Spinal Tap’,
sometimes 10 just won’t do.)
With
Spring Fever in December we headed off in search of the legendary Red Devil.
First stop, Dickinson Field alleged home of the Red Devils or at least that is
what it says on a sign.
After a
most enjoyable but futile push and roll Patti was laughingly remarking something
to the effect “the damn little bastards probably can’t read and don’t know they
are supposed to be here” when …. poof she was gone.
Being a super sleuth I followed her wheelchair tracks to the baseball dugout where I found her encaged in laughter and after all it certainly was baseball weather.
If not
here then a graveyard was the next logical place to search for that Red Devil. I could not find either adjacent parking or an accessible way in - well, except
for the hearse entrance. Hey, it was an ‘eleven’ day so in I drove, parked and deployed
the ramp on what appeared to be unused ground.
Consulting
first with the sculpture I have often admired driving by Patti decided she
looked like a stone cold creepy thing and well, we got no more information from
her.
Next we headed
deeper into the oldest section where graves date into the 1700’s and the
drooping branches of ancient evergreens trump Hollywood. Old grave markers were
often as much about wit as dates and soon we were laughing along with 250+ yr
old witticisms. … but no closer to finding the Red Devil though totally
enjoying our outing.
Returning
to the van I remarked to Patti “those look like muddy footprints going up the
ramp! …”
“… and
those annoying two were never heard from again.”
The End,
The Red
Devil
BLOGS:
Caregivingly Yours, MS Caregiver @ http://caregivinglyyours.blogspot.com/
My Lung Cancer Odyssey @ http://lung-cancer-survivor.blogspot.com/
Cute story! Glad you and Patti got to enjoy this faux spring we had for a few days! Red Devil? Hmmmm! Anything like the Jersey Devil?
ReplyDeletePeace,
Muff
I forget Muff that you are a Jersey Girl and would of course know about that equally elusive Jersey Devil. A couple years ago trying to avoid a traffic nightmare on the Garden State Parkway leaving Stone Harbor I took back roads into the Pinelands without GPS or even a map, just the setting sun for navigation. While I saw things better left untold, I never encountered the Jersey Devil.:)
DeleteWe create our devils. You turning it up to 11 does not surprise me at all.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mary! And the next day Patti had no idea what I was talking about so why not turn it up to 11, again. :)
Delete