Newt Experiences at the Chetco River
Newt experiences at the Chetco river There are many things that might come to mind when a person thinks about camping along the Chetco River. Things like swimming , roating marshmallows over a crackling fire while warming up from the cool summer breeze, or even just the smell of the good ole outdoors. For me, however, the Chetco River brings yet another thing to mind :poison. It all started on a warm summer evening in June of 2001. My family and I, as we always did this time of year,had been camping for 2 or 3 days. My brother,Ethan and I had found our usual perch im the shallow parts of the river catching frogs and Red- bellied newts.
Suddenly, a billowing voice came floating through the evergreens and out to the river where Ethan and I stood. It was our mom. “ Come and wash up and eat,” she shouted. So Ethan and I obediently ran up to our campsite. Now, our mom always warned us to wash our hands after playing in the river because we could get sick, and we most always obeyed in fear of getting some terrible disease or worse. This particular occasion however, Ethan went through the typical routine of pouring some water from a gallon jug on his hands,rubbing it all together with soap and rinsing.
I however, thought in my little uneducated seven year old mind, that I was somehow above all of that nonsense about death and poison. So while my brother was actually washing his hands and scrubbing off the poisonous slime left behind by the newts, I chose to just pretend that I ws washing my hands so that I could eat quicker. So I , with my slime covered hands, happily scarfed down my hotdog. “ See nothing happened, those newts can’t be poisonous. ” I thought trying to convince myself that my mom was just over reacting.
I went about my usual day running around the campsite, most likely driving any by-standers including my family insane. After about an hour of this ,I felt a sharp, intense pain in my side. I keeled over, gripping my gut. My mom, noticing that something wasn’t right, ran over to me. “what’s wrong? ” “ I don’t feel good,” I Explained. So she sent me to the tent to rest, assuming that I had just run around too much after eating. After an few hours of restlessly lying there, I didn’t feel any better. My stomach still felt like the Roman Coliseum on fight day. I couldn’t move.
I tried to call out to my mom, but where the words should have been, there was just a moan of sheer agony. After a few minutes, I heard footsteps. Finally she was answering my silent plea. She walked into the tent only to find me a motionless sweaty mess. “ I won’t be mad,” she started “ but are you absolutely positive that you washed your hands really well before dinner? ” Tears filled my eyes “ I’m sorry! ” I gasped “ I lied. ” “ OK” was her only answer. With that , she sprung up and out of the tent. A few seconds later,i heard her voice talking to an inaudible listener. well she was out playing with newts and didn’t wash her hands before she ate and now she’s really sick. ” Her voice trembled a bit. As my mom continued to explain my predicament over the phone, I got more frightened by the minute. A few minutes later, the sound of wheels and sirens came. They stopped when it sounded like they were in our campsite. Within seconds, two men who I had never seen before came rushing into the tent toward me with two big bags and what looked to me like an alien mask. One man situated himself right behind me and laid my head on his lap.
The other went around to my side and told me that they were going to take good care of me. All I had to do was puke. In a flash a third worker, this one female,came in with a long cot. The three of them hoisted me up onto the stretcher and into the ambulance. After what seemed like a lifetime,we got to the Brookings Hospital. They took me into a little white room with all white walls and teddy bear wallpaper. I wasn’t sure exactly where I was, but I was too exhausted to think about it. A doctor came in. “ What happened here? ”he asked with a smile his face wrinkled with years of wisdom. we’re gonna fix you all up OK? We’ll just make sure you’re OK, and you’ll be better in no time. ” After some time had passed, I was released from the hospital with little more than exhaustion and a stern warning to wash my hands before eating. We headed back to the campsite and continued our stay until the end of the week. The next day, I was fully recovered from my fiasco and Ethan and I went back to our everyday routine of catching newts and frogs, But this time, when mom called us for dinner, I was extra sure that my hands were clean. I never want to go through that again.
