The Sharp Edge Of A Blade

It was a beautiful April day. I had just woken up in anticipation to go hunting. I've been planning this with my friends for weeks and the day was finally upon us. This was the season to hunt Iguanas. The sad truth about it was that the hunting season was not in effect and getting caught would lead to getting in trouble with the law. This is the time of year which the Iguanas are pregnant and venture out for food before they lay their eggs come the first thunderstorm of the season. For us it was the perfect time to hunt as the eggs were the best part to eat. A single Iguana can lay anywhere from fifty to sixty eggs at a time which is more than enough not to over hunt as we were also mindful of the nature in our wrong doings. I was to meet up with one of my best friend Mark and we would travel to meet his uncle before we headed out. His uncle was skilled in the hunting art and knew where and how to look for our prey. I had a great feeling that today would be a glorious day. Who knows what would be in store for us.

Mark passed for me at about 8am that morning as we wanted to start the hunt early before the heat set out for the day. He arrived at my house on foot. I went downstairs, dusted my bike off and we were off. To make things quicker I had Mark sit on my front handle bar because the distance to his uncle's house was about a 20 minute ride away. We arrived at the house to find his uncle cutting some coconuts outside in the yard to quench his thirst. Upon seeing us he said "it's good to see you guys. I see you made it early as planned. Grab a machete out in the the shed and help yourselves to some coconuts. We'll be heading out in just a bit." We did just that knowing that the machete we chose would be our tool for the hunt as well. After we devoured a few coconuts, Mark's uncle went into the house and came out with a nicely self crafted sling shot. He claimed that he had knocked out many Iguanas with it before and we would be catching a feast full today.

We proceeded to head out in hopes of actually catching something. We would have to walk for about 20 minutes before we even entered their territory. Iguanas are smart, fast and hard to catch. Mark's uncle decided to give us a one on one lesson on hunting Iguanas. He said "You both know how hard smart and fast these suckers are. What you don't know is that we will be going through a bamboo forest to locate them as they like to sun bathe in the open. That is why we have machetes. You must always try and keep quiet as well. One spook and they run away. This is why I brought my slingshot. To snipe them from afar. If you see one running towards you do not attempt to catch it. Its tail is long and razor sharp. It can slice your flesh like butter. Its bite is nothing to play with either. When holding one down you need to grip the back of its neck and its lower back closer to the tail for your own safety. After its tied up only then can you release the grip." Mark and I started joking around about who would chicken out if we caught an Iguana or if one starts chasing us. After a long walk we had reached the area of their nesting grounds.

We proceeded into the bamboo patch clearing a path with our machetes. Our blades were sharp and the bamboo's stalk was weak to cut through. Almost no force was needed to cut down most of them. After about forty minutes or so we realized that another group of hunters had passed the path we took that's why we were not getting any luck. Mark's uncle said he knew another spot on the same trail that might be untouched. We proceeded in that direction. Since we were relocating I decided to have some fun and cut some unnecessary bamboo as we cleared the path for the next destination. I noticed that some were thin and others were thicker. Size and thickness didn't matter on how easy they were to cut. Some would break with one swing of my machete while others were more resistant. I eventually came to a random stalk which caught my machete on the first swing and did not break. I yanked it out thinking that this one will take a few swings to get rid of. Upon my second swing the machete went directly where the initial swing had hit. The machete went through with such an ease that the rest of the force caused me to swing on my shin. I felt a small sting and looked at my feet as I cursed. Looking down at my shin all I could see was white as the cut was deep enough to see bone. Eventually the white turned red and my shin was now spit and bleeding.

I looked up to see where Mark and his uncle were but they had proceeded a little far ahead of me. Still visible I ran a bit and yelled at Mark to get his attention. I said I cut myself. He notified his uncle and they both came walking back to my direction. I could hear Mark teasing me about probably stopping for a little baby cut. I looked at my shin and I knew that this was not good. To make matters worse, we were in the middle of nowhere and getting back would take some time. As Mark got closer he freaked out and ran towards me. He immediately took off his shit and ripped it to make dressing for my leg. His uncle came on the scene and also freaked out at the sight of blood being lost. He immediately called the hunt off to which I said no. The cut was bad and the bandage was stopping the blood. I could walk and did not mind going forward I said. Mark's uncle hesitated before agreeing to continue with us. We walked for another hour or so before we called it quits for the day. "You've been bleeding, we've seen nothing and we have a long walk back to civilization." said Mark's uncle. "I think it's best we call it a day". I looked at my foot without the bandage and the wound looked nasty. It was not gushing but still slowly bleeding. I was definitely going to need stitches.

I wrapped up my foot again as tight as I could and we all turned around to head back. On our way back I told Mark that I could walk but I wouldn't be able to ride my bike when we left his uncle's house. We would have to switch traveling positions. Arriving at his uncle's house Mark mentioned that his aunt was a nurse. I said "Great! Let's see if she's home because I really don't want to go to a doctor and if she can fix me up my mom wont freak out as much when I get home." We did just that. Rode the bike to Mark's aunt's house where she was outside spending time with her mother and kids. Mark explained the situation saying that I was crying really loud and asking him and his uncle if I was going to die. He started laughing as I grew mad but there was nothing I could do as he was out of arms reach and I was in no position to run. I did remind him who the one was that freaked out when they saw my shin. Mark's aunt called me over and asked me to remove the bandage. I did so as the cloth had stuck to my flesh during the coagulation of the wound. The bleeding had stopped but the cut was nasty with the skin still split apart. His aunt squeezed my wound and the bleeding resumed. I pulled away my leg and wrapped it up again. She stated that I would need stitches and because I waited so long, my wound would have to be re opened to clean before stitching commenced. I cursed again.

I asked Mark to drop me home but not to escort me in the yard as I did not want anyone to be blamed for my recklessness. I walked into the yard pushing my bike thinking of how I would explain this incident. I placed my bike in the shed and called out for my mom at the bottom of the stairs. "Mom!, Mom! " "Yes, what is it?" She replied. "I cut my foot bad and need to go to the doctor. Can you please help." Calmly coming out the door upstairs she ran as she saw my leg wrapped in the bloody cloth. She screamed for my sister to go get my dad so he could drive us to the hospital. She uncovered the wound and stated the same thing Mark's aunt had mentioned. This time I could not curse. My dad came down, started the vehicle as my sister and mom accompanied us to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital and I told the nurse what had happened. She was furious that I took so long to seek medical attention. She explained that I could have gotten blood poisoning from the machete and loosing that much blood could have resulted in me passing out. She verbally condemned me for my carelessness. As I sat on the doctor's chair the nurse pulled out a few vials and some syringes with huge needles. Now I was nervous and didn't know what to expect. She gave me a tetanus shot just to be safe. She then pulled apart the undressed wound and it opened up again. That had hurt as it was already healing up but not nicely. The nurse proceeded with a long thick needle. I asked her what would it be for as she calmly said that it's just for the pain when she starts cleaning and stitching. I asked if she would inject me outside the wound upon which she shook her head slightly smiling. I then asked if it would hurt. "Yup!" She said as an evil grin came across her face. I was now furious. I hated needles with a passion and her bedside manner was not helping my situation. As she placed the needle close to the wound I yelled in a really high pitch. "Ahhhhhhh!" As I pulled my foot away. She attempted again and the same occurred. I could feel the pain before the needle touched me. On the third attempt she got mad as I did the same. She told me to behave myself as if I was playing games and doing it on purpose. I braced myself and still screamed as she injected the needle in my wound. She then proceeded to cleaning and stitching.

After the dressing was complete I was granted permission to walk around and meet my mom who was in the waiting room with my sister. They both laughed at the sight of me. They said that they could hear me screaming like a girl all the way out there. Embarrassed I said that the nurse had told me that the large needle would hurt and she placed it directly in my wound. My mom couldn't believe that I was more afraid of the needle than I was of getting an injury like the one I had sustained.

The nurse came out the room shortly after and spoke to my mom. I left the hospital with antibiotics and painkillers. I was instructed to keep my leg raised as much as possible and not to be running around until the stitches had fallen out. I took the advice to a certain extent. As time passed I had missed going outside to play soccer and basketball. Eventually I was back to it as normal. The stitch would later turn into a scar that I would carry with me for the rest of my life.

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