Author: Edward Guenther
Written: 10/26/2013

It was another one of those big family vacations. Rebekah and clan were sailing across the Mohave Desert when her mom decided she wanted to collect a cactus plant.  Why?  “They were soooo beautiful!”  Rebekah’s dad suggested it might be illegal to collect them:  what a grump he was.  Rebekah was in cahoots with her mom and they collected a small specimen with very large thorns.

After seeing the spikes on them her dad said nastily, “You sure you want to collect that? Look at it, it’s deadly!”  Puddleglum dad can take a hike.  Rebekah pointed to a cute little bud on the arm of a plant. So mom took off her flip flop to knock it off.  Sagely, Rebekah said she didn’t think that was a good idea.  She must be commended for not laughing too hard when it then took several minutes to get it off the flip flop.  Finally, Rebekah got her cute little specimen in a paper cup and secured it in the car.

Ten minutes down the road the car lurched and nearly wrecked to the tune of Jereme’s howl! Nobody is quite sure how Rebekah got hold of that cactus but she indicated that Jereme’s leg thrust itself into the thorn and not the other way around. Rebekah’s dad did not say a word, not one word (some may debate this).  To this day Rebekah fumes her innocence.

Rebekah’s mom performed a successful surgery on Jereme’s leg (and he was able to brag about his scars). Mom’s final statement on the episode:  “Go ahead and say it!”  Her face was awful red.  Dad just kept on driving, not saying a word, not a single word.  And Rebekah sadly had to throw her prize out the window.  But she didn’t mind too much …  “it wasn’t much good after Jereme’s knee smashed it ”