You Will Not Die!

This is my first attempt at putting dialogue into my writing, as well as having a more humorous piece of writing.  I am not very confident that it turned out well, so honest feed back about whether or not I actually pulled it off would be appreciated.



There was no hint that anything unusual  was going to happen.  It was another very ordinary morning in a long line of ordinary mornings.  Coffee was made, breakfast was eaten, and as usual Anna was sneaking herself some coffee. There was not much conversation, mostly Anna and I speaking in grunts.  Neither of us care for mornings very much.

Once we progressed past the grunting stage of our morning, a real conversation could start.

“Mom!”

“Yes, Anna.”

“Mom, Mom!”

“Yes, Anna.  What do you need?”

“Nothing. Hey Mom!  Guess What?

“No”

“Please Mom. I’m not going to do it”

“Okay. What?”

"Chicken Butt!!!”

She did it.

After our morning conversation, I go back to grunting, and Anna heads for the shower.  A very long shower.  I have resigned myself to the fact that it is in the genetic make up of a thirteen year old girl to take very long showers.  However, this gives me twenty minutes of quiet time every morning.  I either use this quiet time to write or to cat nap, sometimes both.  This particular morning I was doing both.  I started writing, and would doze off now and then, with my hands still on the keyboard.  When I  would wake up, I could see a line of L’s on my screen.  I was so absorbed in my dozing off and writing that I did not notice that the shower had been turned off.

The next thing I am aware of is Anna screaming and running out of the bathroom.  She was on the verge of hysterics.  Initially, all that can be understood of what she is saying is the word stung.  Eventually, in between screams, she manages to say that she has been stung, on her foot,  by a scorpion.  Knowing that her only exposure to scorpions is from TV, I had an idea of what was going through her mind. 

“Anna!  You will not die!”

The screaming stopped. 

After sitting on the couch with an ice pack on her foot, Anna becomes convinced that the stinger from the scorpion is still in her foot and starts to become upset all over again.  Afraid that there might be more screaming , I quickly explain to her that scorpions do not lose their stingers like bees do.  Which meant that there is “no way that there is a stinger in her foot“.  She calms down a little more.  At this point she demands that I smush the scorpion. 

After grabbing one of my husband’s boots, Anna and I head to the bathroom.  That is when she reveals that she is not sure where the scorpion is.  The scorpion’s stinger had been stuck in her foot, with the scorpion dangling from it, when she saw that she shook her foot and the scorpion went flying.  After some searching we located the scorpion and I smushed it.

While I am smushing the scorpion, I cannot help but to remember when my brother gave Anna a lollipop with a scorpion inside it.  Which leads to me to wonder how easy it would be to put the scorpion in a Popsicle and freak Anna out with it. 

Once the scorpion has been dispatched, Anna settles back down on the couch with the ice pack on her foot again.  She sits there quietly for quite some time.  Most likely she was in some form of shock after her traumatic morning.  As the pain leaves her foot, she starts acting like her normal self again.

Well, almost normal.  Now when she walks barefoot through the house, you can see her examining the floor, the corners of rooms, and walking on her tip toes. 

A quote from my brother after hearing about the incident…

“Yeah everybody warns us about snakes and bees but no one talks about scorpions.”