My last blog discussed garbagemen or more euphemistically sanitation removal specialists or recycling engineers. Here’s my true story of what not to do when being guests in a home for the first time.
While teaching in our good small college on the Alaska Highway in far northern British Columbia, Canada, I found we had full borrowing privileges at the Univ. of Alberta library including paid postage both ways by mail if we knew which books we needed.
Once each fall or winter we made it an in-person research trip when I drove a van of college students there in person, nearly 500 miles each way. Besides library research, we visited botanical gardens, a symphony, and sometimes the largest shopping mall in North America. One good marriage came from those trips.
It helped our budget to stay with church friends. On this occasion, we reached our hostess’s home without having met her before. We were from up north—moose hunting country. Folks there had asked us to drop frozen moose hides at an Edmonton tannery for processing. We agreed.
The young men on our trip were perfect gentlemen. They carried in the luggage while the girls helped with dinner. We later visited and had a good night’s sleep.
Come morning, our hostess was up early starting breakfast. I was the second one up, eager to do my part. I entered the kitchen, ready to start coffee or set the table when I found our hostess staring at the floor in alarm. A large pool of blood had spread from a giant black garbage bag in the corner of her kitchen nearest the back door.
“Uh, can you tell me what that is?” she asked, I’m sure while wondering why she’d welcomed strangers into her home.
One look showed me that the helpful young men had brought EVERYTHING in from the van, including the frozen moose hides. Those thawed overnight into a massive pool of blood that looked like an axe murderer had been at work.
It didn’t take long to rouse the troops and whisk that dripping mess outside. The boys thought the bag held sleeping bags or laundry. No one noticed or asked questions until morning when the bag had thawed and created chaos.
After an urgent conversation and awesome clean-up job, we convinced our shocked hostess that no horrific body parts were involved in our visit. Thankfully, she believed us and we drove the moose hides to a big city tannery as requested.
I don’t believe we stayed with that hostess again, but we did learn to be careful what we carry into homes when we are guests.
What about you? Have you had any horrendous experiences like that? Hopefully with happy endings.
I would have died! Great story.
I don’t wonder that you didn’t get a second invitation…lol But what a story she had to tell…like you.