The "Nail" Incident

  This story has been running through my mind a lot lately. It's one of the funnier things that happened during our thirty-year marriage. Doug was . . . let's just say a bit overreactive at times. It seems to be a trait handed down by the Reiner men from generation to generation. All the Reiner women reading this will nod their heads in agreement. The Reiner men will snort and say, "Not me!" And then the Reiner women will remind the men of a particular instance . . . Well, you get the idea.

It was Alex's senior year of high school and we were headed out to Fortaleza after a break. The trip was long and we had our Akita, Zeus, with us so we decided to split the trip into two days. To save a little money, and to have a place for the dog, we made arrangements to spend the night at the Iguatu camp which was right on the way. 

Night had fallen by the time we arrived at the camp and there were only a few lights on. We were essentially unloading in the dark. The first thing we did was put the dog in one of the cabin rooms to keep him out of the way. The doors were cut in half so we could close the bottom and leave the top open. Zeus seemed content for the moment.

All four of us were busy getting set up for the night, when all of a sudden Doug let out a yelp that set my teeth on edge. He was hobbling around in a full-on panic yelling, "I stepped on a nail! It went through my foot!" The statements were repeated several times until I could get his attention and get him into one of the rooms so I could see it. Doug found the end of a bed and plopped down with one foot on the ground and the other in the air.

The kids had joined us in the room and we discussed our next move. Well, there was no other option but to look at his foot and determine if we needed to take him to the hospital in the city of Iguatu. I told him I was going to remove his shoe to which he responded, "You won't be able to get it off! The nail went right through!" At this point, Zeus came bounding through the door to see what all the ruckus was. He had jumped the door!

"But, let me try. I'll be careful, but I have to see how bad it is," I replied with a little bit of annoyance. 

As I started to gently pull, Doug's face scrunched waiting for the inevitable pain. I managed to get his shoe off and looked at the sole. "I don't see a nail or anything," I murmured half to myself.

"It must have gone back out," was Doug's conjecture. I put the shoe on the floor and proceeded to inspect his sock.

My next statement was hesitant. "Doug, I don't see any blood on your sock."

"What?" By this time the kids were starting to snicker and I was fighting a smile. I removed his sock to discover the sole of his foot was intact if a bit smelly. 

The kids and I couldn't hold it anymore. We were doubled over with tears streaming down our faces as we roared with laughter. Zeus took that as his cue to jump and lick everybody's faces. 

We tell, retell and laugh about that incident to this day. It never fails to induce at least a chuckle while all the Reiner women nod their heads at the drama and the Reiner men snort, cross their arms and say, "Well, it could have been really bad."

        We never did figure out what he stepped on.

Disclaimer: Let me just say that I love being a part of the Reiner family; drama and all. We have continued to be close even though Doug is gone. When you marry a Reiner, you become one as if it were your birthright. They are precious to me.