Scorpion Check

The year was 1972. I had recently moved to a new town and was the new kid on the block.
One of my new friends, young Roy Stephens, had ridden his bike over to my house and we were going to go play some football at the high school football field which was about a stone's throw from my new house.
A stone's throw if you had a cannon for an arm, that is.

Our family had never had much. We were pretty poor back in the day. We had moved from town to town and from house to house and never really had a home that was all that nice.
But, now we had a brand new house.
The amount they paid for the house has dimmed somewhat in my memory but I believe they paid around $25,000 for it.
Wow, how times have changed.

My shoes were muddy from the day before, so I left them outside by the front door. Hey, I was a little kid what did you expect?

Thinking nothing of it, I put on my shoes to ride my bike over to the field.

Of course, as anyone would probably do, I looked a the field as we were riding up to see who our competition was likely to be. Sometimes there were some nice looking high school girls playing and we would mix it up with them.
I was way too shy to say anything to them, but it's the thought that counts, right?

It was empty this one fine day and we would have to throw the ball to one another only.
That was OK, too.

As I got off my bike it suddenly hit me.
A sting in the front of my toes like I had never felt before. I hurriedly pulled off my shoe to see to my complete surprise a big old ugly scorpion fell revealing the sinister cause of my pain.
I have felt much pain worse than that and many, many times since that day. But, at the time, it hurt more than about anything I had ever felt.

The pain, after much yelling, would eventually go away.

But, one thing didn't.

Since that day, almost 40 years ago now, I have never put on a shoe without shaking it violently to check for those hideous scorpions.
I have never found another one, but I will go to my grave never taking the chance that another might be lurking there.

Scorpion check.