The Camel Tow Takes a Walk

It is a strange time, that twenty minutes or so, after I first wake up. Not truly awake or alert and my mind is not crowded with thinking. This is the time when errant thoughts bounce around my head like random bouncing balls in a pinball machine.
And sometimes, just by chance, some odd words collide and form a pun. Then the wild pun bounces around, looking for the setup. Sometimes the setup forms right away and at other times I have to mull it over.
It’s like the classic story, ‘A Camel Takes A Walk’. I have to trace out the tiger, the monkey, the squirrel and the bird. Get each piece lined up, ready for the camel to come down the path to the watering hole.
Sometimes the camel never starts down the path and at other times, she turns back half way and occasionally, I have to tow the camel down the path.
And the pun just sits there in my brain, waiting for the camel.

About two years ago, our good friend DT, fell ill with a staph infection. (Not a staff infection, which is another pun. But I digress.)
He ended up hospitalized after the infection got into his bloodstream. It was touch and go for a little while, but the massive infusion of antibiotics eventually got the infection under control and he began to recover. We went to visit him in the hospital and he was feeling better and was wondering when he could go home. He was still battling the infection, but the worst was over and the fever was dropping. He pulled back the sheets to show us his black toes.
What can happen with a staph infection is the flora clumps, breaks loose and travels through the bloodstream. Since the capillaries in the toes (and hands) are very small, the clumps of bacteria get stuck in the small capillaries and restrict the blood flow. This can cause the toes or fingers to die. (And the tiger lines up, the monkey is set, the camel is coming down the path, with no help from me.)
DT said that for a while they thought they might have to amputate two of his toes, but that he was recovering well and they were sure they could save them.
I turned to his wife and said. “That’s good news, because everyone knows, you’re lack toes intolerant!”

Yes, she whacked me on the arm.

I have waited five years for that setup and the pun to be used. And the best part was, I didn’t have to guide the camel down the path.

I have others and my wife lives in fear.