Before my tour in the beautiful tropical paradise known as Viet-Nam, I was stationed for a year at a hospital in Yokohama, Japan. The 106th General Hospital was a secondary evacuation facility for wounded GI's were not able to be treated "in country" and returned to duty. Most of the patients we saw were eventually headed back to hospitals in the U.S. for extended treatment and further surgeries as needed.
When I first arrived in Japan I had no idea that it was the site of many an earthquake. Ranging in size from a .5 on the Richter scale, on up.My first experience with one was when I was walking down a hallway one day and I thought I felt the floor move under my feet. I asked the nurse in charge if he noticed anything funny, and he said, "Yeah, that was an earthquake, don't worry you'll get used to them, they happen all the time."
Ok, happen all the time, Hmmm. Here I was, this farm boy from Georgia, and this guy was telling me to get used to earthquakes. It took me about six months of occasional shaking to get used to them, but I eventually did.
Except for this one time.
This time I was sitting in the bathroom of my barracks on the third floor, reading, to put in a nice way.
All of a sudden the toilet I was sitting on began to sway to and fro. The window was open next to me and I had a nice view of the surrounding area. "OK," I said to myself, "earthquake, no problem." Except that the swaying became more pronounced and I started to hear wall lockers outside the bathroom begin to move around. It was about this time I realized this was not your garden variety quake, and might just get nasty.
I began to wonder just what the hell I was going to do if it got worse, and started looking out the window, with my pants down, considering a fatal jump. As I sat there pondering my fate, the quake subsided, the wall lockers stopped moving, and my seat quit shaking.
However, the event scared me so badly that I didn't need to read anymore. It was just then that I realized that I was right where I needed to be at that particular place in time .Funny how that works out sometimes, ain't it?
Down under we have a saying...like most of our sayings, tis uncouth of course..but this fits the bill ok...." It scared the living crap outa me"
There I said it, and thinking about it now, I wonder if this is why the Japanese are so thin!! In more reflection...have designed the fanciest dunnies in the world, hmmmm one truly wonders.
Who needs colonic irrigations when you live in Japan eh mate??
LOL, thanks for sharing this I must tell my Son, who is besotted with Japanese culture presently.
Hugs Ch'erie
Reminds me of a poem my pappy told me as a kid. Here I sit broken hearted, came to poop and I farted. LOL That earthquake probably scared the begesus out of you. Poor Walt. Dana
hilarious. they're right--you're a mess. this story doesn't have any nookie in it but it does everything else!!!! cheers
Reviewed by d. k
10/16/2007
I must say this was just the right story to read at this time of the evening. I suppose no matter what the circumstances or perhaps how embarassing it may be we all find we are in situations deemed as "Right Where I Needed to Be." It definitely would stand to reason that perhaps you were in the "john" too long? I suppose it helped you appreciate your own hometown after living with earthquakes in Japan. A great write my friend!
I relate. I lived in LA and had been through a few small tremors. One afternoon I was in the apartment with my wife and the dishes in the cupboard began to rattle. Things go hairy, and as I was trying to figure out if we should skeedaddle to the grounbd floor the shaking slowed down and eventually stopped . . . So, like I said . . . I relate . . .
Deputy Dave Jenkins sets out to find the murderer of the local high school principal, aided by a voice from the grave that is sometimes helpful and sometimes misleading.
"Murder isn't usually this funny."
Amazon reviewer
