16. Historic Hyperbole

                The land line rang. Jocelyn grabbed the phone and settled herself on the front steps. As she answered, her cell indicated she had a text. Dexterous with her devices, she scanned her texts as she spoke on the phone. The texts were from Mitzi, a fellow docent at the Ketcham House, a historic site interpreted back to the 1700’s. The call was from Agnes, a seasoned docent associated with the Hicksville Historical Society for the last thirty years.

            “Jocelyn, glad I caught you! I wanted to make sure you were informed about what occurred here at Ketcham today.”

            --Text message: “She means she wanted to be the first to get to tell the story. I’m standing right next to her,” typed Mitzi.

            “What happened Agnes?” asked Jocelyn.

            “Well, the ambulance just left. They were here for hours.”

            --“Yeah that would be 20 minutes.”

            “Ambulance! What happened Agnes?” Jocelyn asked again.

            “I was in the middle of a tour; had a large group.”

            --“Four people, one was a baby.”

            “A gentleman in the group had some kind of condition. I noticed he was dragging his left leg quite a bit.”

            --“He had a slight limp.”

            “We were just going into the kitchen when it happened.” Here Agnes paused for effect.

            “Go on, Agnes, go on…” Jocelyn prodded.

            “I turned my back to him for just a moment and I heard this loud crash. I thought the old roof was caving in.”

            --“I heard it out in the office. I heard her scream.”

            “I kept my cool and turned to find him on the floor. He must of fainted and landed on the table, the one with the sugar cones and the bowl with the sugar nippers. There was sugar everywhere.”

            --“The man tripped on the raised door jamb and couldn’t catch his balance.”

            “Was he injured?” Jocelyn asked.

            “Mitzi and Louis came running in. My grandson was doing some yard clean-up outside. The ambulance was here in five minutes.”

            --“I called 911. I thought for sure it was Agnes!”

            “Louis knew not to touch him. Could have been a back injury.”

            --“The EMTs told him to get out of the way.”

            “Turns out he cracked his head on the apple peeler. You should have seen the blood!”

            --“He scraped his temple on the wooden apple peeler. There was a little trickle on his cheek.”

            “Oh my God, was there blood on everything?” asked Jocelyn struggling to keep the chuckle out of her voice.

            “Lucky I had a wad of tissues in my sweater pocket. Always carry them. I think ahead just in case.”

            --“Allergies.”

            “And I know CPR.”

            --“Agnes was so shocked I thought she was going to keel.”

            “Did they take him to the hospital?” asked Jocelyn.

            “No, they checked him out and bandaged him up, after they staunched the blood.”

            --“They gave him a band aid and a cold compress for his knee.”

            “It’s a good thing you’re so good in an emergency Agnes,” said Jocelyn.

            “Well, I could tell they know a person who can take charge when it’s needed.”

            --“They made her sit down to catch her breath.”

            “Gonna take a lot of work to get the exhibit back in order.”

            --“We righted the table, swept up the loose sugar, and put everything back just like it was.”

“Reminds me of how Daniel Ketcham had a drunken brawl in the house after the apple harvest was done. Too much hard cider passed around.”

            “I haven’t heard that story,” said Jocelyn.

            --“No one has. It’s new.”

            “Oh they had a big mess on their hands.”

            “Not just another day at Ketcham House, was it Agnes?” teased Jocelyn.

            “I’m glad to serve.”

            --“She sure loves to dish it up.”

(638 words)