We have apple trees in our backyard. Lots of them. And on Saturday a family in our ward had asked if they could come over and pick some apples. Of course, we agreed and at about noon they came over. They brought all six of their kids along with a cute boy in the ward. I think we must have been out there for half an hour when I decided to climb up one of the trees and pick from the tall branches. I soon spotted one that was nice and big and round and green and perfect. So, naturally, I climbed up to get it.
And then I was on the ground... I can't describe it in any other way than that it felt like I was dreaming. The characters in my dream were fuzzy and their voices sounded far away. I opened my eyes, saw the fuzzy tree and the fuzzy outlines of two people, one on either side of me. I thought that I had dreamed that my roommate and that the said cute boy had come to my rescue. Although I couldn't remember why I needed to be rescued. I mean, nothing had happened. At least, not that I could remember.. But, nonetheless, my rescuers helped me to my feet and I quickly found that didn't have any strength in my legs and promptly fell to my knees.
It took me way too long to realize that I wasn't dreaming and that I had actually fallen from the tree. My back had taken the brunt of the fall but my head had also crashed to the ground and my roommate, who was also a nurse, told me that I had had a concussion. She said that I had fallen about seven feet or so and that one of my legs had gotten caught between some branches at the base of the tree which sort of made it impossible for me to land on my feet. So instead I landed on my back and she had to revive me by hitting my sternum. She told me that she had been in the truck when I fell and that she had the engine running and she STILL heard me fall.
When I made it inside everything hit me and I sort of went into hysterics and couldn't stop crying. Anyway. I think mostly, that the only thing that hurt worse than my head was my pride. I felt so embarrassed! All my friends were there and my roommate and the cute boy and what do I do?? I fall out of a tree!
After a short while and after stupidly trying to apologize to the mother about stupidly falling out of the tree and ruining the day, (which by the way, she told me wasn't allowed. "No! You're not allowed to apologize for falling out of trees!") I made a comment about my headache, trying to lighten the mood. "Well.. I don't know what it really feels like but I think this is probably what a hangover feels like."
Anyhow.. I'm fine now. I didn't have to go to the hospital or anything and now the only thing that hurts is my neck. And even that just feels as if I slept on it wrong. So yeah.. Moral of the story: Sometimes the best looking apples aren't worth falling for. But even if you do, you'll have a cool story to tell!
So, I kept seeing this book on Amazon and all over Wal-Mart and I had heard that it was very good. So I finally got it! It was given as a present while I was recovering. Clockwork Angel is the first book in a series called The Infernal Devices which also happens to be the prequel set to a series called The Mortal Instruments both by Cassandra Clare. Anyways. I sort of have mixed feelings about this book.. On the whole I really liked it. I'd probably describe it best by saying the seventeenth century mixed with fantasy. Take the proper way of life back then and throw in warlock here and a vampire there and maybe a couple of dashing men and then you have Clockwork Angel. My mixed feelings come only from the language. It's a story with a lot of superstitious ideas and those generally (at least when you're talking about warding off witches and fighting off demons) have something to do with more delicate matters such as religion. So anyway, I feel like I'm making justifications for this book and I'm really not trying to. Mostly. Anyway. There's a lot of using the Lord's name in vain and such and I don't care for it. I guess I'll just have to break out a permanent marker or something and do a little editing.
