I Didn’t See That Coming

Sometimes things just take you by surprise. Yesterday, for example. It started off as one of our ordinary adventure days. We got up early, loaded the kayaks, and headed for the lake. It was relatively quiet when we got there… there was a birdwatcher we accidentally disturbed and a few fishermen. The lake was even lower than last time, but we pushed our way through the mud and the duckweed and started to paddle somewhat leisurely. About 15 minutes into our adventure, out in the middle of the lake, my daughter and I started teasing my husband that we were too tired to paddle around. We would let him cruise the lake and we would just float. My daughter just started towards my husband when the unthinkable happened. She bumped his kayak. In slow motion, I watched him dump into the lake. In a flash, my daughter overcompensated and followed my husband. I didn’t see that coming.

They both popped up, surprised and a little stunned. They were okay but turning the kayaks over was impossible. So began the swim to shore. Both are excellent swimmers so I wasn’t concerned. Then I realized how far it was. Okay. A little concerned. My daughter left her kayak for the fishermen to tow (bless them!) and she held on to my tow line.(Did I mention I am not a good swimmer and the thought of getting dumped myself weighed heavy in my thoughts?) As we neared the shore, the weed and scum and mud thickened. Gross.

I took off my shoes before I got out of the kayak. Stepping on shore, I immediately sank to my ankles in mud. Really gross. My husband headed back out for the remaining kayak while my daughter and I headed toward the dock. Two more steps and we were calf-deep in foul-smelling mud. Two more steps and it was nearly knee-deep and the fishermen were calling, “You’ll have to go through the woods!”

Well, I couldn’t scrape enough of the  mud off to put my shoes on without ruining them, so we tackled the woods in socks. After jumping a gully, squishing through mucky soil, being scraped and scratched and temporarily trapped, we found the dock. The kayaks were full of water and mud and took a while to drain. Then it was home to scrub the boats and our clothes and ourselves. Like I said, some things just take you by surprise…

The same thing happened last night when I watched episodes #288 and #289 of Dark Shadows. Julia Hoffman has been working undercover at Collinwood. Although she is really a doctor secretly treating Maggie Evans, she is pretending to be a historian researching the Collins family.  Barnabas wants no part of her inquisitiveness. He is right to be concerned.

Julia makes a trip to Barnabas’ home in the daytime and discovers him in his coffin. What do you do with that information? Drive a stake into his heart? Cover him with holy water? Shoot him? Go home and pretend nothing happened? Sure. That one.

Barnabas later comes to Collinwood to apologize and agrees somewhat grudgingly to meet with Dr. Hoffman at his home the next evening. Shortly thereafter, Julia readies herself for bed. She makes quite a show of opening the curtains and the window and turning down the covers. Later, in  her darkened room, we see Barnabas silently appear next to her bed.

Then, out of the darkness, we hear Julia.

“Barnabas Collins. I’ve been waiting for you. I’ve been waiting for a very  long time.”

I didn’t see that coming.