Some stories are best told out of sequence. And the middle of this one brought to mind Lady MacBeth's infamous pet speech. <looks incredulous> You don't know Lady MacBeth's pet speech? Sure you do, it's where she gets fed up with the dog not obeying and tells it to leave the room:

Out, damned spot! out, I say!^*

There's more, if you're interested, but this came to mind, as I said, in the middle of this story best told out of sequence for dramatic effect. Because I woke up this morning, checked my email and the must reads on my Google Reader. Then I went to take my shower, with Sheba doing her normal, "What's behind the shower curtain this morning?" routine because she just knows that one of these days it won't be water. I lather up and am rinsing off when I take a good look at my right palm for the first time today. And it's got a bit of a dark stain covering the palm. So now you understand the MacBeth quote.

But I hadn't seen anything that would have caused me to bleed nor any blood sluicing off in the shower. Then it hit me.

Yesterday afternoon, Reneé and I went out to Sharon Woods. Before we went I applied some self-tanning sunblock to her back. And I must not have cleaned my palm well. Because today it has a blotchy, dark stain that my morning myopia misinterpreted as blood.

And you see, had I told this story more chronologically, with applying the sunscreen, showering and coming to the realization, it wouldn't have been anywhere near as dramatic. Ok, not that it really was dramatic to begin with but still.

Peace, gentle readers

^*Yes, I know that this well-known quote has nothing to do with dogs but it was something my sophomore English teacher used to say to the kids who had no clue to get them to read the play and I've always liked it.