Ice and Blood

It all started when my friend Aisling asked if I wanted to get together to watch Pride and Prejudice (the new one which, by the way, while good does not compare to the BBC version). I said "sure" so we decided to rent the movie and watch it at her dorm room.

We went out to Wegmans, the Queen of Supermarkets, to pick up some food items we thought we'd need, including raspberries, strawberries, cheese, crackers, milk, and such. As we pulled into the dorm parking lot, Aisling said, "Oh, shoot, I forgot ice!"

So back out we went, to the small neighbourhood super this time instead of all the way back to Wegmans. After getting the ice, we went back to her dorm room and unloaded all our sweeties, taking the ice, berries, and milk to the dorm floor kitchen, along with Aisling's smoothie maker.

"First things first," said Aisling, taking the bag of ice and raising it over her head. "We've got to break up this ice a bit or the smoothie maker won't work right."

CRASH! Ice went flying, skittering over the floor and spinning round like crystal beads scattered all over a mirror.

"Oh, no!" Aisling gasped, reaching for the plastic bag. "It wasn't supposed to break!" The bag slipped out of her grasp and more ice came cascading out.

I grabbed it too and we gingerly set it on the counter, preserving what little ice we had left. Then we ruefully surveyed the glittering, soggy mess.

Aisling caught my eye. "Ehm...how do you feel about eating ice off the floor?"

So we drank smoothies made with ice from off a dorm kitchen floor. It's a wonder we haven't both come down with some deadly virus or something.

Speaking of which...that was a good segue, wasn't it?...the other day I was in one of my classes in the basement of one of the school buildings on campus. No, really, it wasn't that bad. A little mold never hurt anything. I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

So anyway, one of the girls sitting next to me looked as if she didn't feel well. She put a hand on her throat as if she wanted to chunder.

"Are you OK?" I whispered as she got up, grabbed her notebook, and raced past me.

"Yeah!" she whispered back, rather abruptly, and exited.

"Hmm," I thought. "Oh well."

After class, I entered the ladies' room; there were a few other ladies in there as well, one of whom was trying to talk to me. We both stopped talking as I stood in front of the mirror and looked into it.

"Oh...oh dear," I said.

The mirror had bright red blood spatter all over it.

"Somebody must have cut herself!" exclaimed the lady I had been talking to.

"No," I said, looking more closely at it. "That's not from a cut. Judging by the pattern of the blood spatter, I'd say it had to be from a cough or a sneeze. On second thought, it couldn't have been a sneeze, because the pattern goes upward. Your head moves downward when you sneeze."

I didn't mean to sound so clinical...must be all those Monday nights spent watching CSI: Miami. But that was a pretty unusual situation, wouldn't you say?

I grabbed a big wad of paper towels and wet them slightly, swabbing the mirror off a bit and ruining any chance I ever would have had at being a real CSI (rule number one: don't tamper with the evidence!). But it was just rather shocking, that bright red spatter all over the place. I didn't want people to start panicking. Later on I had someone call to have the mirror, walls, and faucet cleaned. I could have finished the job myself, but there was the issue of contamination to deal with. I certainly didn't want to catch whatever that poor girl had. Of course, it mightn't have been her; it could have been anybody.

What I find really curious is the fact that all the blood was on the mirror, faucet, and wall -- not in the sink. If someone were going to chunder, wouldn't she have done it at the first available place (i.e., the sink)? But there was no blood there. Since there was no blood in the sink, why was there blood on the mirror? Did she clean the sink after? If so, why clean the sink but not the mirror?

There I go sounding clinical again. Sorry. Clair darling, perhaps you, being the real medical person round here, would have an opinion on this kind of thing? SFL? Bre? Any words of wisdom?

Eagerly awaiting replies! :D :D :D