Generally the simplest classes sting a bit. For Nadia Caffesse, that ache got here within the type of numerous tiny needles lodged in her palms, forearms and chest.
In September 2006, Mrs. Caffesse, now 45, and her household have been driving by means of Big Bend National Park in Texas, the place she discovered herself admiring the native blind prickly pear cactuses jutting out alongside the rocky roadside. Certainly one of them would make a pleasant addition to her backyard, she thought, so she determined to ask her household to tug over so she might decide one.
She was violating a cardinal rule when visiting a nationwide park: Take solely reminiscences and depart solely footprints.
“They aren’t simply fairly phrases,” she mentioned. “They’re a poetic risk.”
She knew she’d made a mistake the second she grabbed the paddle of the cactus. “The ache was on the spot, searing and, due to the diffuse nature of all these tiny needles, unrelenting,” Mrs. Caffesse recalled.
