T'was a Night!

T'was another night of remodeling and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring except me with my electric sander (named mouse?).

Plastic sheeting was hung from the kitchen with care,
In hopes that the dust wouldn't spread far from there.

The children were nestled all snug in one bed,
While clouds of ceiling dust fell on my head.

When I put down my sander and goggles and mask,
And turned towards Mark so I could ask,

"Is this why they say to check paint based with lead?"
And I knew something was wrong from his look of dread.

Away to the office we flew like a flash,
To pull up Safari on our computer (Mac) dash.

When what to our wondering eyes should appear,
But that our old house was built in a bad year.

As we drew in a breath and the pages scrolled down,
Dangers of poisoning started to mound.

I was covered in dust from my head to my toe,
And the mask that I wore was only so-so.

Mark's eyes -- how they twinkled as he soon got teary,
And I felt scared, then sick, then weary.

Tumors and comas or development delay,
Since we had been breathing the dust in all day.

For adults the symptoms were a lot more mild,
But it took less than a gram to poison a child.

Central Nervous Systems could have been damaged,
If more than a speck had landed on their sandwich.

But hope was not gone, all was not lost,
Test kits were sold for a reasonable cost.

It was too late to go to the store then,
We'd have to sweat it out 'til they opened again.

So all work had ceased; no progress was made,
We just went to bed and prayed and prayed.

Mightily we prayed that all would be right,
Still we didn't sleep well that night.

Dawn soon came and I went to the store,
To buy a test kit - ok, I bought four.

Mark spoke not a word, but went straight to work,
And tested the ceiling; then turned with a jerk.

And laying his finger aside of his head,
He cried to me, "This paint has no lead!"

The walls we had sanded were all free and clear -
The nightmare was over! Nothing to fear!

But Mark kept on testing, just to be sure,
And found that our fireplace and garage door

Did indeed have the lead-based paint,
But they hadn't been sanded so I had no complaint.

Just cover with paint and keep it from chipping,
But the was our plan for those from the beginning.

And so I exclaim as I finish this saga...

HOORAY FOR NO LEAD-POISONING!!