It’s Wednesday morning and Marvin, the rural letter carrier, wonders why Elrod’s mailbox is stuffed full of several days’ mail. The carrier knows that Elrod is 75 years old and is disabled from a stroke. He lives alone.

The carrier continues on his route, but the thought that something bad might have happened to Elrod is pressing hard on Marvin’s mind. He decides to go back to Elrod’s house.

With a gentle push, the front door swings open. The house is empty. The carrier walks around the house but finds nothing that leads to the whereabouts of Elrod. "Something ain’t right,"ponders Marvin.

Scanning the countryside, he suddenly takes a hard look toward Elrod’s outhouse. "What on earth is that thing leaning up against the side of the outhouse?" Marvin wonders.

It’s Elrod’s crutch!

As the mail carrier gets closer to the outhouse he can hear the faint sound of Elrod calling out for help. The paramedic crew has a devil of a time getting Elrod out of the five-foot pit beneath the outhouse.

What happened? During Elrod’s most recent visit to the outhouse, the rotting wooden floor collapsed, sending Elrod plunging into the depths. Well, up to his armpits, anyhow.

Elrod tells the rescue crew: "When the floor gave way I thought I was in an earthquake. I done a lot of hollering for help, but nobody couldn’t hear me ’til Marvin come by." Elrod spend the best part of three days down in that place. Yuk!

The old man was hospitalized for treatment of dehydration, splinter scratches, and a couple of hornet stings. By the time he was sent home, Elrod was in pretty good shape. "It sure was tough to breathe down there," he said, making a nasty face.

The Associated Press first reported this story from Vanhoe, Virginia, in August of 2000.