Caring for your tent

Once when camping we had to pack up our campsite when it was raining heavily.  It is never wise to pack a damp tent away as it causes horrible mildew.  Our tent was very large and made of heavy canvas as all tents were at the time.  We had a very large Gazebo tent as well which we set up at out campsites along with our tent.  It too was made of heavy canvas on top with screened in sides.  The entrance side had the zipper encased in the heavy canvas.
Because we left our campsite in the middle of a rainstorm the tent and the Gazebo were packed away wet, so the next day, at our house, when the rain finally stopped, my parents, ever conscious of caring for what we had, set up the tent and Gazebo in our backyard to dry out in the warm sunshine.  They had been up for hours sunning when my cousins, sisters and I decided to play freeze tag.
Freeze tag was a game we played often.  You would choose one person to be "it" and that person would chase all the other players, if they touched you you froze immediately where you were and how you were until one of your free team mates touched you to unfreeze you.  The object of the game was to get all the participants frozen if you were "it".
We were all running around in many directions.  Although I do not remember who was "it" I remember running between the tent and Gazebo.  At the time tents had stakes which were made of metal and were quite sharp.  I somehow managed to step on one of those tent stakes with my bare right foot and nearly ripped my pinky toe off my foot.  Down I went and blood poured out of my pinky toe.  I didn't want my parents to take me to the doctor (for fear of stitches) so I didn't tell them but doctored it myself instead.  It needed stitches to be sure but it managed to heal anyway without the stitches.  That pinky toe on my right foot has always been touchy, if I stub that toe or step on something with that toe you nearly have to peal me off the ceiling.  I am guessing I did some nerve damage and since it wasn't properly taken care of the nerve ending didn't quite heal correctly.