Man, I was woozy reading about the arrow extraction! 😳

In the following sentence, I would recommend a full stop after the word “lightened” and either replace “and” with “then” so that the next sentence begins “Then he smiled...” or delete “and” altogether and say “He smiled...”: “But I had my answer when his face lightened, and he smiled gently in thanks, nodding and handing me the sack of clippings. “