will the excitement never end?
i was in bed for at least two hours, and i still couldn't sleep. i keep going over what happened today, and i need to get it out in writing.
i'd gone to heather's house for dinner tonight, as she was making fried pumpkin flowers and salad (both grown in her garden!). i got there a little early, watched her water her garden, wrap up the hose... we were outside for about an hour. she finished up, we headed inside and got comfortable in chairs. and heard extra-loud tire screech. she heard a kid scream, and decided to go check.
i heard, "maggie, call 911. NOW." i had the phone in my hand and had dialed 911 before i even knew why. i was on the line with an operator within seconds, saying "i'm at [address] and i don't know why i'm calling. we heard tires and my friend went to check. she told me to call so i did."
i rounded the corner from the driveway to the street and told the operator "we have a car vs. bicycle. send someone now."
heather was on the ground trying to listen to the kid breathe. he wasn't. his friends were screaming at him, trying to wake him up, screaming at heather to get away from him. they kept trying to pick him up and move him out of the street. seeing that boy's head be swung around as blood dripped from his mouth was the scariest thing i've ever seen. i told the 911 operator everything i knew, and kept trying to keep the kid's friends and now-gathering crowd back. i was having a little success with that, and then cars kept trying to drive by. i told one driver to please back up and take another route, there was a kid hit by a car. he wouldn't. he was getting angrier and angrier at me, and, against my better judgement, i moved the kids' bicycles out of the way in an attempt to let the guy pass. it didn't work.
the kid's friends kept screaming at heather, "bitch leave him alone! bitch go away and don't touch him!" she said, very calmly, "call me a bitch all you want, just do it from over there." it was actually kind of hilarious.
luckily, because heather lives in a relatively bad neighborhood, there are police constantly on patrol and there was an officer on the scene in under two minutes. the ambulance showed up in under five.
based on what the friends told heather, they were riding their bikes and horsing around, kicking each other. one got a little rough and managed to kick his friend into a moving car. the driver stopped immediately because he thought he hit the kid, which he actually didn't. turns out, the guy failed his sobriety test and was arrested for dui. and, ya know, that's good.
but it's also a very good thing that the kid lived (paramedics came back to tell heather so) because he probably would have been charged with vehicular manslaughter that wasn't his fault. meanwhile, the kid's asshole friend gets away with causing some damn serious injuries.
i couldn't contribute a lot to the helping, but i was at least able to grab a box of tissues from heather's house and offer them to the boy's family as they showed up. i gave tissues and hugs.
sigh.
i think heather is now officially the crazy gardening, jam-making, white lady doctor of her neighborhood. :)
ps - i feel a lot better today. doctor was impressed with the relative lack of drainage from my infection. she cleaned it again this morning and everything came out clear, happy, and non-smelly. i still can't bathe until at least tuesday (SIGH), but i feel good otherwise. a couple little twinges of pain, and i'm entering the itchy stage, but this i can totally handle.
i'd gone to heather's house for dinner tonight, as she was making fried pumpkin flowers and salad (both grown in her garden!). i got there a little early, watched her water her garden, wrap up the hose... we were outside for about an hour. she finished up, we headed inside and got comfortable in chairs. and heard extra-loud tire screech. she heard a kid scream, and decided to go check.
i heard, "maggie, call 911. NOW." i had the phone in my hand and had dialed 911 before i even knew why. i was on the line with an operator within seconds, saying "i'm at [address] and i don't know why i'm calling. we heard tires and my friend went to check. she told me to call so i did."
i rounded the corner from the driveway to the street and told the operator "we have a car vs. bicycle. send someone now."
heather was on the ground trying to listen to the kid breathe. he wasn't. his friends were screaming at him, trying to wake him up, screaming at heather to get away from him. they kept trying to pick him up and move him out of the street. seeing that boy's head be swung around as blood dripped from his mouth was the scariest thing i've ever seen. i told the 911 operator everything i knew, and kept trying to keep the kid's friends and now-gathering crowd back. i was having a little success with that, and then cars kept trying to drive by. i told one driver to please back up and take another route, there was a kid hit by a car. he wouldn't. he was getting angrier and angrier at me, and, against my better judgement, i moved the kids' bicycles out of the way in an attempt to let the guy pass. it didn't work.
the kid's friends kept screaming at heather, "bitch leave him alone! bitch go away and don't touch him!" she said, very calmly, "call me a bitch all you want, just do it from over there." it was actually kind of hilarious.
luckily, because heather lives in a relatively bad neighborhood, there are police constantly on patrol and there was an officer on the scene in under two minutes. the ambulance showed up in under five.
based on what the friends told heather, they were riding their bikes and horsing around, kicking each other. one got a little rough and managed to kick his friend into a moving car. the driver stopped immediately because he thought he hit the kid, which he actually didn't. turns out, the guy failed his sobriety test and was arrested for dui. and, ya know, that's good.
but it's also a very good thing that the kid lived (paramedics came back to tell heather so) because he probably would have been charged with vehicular manslaughter that wasn't his fault. meanwhile, the kid's asshole friend gets away with causing some damn serious injuries.
i couldn't contribute a lot to the helping, but i was at least able to grab a box of tissues from heather's house and offer them to the boy's family as they showed up. i gave tissues and hugs.
sigh.
i think heather is now officially the crazy gardening, jam-making, white lady doctor of her neighborhood. :)
ps - i feel a lot better today. doctor was impressed with the relative lack of drainage from my infection. she cleaned it again this morning and everything came out clear, happy, and non-smelly. i still can't bathe until at least tuesday (SIGH), but i feel good otherwise. a couple little twinges of pain, and i'm entering the itchy stage, but this i can totally handle.