POP Bottle – Disastrous Decision!

Remember when the most exciting thing in the world was a refund on a pop bottle? the days when 2 cents would fill up that little precious brown bag with wax lips, stretchy sugar necklaces, and those little dots on paper that tasted mostly of paper?

One day while on the play ground at my school I found a treasure beyond measure, a  pop bottle half buried by leaves and dirt. At first I thought it was broken but after digging around it I found it was a whole treasure. Yes, as you might guess the bottle didn’t stay in such pristine condition – hence forth my disastrous decision. I secured my booty back under leaves and dirt. I was trying to concentrate on school the rest of the day – I dashed off at the first sound of the school bell, to retrieve my prize with visions of candy and jealous looks from my brothers.

When  I got my hoard I was lagging behind the boys who where suppose to walk me home. They waited with all the patience of two kids with a sister that they barely tolerated. This time I would show them! I had a bottle – for a while anyway. they were at the top of the cement stairway that led to the football field. being the graceful child that I was I held my prize over my head and went bounding up the stairs – at least two of the stairs. The third one reached out and tripped me the bottle went crashing and I screamed.

I was just crushed at the thought of my wonderful gift from heaven crashing in to about a million pieces. the boys came running up just about the time I found blood, not just a small spot but a running stream of the red stuff on my dress (My Mom would kill me I was sure!) I looked down at the bottle trying to see if maybe it had just cracked and I might still be able to get my 2 cents. When I saw a jagged piece of bottle sticking out of my wrist. Then the screaming really started. Not that it hurt I was just mad, my dress was a mess, my prize was gone and now I was bleeding all over the steps. I just knew some one would yell at me for that one.

This was when a giant of a man came and scooped me up in arms that felt like a steel forklift and he ran. He looked like Charles Atlas from the back of my brothers comic books and he was as pale as a ghost. My brothers followed because they didn’t want to have to arrive home with out me in tow. As our little parade of panic made it’s way thru the halls of the school. the line behind my litter bearer and I had became almost as wide as the hallway with everyone trying to see why such commotion was being made in such a holy and quite place as a school. The running man was shouting to get out of the way and find a janitor, the kids were looking and giggling about the blood being left behind.

Now in these days police didn’t patrol the school and the worst thing in the world was to be in the office of the principal. Keeping this in mind my brothers hung out in the hall not sure what to do. Someone in the office did manage to call the police and my brothers were trying to give a phone number to one of about seven people who where asking all at once. When no one answered at the house they tried to get the name of a relative or where my Dad worked.

I at this time was feeling quite the important person. Never had I been the center of so much attention, I was even offered a sucker! I think they thought if they put something in my mouth I would quit screaming. The school nurse – yes remember them? She had taken the glass out of my arm and had wrapped a gauge bandage around it and told the policeman that had arrived that I needed to go to the hospital at once.

The policeman took the place of my impromptu carrier and ran down the steps and to his car. I don’t remember what happened to the boys at that point but I was enjoying a ride in a police car with lights and sirens going. It took all of about 5 minutes to make it to the emergency room.  I remember someone asking my name and did I know my address -both I gave in my best school girl voice. Remember the time when forms and lawsuits came after urgent care?

The doctor came and looked sent me for x-rays and when I was wheeling down the hall I heard a familiar voice. Every one knows no matter how old you get no matter what is going wrong when you hear your mother’s voice you run. I jumped out of the wheel chair and followed the voice. My Mom wasn’t at home because she had to take my Aunt and my cousin to the hospital due to his asthma attack. I ran into the partition with a nurse following me and the look on my Mom’s face was one of anger. I ask you what do you do? You cry. and boy did I!! by the time the nurse caught up with me my Mom was noticing the bloody bandage and picked me up and asked the rather flustered nurse what happened.

When the situation got sorted out, sort of,  I was sent once again to x-ray. This time my Father came in the ER with two ash white boys, and upon seeing my Mom started yelling at her (Now my Dad NEVER even raised his voice to us kids but to do it to MOM!!!! WOW!!!) She let him rant for a while and then told him why she was there (Aunt Betty didn’t have a car) He settled down and I, for the third time I continued to x-ray. This time I made it. X-ray showed no broken bones and the tendon was still intact but had a nick in it so the doctor told me he had to stitch it. Now if you remember when you were 7 no matter what they told you, you were going to look at what they were doing. They draped a sheet over my arm and gave me several shot that really stung but then my arm when numb. The doctor let my Mom in the room mostly because she was my Mom but also because she was an RN and was suppose to keep my mind off of what he was doing. Curiosity got the better of both of us my Mom by just looking over the sheet me my looking at the doctor’s glasses I could see everything.

The doctor tried to keep my mind off of it by asking what happened – which reminded me of my lost treasure. I started sobbing about my lost candy. My Mom however was furious!! I realize now that the cost of the ER visit and insurance would have gotten me a mountain of candy, but as a kid, I was devastated that my candy was shattered.

I guess this is where I should put in that I had another Aunt who was getting married. She wanted all of the nieces and nephew in the wedding as junior brides maids and grooms men. I walked down the isle with a cast almost as big as my arm, the photographer thought it was cute so he made me pose with my beautiful dress, my little crown headdress, my shinny Mary Janes, lacy ankle socks and a plaster cast!! But I guess with out stories like these family reunions would be pretty boring.

Oh, yes by the way on the way home from the hospital we stopped at Allen’s creamery we all got shakes for dinner that night AND the little old lady behind the counter gave mine an extra scoop of ice cream!!!