The Epilog/Prolog:
Hello everyone, sorry to leave things hanging so much up in the air from the last story. I began writing my next story as I had planned to, but as I got through the introduction of it, I soon realized that there was too much information that I had to cover to make any kind of a story out of it. I am writing this little episode in my life to help bridge the gap between the next story and what happened after my fall at the park. This opening doesn’t have me or anyone else getting tied up I am afraid, so if you want to skip it I understand. However, I need to fill in some of the gaps between the last story and this one to make sense of anything. If you are interested in what happened to me after my fall and how I ended up where the next story picks up read on this information is for you.
So, there I was lying at the bottom of the hill after my spill off the skates. I had landed pretty hard and found myself in a lot of pain waking up. I tried to get up, but that didn’t go according to plan. When I tried to move my right leg, I found it hurt profusely to do so. My plight didn’t go unanswered for long. Amber and Shelly were by my side in moments of the accident. My brothers arrived within two minutes of my landing hard. Shelly was freeing my hands while Amber and Sean were looking over my injuries. Once my hands were free, I immediately reached up towards my forehead and found that I had blood running down the front of my face. Sean eased me backwards into a laying position and supported my head with his hands. I made him well aware of the sharp pain in my right ankle. He told me to lie still and not to move. I followed his instructions as best I could in between sobs.
It wasn’t long before Scott was wrapping a bandage over the cut on my forehead and putting pressure on the wound. Seam mostly was just trying to keep me calm and still. Amber was on her cell phone and Shelly was on my brother’s. Sean had given Shelly his phone and had her call my mother to inform her of the situation. Amber had used her phone to call for an ambulance on the advice of my mother. My brothers were both attending to me with the first age knowledge they had compiled over the years in scouting and other places.
Poor Amy spent the whole time lying at the top of the hill on her stomach. In all the rush, Amber and the rest of the crew had forgotten about her. She let out a yell eventually and that brought Amber up to untie her. She was near me pretty soon as well. I saw a pretty concerned look on her face about the whole matter.
It wasn’t long until the ambulance got there and two paramedics were checking me out. I got to go through the whole nine yards of getting put on a back board and stretcher. Sean accompanied me to the hospital along with Shelly. That was all the room the vehicle to take on the trip. The rest of our group headed back to the high school to retrieve Sean’s van and head home. That was what my mother had instructed them to do I would learn later on. My mother on the other hand had gotten into her car and headed straight for the hospital to meet up with the rest of us there. Once I got there, the staff ran the normal routine of test to make sure that wasn’t hurt on the inside. They ran x-rays, blood work and a number of other tests over me and treated the apparent injuries. My mother was there before I arrived and talked everything about my situation over with the doctors as the matter developed.
I am going to spare you all the drama. Obviously I survived the ordeal, since I am alive writing this today. I had a few bumps and bruises from the tumble, but nothing a day or two of resting wouldn’t take care of. The cut on my forehead took a few stitches and 2 weeks to heal completely. However, the real problem I had was my right ankle. I had broken it on impact and done a pretty good job of it. The doctor reset it and put it in a nice pink plaster cast for me. He told my mother that it would need to be on for at least 6 weeks. There went most of my summer. We were at the hospital until late that night when they finally let me and the rest of my family go home.
The next morning, I was sitting on the couch with my injured leg resting on the coffee table. I was watching Cartoons with Amy to my left and a bowl of cereal on my lap. I was on a prescription for the pain and it was more than manageable. My situation was what had me upset. This was the first time that I had broke an major bone and frankly I hated it. The cast began at my foot and came up my leg to just a few inches below the knee. Thankfully they had let me still bend my leg at the joint. It would have been a really long summer if it had been straight the whole time. I hadn’t been able to get into my bed the night before so, my mother had put me up on the couch in the living room. I didn’t get much sleep not being used to my situation.
My leg brought a whole host of new challenges with it. I couldn’t put any weight on it at all. The doctor had been very clear about the do’s and don’t list. I also couldn’t get the cast wet and he didn’t want me to get dirt on it if it could be avoided. That pretty much meant that I would be spending the next few weeks inside the house. I relied on crutches to get around the house when I needed to. Other than a trip to get my game boy and a few runs to the bathroom, I pretty much stayed on the couch for the next two days. I wasn’t very good on crutches, I really didn’t have the upper body strength for it. So, I tried not to move around any more than I had to. I was mad at the whole situation. Mostly at myself for doing something so dumb in the first place. Luckily the story of my hands being tied hadn’t reached my parents ears yet. In fact, they never found out about it. We were all really surprised how well Amy could keep a secret at that age. Sean gave her a dollar to keep her mouth shut.
I spent the next few days on the sofa relying on my family to help me get the things I needed. Sean and my mother were both willing to help me when they were home. Scott took a little more coaxing from my parents, but he was willing to help on his way by. Amy kept me company and helped serve as a messenger between my parents and brothers when I needed something. The rest of our group and several of my other friends from school dropped in on and off to say hi. So, I wasn’t all that lonely just a little bitter at the whole situation. I wasn’t mad at my family or friends, I was just mad at the situation as a whole. It put me and the rest of my group in a rather difficult situation.
The whole of the matter had come up at the dinner table the first night after I had gotten home from the hospital. The issue of discussion came up when Scott inquired about what my parents intended to do about the trip we had planned. It was only about a week away and my injuries posed a big problem. From the list that the doctor had given me it was more than clear that I couldn’t go. I was too immobile to go climbing around in caves to begin with. Also I didn’t want to take my chances with camping at all for the time being. It would pose too many challenges. I wished I had broken one of my arms, at least then I could walk normally. Being off my feet was a real pain in the butt.
A whole slew of ideas came through the discussion of what was going to happen. Obviously I wasn’t going, but the rest of the family had been planning this trip from quite a while. Everyone had taken time off from work and my parents had made several reservations a few months ahead of time to cover the agenda for the trip. It was a pretty big deal and we had planned to be gone for 11 or 12 days in a row. It was too late to reschedule and several of the deposits my family had made could not be recovered. The original plan the first evening was just to call the trip of and do something here at home that I could participate in. However, I quickly put that to rest without much thought. I didn’t want to ruin everyone else’s plans over my situation. I would normally be more than old enough to stay home alone or even with Amy for a while now. At least for a few hours or overnight. But, my situation left me without enough mobility to be self reliant and my mother wouldn’t here of me staying home by myself for a week and a half. What ended up being the solution at the end of the first night, was that I was going to stay home and someone would stay with me. The only thing really up for debate was who would be doing that.
Both of my parents thought the other one should go and offered to sacrifice their vacation for me. Most likely it looked like my father was going and my mother was staying. However, it was still up in the air. Sean offered to take the duty of tending to me as well. None of them truly wanted to miss the trip, but they all were willing to put my needs first under the circumstances. The situation went unresolved for the next two days as everyone packed for the trip as if they were going. It was just a matter of who was staying behind to tend to me. Truthfully it was tearing me up inside that someone would have to give up this trip for me. None the less, things were what they were.
The solution to the problem didn’t present itself until five days after my fall with the trip directly on the horizon. It was the evening of our family meal. Once a week, my family made a real effort to get together for dinner with everyone present. This included both of my brothers and often my eldest sister if she they could all get off from work on the same night. Mary arrived an hour early as she usually did bearing a couple of side dishes to help my mother with the main course. I don’t remember what we had that night, but it was a full family meal with all the trimmings I am sure. This was the first time I had seen Mary for an extended stay after the accident. She stopped by on her way home from work one night and said hi for about 10 minutes, but that was the most of it. We all sat down to a family meal and began eating.
The trip quickly became the main topic of the discussion around the table that night. It was at the forefront of everyone’s agenda and my parents were getting tired of arguing over who was going and staying. The trip was within a few days now and it was time to make a decision. Mary listened back and fourth as the matter was discussed. Most of us just sat and ate while our parents discussed the matter. Finally, Mary added her two cents to the conversation. “You know Mom and Dad, why don’t you both go? Jen could stay with me at my place for the duration of the trip.†The table went silent with the suggestion. My parents had allowed me to stay with Mary on and off for a weekend here or there, but never really for a this length of time.
I am sure that the idea had crossed their minds more than once. Still, I was their problem and they didn’t want to dump me off on my sister. That and Mary had to work during the time that I would be staying with her. Mary offered to take me on as a border for the duration of the week if I was willing to go along with it. She had a few days off stored up for a rainy day. Still, it would mean that I would have to be on my own for a couple of hours for about half the number of days. But, we found out later that my friend Amber was willing to come over and keep me company for at three of the days in question. Shelly would keep an eye one me for another one later on as well, but that was arranged later that week. For that night, my parents said that they would take the idea under consideration. All in all, it seemed the most practical. It wasn’t like I was 8 or 9 any more. I was old enough to think and fend for myself.
The whole of the matter took some coaxing from me and my calling my friends to see if they could help cover the gaps. But in the end, my parents caved. It was settled that the rest of the family was going on the trip and I would be spending the time with my sister. Despite my inability to walk, it would turn out to be a fun vacation after all. Not as much fun as what I had planned on doing. But, it would still be a chance to spend some time with Mary and get a change of scenery. It would also be one of the longest strings of TUGS that I got to play with Mary ever. That, is where I am going to conclude this little intermission between the two stories.
I apologize that this little story wasn’t a TUG. Since I finished this part of the story, I think I’ll take a few lines and explain some other things about the set of stories that I am going to be sharing. First, there was some interest in my teen years here between the emails and messages I got on this board. I thought I would share this next set. However, I thought I should share how my leg got broken for these stories. The events leading up to it were quite a game in themselves. I needed these last few pages to bride the gap. It helped fill in the gaps between them and let everyone know I was okay from the last story. I also should take a moment and note the way that I am going to be posting this next set of stories to avoid any confusion on the matter.
I need to clear a few things up about the next set of stories that I intend to post. This is a set from where Mary tied me up on a couple of different occasions over that period. I was 16 at the time and Mary was in her 20’s. I am pointing this out so there is no confusion on the matter. There is nothing sexual or even really all that different from the stories I have posted so far about my family and growing up. Still, I am not going to be posting this set of stories here. The moderators on this board have made it clear that they don’t want any stories involving older adults and teenagers here. Rather than putting that policy to the test, I am going to simply respect it. If you want to read them, you will have to do so on my site http://jenniferstories.freehostia.com , They will be posted under the story section with the first one appearing in a the next week or so. Keep an eye on the site if you want to follow along. If you want to comment there is a message board on my site or you can email me.
I will return to posting some of the stories from when I was younger here after this set of stories.
Jennifer