The thing I dreaded the most happened: a farm accident. . . ************************************************************************* “Margie.”I hear my husband's voice. It sounded full of pain. “Margie”I ran down the basement where I expected to see William in his farm cover-all wondering, what had happened? I didn’t see him anywhere.“Margie!”“William? Where are you?”“On the back porch”I ran to the porch to see William leaning against the wall with blood dripping down his face.“What happened?:”“I fell off the barn roof.” Help me get my boots off.”I struggled to get the slimy, manure covered boots off William’s feet. Two weeks earlier I had had a cesarean surgery to deliver our new baby, Joel. I still felt weak. I fumbled with the boots, but they didn’t budge much.“William, I’m going to call an ambulance”“No! Help me get my boots off.I struggled some more.“I think I should cut your cover-all off. It’s covered with wet manure.” I struggled some more. I tugged at the boots, but they didn’t budge much.“William--I don’t have the strength to get these off. I really think I should call an ambulance for you.”“No. Call school. Have Nicholas come home.”I ran to the phone and called the high school. My voice trembled as the school secretary answered. “Hello,” This is Margie Evers. William has been in a farm accident. Please have someone drive Nicholas home.”I ran back to the porch to help William once more. I was sobbing.“Quit crying. Just help me get the cover-all off.”“I think we should cut it off. . .”“It was just mended! We’ll try pulling it off.”I tugged at the legs and pulled. “Ouch, yelled William. Be gentler!.” “I’m trying--”“Well, try harder. And quit crying.”Time lapsed. I hear a car. Nicholas walked in. “Nicholas, Dad and I are on the back porch. Please come here.” Who drove you home?”“Mr. Mitts.”“I’m going out to talk to him. Stay with Dad.”Snow crunched under my feet as I ran to the truck. I could feel tears streaming down my face. The principal stopped the truck and looked at me questionably.“John, William’s been hurt. I want to call for an ambulance, but he doesn’t want me to. Could you please come in and help me decide what to do?”“Certainly.”By this time Nicholas had William on the living room floor with his boots and coverall off. John assessed the situation and said, ‘William, you need to go to the hospital. Margie, call for an ambulance.”William was quiet, and John said again, “William, you need to have some medical help. You need to let the experts help you out.” The ambulance came. It was decided that Nicholas would stay home to take care of his new baby brother, and just before I left with William in the ambulance, two former neighbors came over. They had heard about the ambulance call over the emergency radio and wanted to see what they could do to help out. I was glad that two adults with baby experience were there to help Nicholas. Joel was only two weeks old.”Just before I left, while the EMC’s were putting William on the stretcher and getting him ready for his ride, I called William’s father and told him what I knew about the accident. I told him we were just leaving to go to the hospital.At the hospital I called my friend Zara to get William on the prayer chain. She asked who was waiting with me. When she heard I was there alone, she came over to take care of me. She made sure I ate something, and sat with me while I was waiting to hear what the doctor’s discovered. Meanwhile, Mom phoned into the emergency room to find out what was happening. She said that Nicholas had called her to say, “Grandma, Mom needs you. Dad had a farm accident and they went to the hospital in an ambulance.” Mom immediately called the hospital. All I could tell her was that I told her I would call her when I knew what was happening.Meanwhile, lots of people were praying for us all.Later, it was discovered that William broke his hip and nose. They thought he should stay in the hospital at least overnight until they could check other things out. William’s dad came to the hospital, and Zara drove me home. Joel needed to be nursed. Nicholas needed to know what was happening. And he would have to milk cows that night.Mom arrived with her suitcase, even though she had spent the previous week with us helping to take care of me and spend time with her newest baby grandson, Joel. Melissa and Isaac came home from school and needed to be told. A neighbor called to see how she could help. Nicholas asked her to help him milk the cows that evening. Another neighbor came over with chili for supper. Mom stayed with Joel. I went back to the hospital with the older kids so that they could see their dad. I still could not drive after my surgery, so yet another neighbor offered to give us a ride, but Nicholas said that he would drive us that evening , and that tomorrow would be a good time to take her up on that offer.Such blessed, caring neighbors. . . Thank God for kids. Melissa asked lots of curious questions at the hospital. She asked why her dad’s leg was hanging from a “pipe” on the bed. And she asked William what he was doing on the barn roof in the winter. William told her it was because he was waiting for the feed mill to fill up, and so he wasn’t just waiting for that to fill up, he thought he would shoot some starlings and feed them to our cats. He was just collecting them from the roof barn when, as he was coming down, the second from the top ladder rung broke, and he came tumbling down. He landed on his wrists and nose.” Melissa then asked, “Were you scared?” William told her it happened too fast to be scared. He just had time to think about the best way to land that would result in the least amount of damage.” We stayed for about 45 minutes. Then we decided it was time to leave William to see if he could sleep. Nicholas still had to milk the cows. Just before we left, Isaac gave William his favorite “Big Brute” bear to keep him company while he slept. He said, “I won’t need it tonight. Mom will need me to sleep with her. And thanks Dad, for feeding my cats!“ That night, Joel, Melissa, and Isaac all slept in my bed. Nicholas was awakened at 5:00 in the morning by a neighbor who was a member of the school board, and also his former baseball coach. He told Nichols he was ready to help with the chores so that Nicholas could milk the cows and still get to school on time. All he needed was a cup of coffee first. I was really glad to get him one.Caring neighbors ease our burdens! God does provide a way when bad things happen. Some good does come out of tragedy. .Love,Margie
Linda DeGree writes children's books, family sagas, and poetry courses.
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