I was determined to make the intersection and I was all in. I could see, if I turned my head really quickly snap shots of side streets so I could tell I was still going in the right direction. I made my decision and I was going for the intersection. In an instant a pickup truck backed out of a drive way and I slammed into the bed of the truck. The bike and I instantly went up and over the bed of the truck and flew through the air for approximately 50 ft. The bike landed first, I flew about ten more ft. When I landed I slid on the asphalt for another 20 ft. As I slid it ripped all of the clothes from my body and when I stopped I only had underwear hanging and they were my sisters! It was a huge event for such a little kid. The man whose truck I hit was crying hysterically as he was sure I was dead and could not believe how far the bike and I flew. The police, ambulance and fire department all showed up as I lay limp and unconscious, I was quickly taken to the hospital.
In the meantime my sisters had gone back up the hill to get our mother. They had to wake her in the morning and you never wake her up in the morning. In my mother’s haste she came down the hill way to fast and barreled into a police car, she totaled both vehicles. She was upset, scared and angry and in this memory it was obvious to me that my mother truly loved me.
I spent the night in the hospital and was fortunate that I only broke my collar bone and had road rash from head to toe. I finished the school year out wearing light shorts to class and nothing else for the next 3 months. No shirt, socks, pants or shoes, just a light pair of shorts. I had the privilege to deal with that every weekday and then sleep on my side between my sisters the entire 3 months. It was an extremely humbling experience as well as traumatic and life threatening. I believe it only manifested itself over time to ignite a firestorm deep inside. I was 6 years old and I made the front page news, you would think that would be enough. It was not too long after that I made the front page news, again! This time it was personal.
pg.3
This boys story. 