DAY FORTY-TWO

Sunday and we were off and running to church. Martha hadn't been feeling well and I thought we might not make it, but we did. While were were at church, Dennis didn't feel well so I went and got him some Tylenol and a Jones Soda to cheer him up. Myu kids don't take much in the way of medication so it did a pretty good job on him.

Afterwards we went to B&G Store. It's a warehouse just south of Schoolcraft that sells lots of stuff cheap. It was another place where the kids hadn't been in a while and Martha and I thought we could find a new doorknob for our bedroom door and maybe a glass cover for the upstairs hall light. Dandelion had broken it about a week ago.

Dennis got this thing that looked like an antenna with a magnet on the end of it. Delia got a book light that I know she'll use for Game Boy more than books. Dandelion got a ceramic elephant bank that she can paint herself. She was very excited about that. And Dan got a little thing to put his money it, but we can't call it a coin purse because it has the word 'purse' in it.

On our way down Westnedge in Portage we noticed that traffic was backed up at the intersection of Milham and Westnedge. I looked and saw something lying in the intersection that looked a lot like a baby carriage. I immediately got sick. We were about five or six cars back from the intersection and it took a minute before I realized that it was actually a bicycle and there was someone lying in the road. Now, we have a car full of kids and the last thing they really need to see is a road pancake. I dialed 911 on my cell phone and they said that it was already called in multiple times and help was on the way.

Then I saw the figure on the ground trying to sit up and the knot of people surrounding him weren't doing much to dissuade him. I knew that this was wrong and took off out of the car telling them to keep him on the ground. Now, I do not do well around the sight of real blood. Fake movie blood, no problem. Real blood, problem. I had no idea what I was in for, but knew that if he got hit by a car it was good to lie still.

The kid must have been fifteen at the most. He had been hit so hard that his shoes were knocked off and his baseball cap was lying in the middle of the intersection. His face was a bloody mess and his arms were spattered with blood. I also noticed that he had lost control of his bladder as the ground was soaked. The guys that were there with him told me they weren't helping him up he was doing it on his own. The poor kid looked terrified and disoriented at the same time. The guys were trying to keep him down, but he was sitting up on his own. One of the guys there said the kid shot his bike out into the intersection while the light was green and hit an SUV full blast. A few seconds later the ambulance arrived and I left it in the hands of professionals. I also knew that the intersection was going to be swamped with all sorts of emergency vehicles in seconds and the best thing would be for us to get out of there so, I ran back to the car and we took off and got out of the way.

The accident made me think of something. You know ho the car commercials brag about how quiet their rides are? They show where you don't hear any outside noise at all? Maybe that isn't a good thing. How preoccupied do you have to be to not feel and/or hear a full grown teenager slam his BMX bike into the side of your car because, get ready for it, THE DAMNED CAR DIDN'T STOP!!!! Sure, it might not have legitimately been his fault, but My God! What kind of world do we live in where this would happen. I ride my bike back and forth to work five days a week through downtown Kalamazoo. Now, I'm paranoid and that helps, plus I ride my bike like a twelve year old. Through parking lots, down sidewalks, whatever it takes to avoid traffic because as big as I am I know that me versus a car the car will always win. The whole thing seemed very sad to me.

My little guy, Dan was very upset. He doesn't like it when people get hurt. He gets mad and cries. I explained that the kid wasn't dead and that seemed to help a little, but he was still pretty upset about it. I offered to pray with him about it and he wasn't interested. He's seven and has a huge temper so, it was just best to let him calm down.

We went home and I started in on making some lunch from leftover chicken and rice from the day before. Later that night I made salmon patties and broccoli and baked french fries for dinner. Dennis used his new magnet thin to grab a fork and eat french fries from across the table.

I called my buddy Stew and apologized for not going to the lake after church. It had rained and was still kind of nasty out so I didn't want to take the kids if they couldn't swim. While I was talking to Stew it seems that Dennis had been feeding the three dogs french fries. First Mickey got one, then Sweetie and then Cassidy. Dennis went to pet Mickey and Mickey mistook Dennis' fingers for french fries. Thankfully, he realized his mistake and didn't even bite Dennis, just put his hand in his mouth. It was actually pretty funny.

This might have been the wildest Sunday we've had in quite some time. I hope the kid on the bike turned out alright. He looked pretty messed up. I checked the Internet to see if the incident made the news, but there was nothing. Maybe I'll check tomorrow.