Happy Friday the 13th
Had a silent auction last Friday night at the elementary school where my eldest two kids went. (My youngest isn't there yet, but will be soon.) It wasn't anything too surprising, except the $100.00+ that I ended up donating to the school thanks to my Wife's love of auctions. Um...yah...
Anyway, when it was done, CM's friends came over and wanted him to go up to one of their houses where they've been working on a "tree fort" of a sort. It was about 8:30 PM, so I told him be back by 10:30.
About 9:30, we received a phone call from a cell number I didn't recognize. I answered it. It was the Mom from the "tree fort" house. She told me there had been an accident, and that CM had been hit in the face with a can of spray paint, had two big gashes, and would likely require stitches. She recommended that one of us should come up to get him. Yeah, I'll come up and get him, (grrr...)
So I drove up there, envisioning some teenage fight where CM and his idiot friends were playing around, throwing spray paint cans at each other, or some such nonsense. When I got there, I found CM in the bathroom with his friend and his friend's Mom, who had a wet washcloth gently pressed to his face. CM seemed kinda out of it. I said I didn't know whether to be thankful it wasn't worse, mad at the kids for doing something like this, or a combination. The Mom asked me if I'd like to see it, but I told her that blood and I don't get along too well together. I mean, I know we kinda need each other, but it's best off if I just don't get too close to it, if you know what I mean.
As I drove up to the ER, I heard the story about what happened. Apparently, CM's friend "AL" had thrown down some spray paint cans from the 2nd level of their fort, 15 feet above the ground level, and CM had "gotten in the way" of one of the cans. It had knocked his glasses off and left him holding his face saying, "Ow, that really hurt!" Another of his friends had come up and asked him to take his hand away from his face so they could see the extent of the damage. That's when the blood started to run down his face. So it appeared as if the first gash, just above his right eyebrow, had been caused by the spray paint can. The second, slightly larger, gash, just below his right eyebrow, may have been caused by the frames of his glasses.
We arrived at the ER about 10:00 or so, and were there until about 1:00 AM. He received approximately 30-40 stitches total on the two gashes. Near the end of the process, the Lidocaine started wearing off and he started to feel the stitches. He later told me it was getting pretty hard to take. "That's good, in a way," I told him later in the car, after he had looked at his face in the visor mirror and exclaimed, "cool!" I didn't want him to just focus on the novelty of the stitches; I wanted him to remember the pain, and hopefully think twice before getting himself in a similar situation in the future. (I know...tough love.)
I took a picture when we got home after 1:00:
Then, about 24 hours or so later, his Mom took a picture too, now showing how the lid was getting black and blue:
Now, cut to Saturday night when, after letting him go out with friends earlier in the day, I told him "no" to going back out at night. I said he needed to rest the eye, his Mom was going to be home from work for a change on a Saturday night, and quite frankly, I still wasn't too happy with the whole situation from night before. The conversation continued in his room where I had pulled him and his Mom, out of earshot of his Sisters in the living room. It was pretty much one-sided: I vented, (calmly), and he glared, (with his good eye), at his wall, avoiding making "eye" contact with me as much as possible. Well, one of the major revelations to come out of this conversation was the discovery that it wasn't the "accident" that I had been led to believe the previous night. In fact, what had happened, apparently, was that while working on their fort, CM had put a leaf in his mouth, chewed it up, and spit it at AL. (Don't know why, he just did.) AL had then gotten mad, and chucked this spray paint can at my Son. "He's got anger issues," CM told me. WTF?!?
There was more that was discussed in Saturday night's conversation, but that was the critical part that I wanted to share with you.
Oh, and by the way, we had discussed the fact that this happened on Friday the 13th, but CM insisted that he still isn't superstituous. "Good," I told him.
Anyway, when it was done, CM's friends came over and wanted him to go up to one of their houses where they've been working on a "tree fort" of a sort. It was about 8:30 PM, so I told him be back by 10:30.
About 9:30, we received a phone call from a cell number I didn't recognize. I answered it. It was the Mom from the "tree fort" house. She told me there had been an accident, and that CM had been hit in the face with a can of spray paint, had two big gashes, and would likely require stitches. She recommended that one of us should come up to get him. Yeah, I'll come up and get him, (grrr...)
So I drove up there, envisioning some teenage fight where CM and his idiot friends were playing around, throwing spray paint cans at each other, or some such nonsense. When I got there, I found CM in the bathroom with his friend and his friend's Mom, who had a wet washcloth gently pressed to his face. CM seemed kinda out of it. I said I didn't know whether to be thankful it wasn't worse, mad at the kids for doing something like this, or a combination. The Mom asked me if I'd like to see it, but I told her that blood and I don't get along too well together. I mean, I know we kinda need each other, but it's best off if I just don't get too close to it, if you know what I mean.
As I drove up to the ER, I heard the story about what happened. Apparently, CM's friend "AL" had thrown down some spray paint cans from the 2nd level of their fort, 15 feet above the ground level, and CM had "gotten in the way" of one of the cans. It had knocked his glasses off and left him holding his face saying, "Ow, that really hurt!" Another of his friends had come up and asked him to take his hand away from his face so they could see the extent of the damage. That's when the blood started to run down his face. So it appeared as if the first gash, just above his right eyebrow, had been caused by the spray paint can. The second, slightly larger, gash, just below his right eyebrow, may have been caused by the frames of his glasses.
We arrived at the ER about 10:00 or so, and were there until about 1:00 AM. He received approximately 30-40 stitches total on the two gashes. Near the end of the process, the Lidocaine started wearing off and he started to feel the stitches. He later told me it was getting pretty hard to take. "That's good, in a way," I told him later in the car, after he had looked at his face in the visor mirror and exclaimed, "cool!" I didn't want him to just focus on the novelty of the stitches; I wanted him to remember the pain, and hopefully think twice before getting himself in a similar situation in the future. (I know...tough love.)
I took a picture when we got home after 1:00:
Then, about 24 hours or so later, his Mom took a picture too, now showing how the lid was getting black and blue:
Now, cut to Saturday night when, after letting him go out with friends earlier in the day, I told him "no" to going back out at night. I said he needed to rest the eye, his Mom was going to be home from work for a change on a Saturday night, and quite frankly, I still wasn't too happy with the whole situation from night before. The conversation continued in his room where I had pulled him and his Mom, out of earshot of his Sisters in the living room. It was pretty much one-sided: I vented, (calmly), and he glared, (with his good eye), at his wall, avoiding making "eye" contact with me as much as possible. Well, one of the major revelations to come out of this conversation was the discovery that it wasn't the "accident" that I had been led to believe the previous night. In fact, what had happened, apparently, was that while working on their fort, CM had put a leaf in his mouth, chewed it up, and spit it at AL. (Don't know why, he just did.) AL had then gotten mad, and chucked this spray paint can at my Son. "He's got anger issues," CM told me. WTF?!?
There was more that was discussed in Saturday night's conversation, but that was the critical part that I wanted to share with you.
Oh, and by the way, we had discussed the fact that this happened on Friday the 13th, but CM insisted that he still isn't superstituous. "Good," I told him.
1 Comments:
Dear Kartunes,
Did you happen to mention these new facts to AL's parents? I'm sure they may like to know the truth.
What the hell was AL thinking?
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