Helping Out

A couple months ago, Mom gave us a special treat and took us to Taco Bell for lunch. As we were leaving and loading up the Hulk, we heard a huge crashing sound. We turned around to see a beat-up car at the curb, debris littering the road, and a bunch of cars stopped. Mom told me to get all the kids in the car, and then she ran over to help the lady in the car at the curb. Dad and another man started directing traffic.

I got the kids in the car, and shut the door. Then I ran back over to the accident. By then a police officer was there to help direct traffic. Dad went over to be near the kids, but stood where he could see me and Mom if we needed him.

The car we were helping had a woman, her son, and their puppy. The Mom was injured, but the boy (although shaken up) was unharmed. Mom told me to take the boy and the puppy away from the road, while she helped the Mom at the curb. He was crying and trying to be brave and stop crying. So I tried to help and distract him by asking questions.

I asked him what his name was. He told me, but I forget it. Then I asked him what the puppy’s name was. He said that it was Sally. I was just trying to keep his mind busy with things other than the accident. He put Sally down, but kept her on a tight leash.

Then a police officer came over and asked if he was the little boy who had been in the accident. He shook his head yes, and it looked like he was about to start crying again. So I picked Sally up, and handed her to him. He gripped her tight, and started answering the officer’s questions. When the officer had all the information that he needed, he told the boy that everything was going to be OK, they were going to take his Mom to the hospital to make sure that everything was ok, and that he would be ok.

He just nodded.

By then they had the Mom strapped to the back board. The boy asked me to hold Sally, because the ambulance guy wanted to look at the scratch on his chest where the seat belt got him. They told him that they were going to have to strap him down as well, since they were going to take him to make sure that the scratch was ok.

I was still holding Sally. While they worked on the boy, my Mom pulled him over to his Mom so that they could hold hands. She later told me that the hardest part for the mom was being separated from her son, and that the small physical contact of holding hands made a huge difference for them both.

My Mom asked his Mom if they had someone to take Sally, since they could not take her to the hospital. She said that her brother was coming.

When the Mom’s brother (the boy’s uncle) get there, he rushed over to see them. They were being lifted into the back of the ambulance. He seemed annoyed that he had to take care of Sally. So Mom told him that we could take her home with us, and he could come and get her later. That made him a bit happier. 🙂 He said that he was fine with that, and he would come by our house later to pick her up. Mom gave him a business card.

I picked Sally back up, (I had let her down again, since she had her leash on.) We walked over to the car, and announced that we would be watching Sally for the rest of the afternoon.

That led to a bunch of cheering, and a bunch of “Can I hold her’s?!?!?!!?!?”

I held Sally on the ride home (being the oldest comes with certain privileges). When we got out of the car, we brought Sally to the front yard.

The boys ran across the street to ask our neighbor if he had some puppy food that he would give us, since we were watching a little puppy that had been in a accident. I’m not sure what they said, but they came back with enough food for three puppies. 😀

Then we played with Sally for the rest of the afternoon til she had to go home: