I thought it would be fun to "pump" him on my new bicycle, and figured he'd be safe, since his mother insists he wears a helmet (which, I'll admit, seems ridiculous to me, since there were no helmets or knee-pads or Child Protective Services when I was a kid, and look how I turned out). But I put him on the seat behind me, and told him to hold onto me while I pedaled, and we went down the block, not fast, but not slow either. "If you start to fall, let me know," I said as we turned around to go back up the hill.
Well, he didn't.
Luckily for the boy, we were going uphill, and hence, very slowly. Unluckily for the boy, he slid off the back of the bike, hit the tire, and then was rubbed raw by the rubber until I stopped.
He whimpered a little, but didn't exhibit much pain when it happened, so I figured it was no big deal. However, once we got home, the crying really started, and I discovered it was for good reason. I'd take a picture and show you, but . . . what the hell, why would I EVER do that?
Needless to say, the poor kid has deep scrapes where the sun don't shine, and is sleeping on his stomach right now, wisely pumped full of painkillers. I hope I haven't traumatized him so he'll be afraid of bicycles in the future, since they provide me with a) a little joy, and b) the only exercise I ever get.
Rish
P.S. I was vexed about this, and feeling a little like a choad, but he was up and around again first thing the next morning, and had no problem going up and down stairs. I did see him without the bandage on later, though . . . and I'm a choad again.
1 comment:
I wish you were my Uncle, Rish. That way I'd only get hurt by my family accidentally.
No but seriously it's probably fine. I don't think you could have controlled what happened there and you really only had the best intentions. Nowadays people are a little overboard about the safety thing and a little road rash (or something similarly
superficial/ relatively harmless) now and again is probably healthy for the young'ins.
When I was barely still small enough to be in a car seat I was playing with my power ranger toys (no judging, I didn't have my transformers in the car with me that day) against the door and I must have accidentally opened it because whoosh out of the car I went, and landed on the side of a suburban road near my house. Luckily I didn't get much but a couple bruises and scrapes, nothing at all serious, but boy did my mom feel terrible.
Post a Comment