Everyone has a time in his or her life when you do something for fun and then something happens to you. It’s at these times that you think back and ask yourself “why was I so stupid?” or “why was I talked into it!” or just “why did I even do that?”. I have definitely had moments like those where I made the situation worse.
One such occasion happened one day just like any other. I woke up, I ate breakfast, went to school, and went to swim practice. These are things I do everyday. However this is when a foolish decision had some big consequences.
Amanda and I were on the exercise machines right outside the door to the pool. It was definitely fun, until she told me to try something new. She did the trick perfectly; however I thought I could do I better. I thought to my self “ How hard can it be to jump off the stair-stepping machine backwards?” It was but a minute that she told me that it was almost time for practice to start, so she went inside to the pool area, but I really wanted to try the trick, so I stayed out with the exercise machines.
The stair-stepping machine by far was the most exciting exercising machine I had been on. I practiced on the machine before deciding to go forth with my trick. The stairs were moving up as I stepped onto the machine. Then just like Amanda had done, I jumped off backwards. As I soared through the air, it felt like I was doing better than her, until I hit the ground. As the ground and I smacked each other, my wrist made a loud snapping noise. This is when the pain rushed in.
Quickly I picked myself up and went into the pool area, where all of my friends were. My arm started to burn with pain; I didn’t think I could swim. As soon as I walked through the doors to the pool I ran into my friend Jordan’s grandmother. Who seemed to noticed how I was holding my arm, and that I was crying. She came up to me, asked me “what is wrong?”, I said in reply “I hurt my arm” this is when she asked for my moms cell phone number. I immediately gave it to her. Jordan’s grandmother called my mom who proceeded to get to the pool in about ten minutes.
When I stepped into the car I had a huge bag of ice on my swollen arm. Mom looked at my red swollen arm, but wasn’t sure if it was just bruised or broken. Unsure, we drove home
When my dad arrived home from work, he came to the room I had been sitting in since getting home from the pool. He asked me if I thought I had to go to the hospital, but I said “I don’t know, but it does hurt really bad, and I can’t move it”, so I told him “Yeah I think I have to go get it checked” So dad and I got into the car.
On the drive to the hospital, Dad and I talked about how I hurt my arm. I didn’t want to tell him the truth because I thought he might get mad at me for being on the exercise machines. I was only nine years old! So instead, I lied. I told him a lady had pushed me down, but didn’t really mean to. The lady I was telling him about was the first to talk to me after I fell. The conversation wasn’t long, really all she said to me was “Are you okay”, I replied, “yes I’m fine!”, WHY DID I SAY YES?
At the hospital, while my dad was getting all of my information into the computer system, a nurse working in the lobby asked me to sit down with her. She showed me flash cards with pictures on them, they symbolized how my arm made me feel. She told me to pick the card that matched how I felt. I picked the one with the crying person on it. X-rays were the next part of my visit to the hospital. This part was probably the most painful of the whole day. I couldn’t move my arm, and in order to get my x-rays done, I had to twist my arm a lot!
After the x-rays, I was put into a little bed in a small room, with a curtain as a door. When the doctor came in he told my dad and I that I had fractured my wrist. So I had to wear these braces on my arm until it was time to get a cast. After that dad and I went to the car and I slept on the car ride home.
The next day was pretty hard seeing that I couldn’t do anything with my arm, I couldn’t even wiggle my fingers! I told everyone at school the same lie I told my dad. It made me feel very guilty. That night my dad came home from work a little late because he had stopped by the pool. He told me he wanted to talk to me in my room… ALONE. So I went up to my room and he asked me if my arm was feeling better. I said “No not really”. That’s when the conversation led to tears. He told me that he stopped at the pool because he wanted to talk to the lady that works there. She stated that there are video cameras in the area I was in, and she had reviewed the video. I knew I was BUSTED! He then told me what the video really showed I was caught in a lie. I felt bad, and my dad was very disappointed.
At the end of the conversation we hugged and dad told me he was very upset with me, more because I was dishonest. I learned a great lesson that night. Now I know that if I lie the truth will always be revealed. My parents always have a way of finding out. I wonder if there are video cameras in the house? Best to always tell the truth!
- Karin Schienvar
