Chapter 14

We were having a meeting and everyone was there except Julie, I asked Rick and he told me she had received a phone call just as we were going into the meeting, we waited awhile chatting about this and that Julie still didn't come in so I went looking for her.

I walked into Julie's office and she was still on the phone she looked like her whole world had collapsed She looked up at me, "it's Steven" she said "he was on a trip with the school and the bus was in an accident" "yes I am still here" she said into the phone

"Ok I will wait for your call, please call as soon as you know anything" she hung up the phone.

"Where is he?" I asked.

"They are in South Dakota on their way to a Basket ball tournament" she answered.

"Was he or anyone else hurt?"

"All I know is they required several ambulances and the driver is in rough shape" She said.

"OK call the school and tell them we are flying down there, if any of the other parents want to go they can get a ride with us" I said and there was a look of relief on her face.

I walked into the conference room and said "Shannon call flight services tell them to get the Lear ready, it is going to South Dakota, and Rick get ready to go with Julie her son was in an accident. Jim phone the school and tell them we are looking after all medical expenses for everyone on the trip, we will fight it out with insurance companies afterward."

"OH and Jim find out exactly where they are and which hospital they will be using" I told him, I turned and Shannon was just hanging up "Shannon could you call and book enough rooms at the closest hotel for everyone going, I don't know how many yet so maybe just book a couple of floors."

"Julie and Rick are probably going to be gone for awhile so let their divisions know they will be unavailable for the next little while" I told everyone.

I left the conference room and went into my office trying to figure out if I had missed anything when Shannon came in to the office.

"You are going to have to buy some clothes down there as there isn't enough time to pack a bag." She said.

"OH I am not going, I think Rick and Julie can handle everything down there" I replied.

Shannon looked surprised "I think you should go, they would appreciate it and they will both be so busy with Steven that they won't have time to keep everything else in check."

So that was it I was going to South Dakota, I told Shannon to make sure there were enough vehicles waiting for us at the airport, and they better get drivers because I am sure none of us would have any idea how to get around down there.

I dove us out to the air port, once inside the Hangar I saw there were several anxious people sitting around, Julie immediately went over and sat with one of the other mothers, someone from the school came over to us and introduced himself as the principal, he told us that everyone was in the hospital in Brookings and we were just waiting to hear exactly how everyone was, we still did not know much as the teacher and bus driver were both in rough shape and unable to talk on the phone. He asked if he could hitch a ride with us as well, I told him it shouldn't be a problem as long as we had room on the plane, I started counting people in the room and the receptionist said to me, "we are ok there are 11 including you going sir"

"OK how soon before we leave" I asked.

"Customs has come over and gone through everyone else and once they checked your names in the computer they told us you didn't need to see them so whenever you are ready we have clearance all the way through to Brookings" she told me in a very professional manner...

"OK let's get this show on the road then" I said and walked out to the plane.

Everyone was in a state of awe as they boarded the Lear and found a seat; the principal sat beside me and asked if they would have enough seats for the return flight. I told him that we were taking the Lear because it was the fastest but there would be a 717 coming down for the return trip, he looked very relieved.

After we were underway I asked the principal what contingency plans they had for something like this, he told me that this was the first time anything this bad had happened and he had talked to one of the schools in the area and they were looking after most things and finding places for everyone to stay. I told him that we would all have hotel rooms and he should let them know we appreciate every thing they were doing. He used the satellite phone on the plane to talk to the other principal and after he had finished he came back and told me that someone named Shannon from our office had already contacted them and told them what she would need them to do, he said she was very efficient and had everything arranged from our office before she called.

The copilot came out and passed out the in flight meal, offered everyone a drink then went back to the cockpit, Julie slid over and told me that all the kids except two were our employees kids, I asked how many kids are we talking about, she told me 16. I asked how could they all be our employees kids wasn't that kind of weird, no she said because we all live in the same area most of our kids go to the same schools.

Every one seemed to come by and thank me for what we were doing and I just told them that I was glad we could do something.

When we landed in Brookings they had two custom officials waiting for us they came onto the plane and did all the paperwork as we got off the plane, Shannon had 4 Suburbans waiting for us on the tarmac, we jumped in and they took us straight to the hospital, once there I tried to pay them with my visa and they told me they had already received payment and Shannon had rented the Suburbans for them to drive us around in, they were all taxi drivers and they were there for us to use as long as we needed.

I followed everyone into the hospital and most of the kids, were sitting in the waiting room, they looked very relieved when their parents came in and they all hugged, I was relieved to see Steven hugging his mother, his arm was in a cast but he looked ok, I went with the principal to talk to the doctors. One of the doctors seemed to be in charge and told us that one of the boys was going to be in kept at the hospital for a while he had broken his pelvis but seemed to be doing better now, the teacher would be coming out of the anesthesia after his operation for a ruptured spleen, as for the driver he was in really bad shape and it could go either way, his injuries were too numerous to list. I asked if there was a specialist that may be able to help with this, he looked shocked and informed me that he was flown in by someone named Shannon at our office, she had arranged a charter for him and he was the specialist.

I apologized to him and said "I guess I am going to have to give that woman a raise she is always at least two steps ahead of me."

He grinned "she was very persistent when she called and even went so far as calling the hospital administrator at our hospital and donated enough money for him to send me anywhere she wants me to go."

I smiled and thanked him for looking after everyone.

I asked the principal about the families of the driver and the teacher, he told me that he had been in touch with the teachers wife as she was a teacher in the school too and she is anxious to hear what is happening, he was unable to get a hold of the drivers family but the school was going to continue to call them so he would call the school and see if they had any luck. I told him to have them go to the airport and they could catch a ride on the 717 when it came down.

I looked around at the kids that didn't seem to have anyone with them and gathered them all around to let the know that their parents should be showing up on the next plane as the only reason they would have missed this one was if we were not able to get a hold of them or if they were unable to make it in time. I let them know that we would be moving them into a hotel in town and looking after their meals until they got home.

I went over to Julie and Rick, I asked Steven how his arm was and he said.

"This will be a chick magnet; I can't wait to get home with it."

Julie looked shocked at him and told him he scared the shit out of her, me and Rick just started to laugh, I told him that I wished now I had broken my arm in high school in order to get chicks.

I said "well if there isn't anything else why don't all you guys go to the hotel and get cleaned up, Rick if anyone needs anything just put it on the hotel tab and we will look after it."

The mother of the kid with the broken pelvis came out of the wards just then and she looked pretty relieved but still very shaken up, I walked over and talked to her for a few minutes, she told me her sons name was Billy and normally her husband would look after these types of things but he was in High Level working on a big project for the company, I told her not to worry I was sure he would be on a flight down here by now, I told her I would check with Shannon but I knew she would have taken care of it by now. I told her if there was anything we could do please don't hesitate to ask, she said we had done so much already that she knew we were going to be taken care of.

Everyone left to go to the hotel except me and the principal, he wanted to be there when the teacher woke up and I wanted to wait and see how the driver was going to be, we found out that the driver of the other vehicle had a heart attack and was dead when the crash happened, he was the only one in the vehicle.

After a couple of hours the doctor came out and said the driver was doing better but was going to be in intensive care for quite awhile yet, I thanked him and went back to the hotel to get something to eat and go to sleep, it was 8:00pm by this time.