Chapter 36

Tuesday the weather streak continued clear and cold. The ice at the skating pond yesterday had been like glass. Now it was all marked up by ice-skates, but it didn’t have those little ridges from snow and wind.

Denny and I went over right after lunch with the intention of spending the day at the ice pond. We walked to the pond with our skates slung over our shoulder. Denny had a family hockey stick and a puck. It was the family stick because it was the only one we had and we all shared it.

If the truth be known hockey was not a Bellefontaine sport it was just something to do on the ice. There were no goals at the pond. Denny might be the only kid there with a stick. The others would use their hands. They still had a lot of fun and it involved a lot of falling down.

There were no city workers here. The city worker who watched the place in the evening didn’t come till after dinner every night. He worked his day job at the city then was paid overtime for his evening work. I heard someone say that the only reason he was there was that the mayor’s wife remembered what she did in the evenings in that little shed.

We were there for about half an hour and a guy I didn’t know showed up on a red Moped. He rode out on the ice and did donuts. He kept going around and chasing the little kids and scaring them. I skated towards him to have a word, but before I could get there he hit a rough patch of ice and went over. It was ugly. His right leg was trapped under the scooter and he was screaming like a banshee.

I quickly took charge and had two seniors lift the bike off him. His ankle had become pinned under the bike then bent. He had a compound fracture with the bone sticking out of the skin. He wasn’t bleeding, so no major veins had been torn. You could see the white of the cartilage.

He was wearing standard low cut shoes. His sock had been shredded and was the only reason I could see the damage. Undoubtedly there were fibers in the wound that would need to be cleaned out, but I knew enough first aid to know what I had to do. Send for help and treat for shock.

The Barnett twins were standing there watching. I asked them if they had their bikes. They did. I gave them each a dime and told them to ride to the gas station across from the Dairy Queen and call for an ambulance.

Bill Barnett asked what number they should dial. I told them to dial zero for the operator. She would get them to the hospital ambulance service. They took off like the devil was on their heels.

I then asked Mary Giles to check the shed for any blankets or if anyone who had driven had some in their car. The kid with the busted ankle was trying to move so I informed him he had to stay put. Help was on the way and we were getting blankets.

He said, “Good, my butt is getting cold.”

We’ll get you warm in a minute.

“I don’t need that I will just right the bike and ride home.”

Then it struck me the guy had not seen his ankle and didn’t understand how bad it was. He would certainly go into shock.

I asked him his name. “Sam Butler”

“Where do you live Sam,” I asked.

I was trying to keep him engaged until help arrived.

“We are new to the area. I live out on Ludlow Road.”

“I know the area. How far out?”

“Right outside the city limits, it’s just past Dr. Irwin’s veterinary clinic.”

About that time Mary returned with a stack of blankets. She must have collected six of them.

With the help of two other guys, we lifted him without moving his ankle around too much. At least he didn’t scream in agony. Mary then wrapped the blankets around him. His pupils were dilated. If not in shock he was going fast.

“Sam do you know your telephone number.”

He gave it to me. Fortunately, Mary Giles had a pencil and paper with her and wrote it down.

“Sam, I will call your parents while they take you to the hospital.”

“Why do I have to go to the hospital?”

“Sam you have broken your ankle pretty badly.”

At that, he tried to look, but I gently kept him from leaning over to see. I could hear the ambulance siren in the distance. Another three minutes and the ambulance people were there. They didn’t mess around after one quick look they had him on a wheeled stretcher and out of there.

About that time Sergeant Woodruff of the Bellefontaine Police showed up. He homed in on the scene.

“What happened?” he asked in general.

About six kids started to talk.

He pointed at one, “You first.”

He had a little notebook out and wrote each kid’s name down along with their phone number. He also took down Sam Butler’s name as the driver of the Moped. Everyone made a point that he was chasing people and acting crazy on the bike.

When it was Mary Giles’s turn we found out her family didn’t have a telephone yet. I knew that a lot of people hadn’t put them in yet, but I was surprised her family didn’t have one because they weren’t poor. The sergeant wrote down her address instead.