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| Photo courtesy of flicker.com |
A Story From the Life Of Astrid.R
Ghostwritten by Caroline.G
The Vine
I was around 9 years old living in New Jersey. I had friends but not many lived near me. The area around me in the majority of places was pasture. The pasture was full of hills and woods. We had a shetland pony so we had a fence, besides that there was the open woods and fields. The fields and trees covered most of the area besides the parts where we played in the woods.
My siblings and I played together. We played with our neighbor Floribel the most because she was an only child and didn’t have close siblings to play with as my family and I did. My sister and brothers were Buddy, Bitty and Caren. Floribel was my closest neighbor up on the hill. I had other neighbors that my siblings and I occasionally played with named Cleland and Rosemary. I loved to do activities with my siblings and friends. Cleland and Rosemary played with us some of the time because they lived next door. I lived near near open fields and woods so my neighbors weren’t as close like in a suburb. Except for my friend Floribel.
My house was in New Jersey, the house where my sister Bitty my brother Buddy and the rest of my family lived. My siblings and I enjoyed the woods and creating games and paths there. We would create markings on the paths using flowers or rocks. There were names to the paths such as flower corner to remember where to turn and what paths to follow. We would all help to move tree branches to clear paths. We enjoyed having our own private hideaway of our own.
I met up with Floribel before going to play with my siblings. Floribel was quite nice and had a good family,she lived with her dad, a doctor and she also lived with her mom. My siblings and I decided it would be exciting to invite Floribel to play games with us. We all went down to the woods and followed the trails. Hanging from a tall tree over a ravine it was a thick brown and tan color. We spotted a long rope like vine. The vine had always been there and had been used for swinging before but this time was different. We never thought of anything to be dangerous and we didn’t think this idea would harm anyone.
Buddy thought it would be entertaining to use as a swing, He was always the adventurous one of the group. One by one the older kids went to test if it was safe,and they concluded it was too dangerous for the young kids to play on only because they wouldn’t be strong enough to hold themselves up. We decided it would be wise to let all the older kids to go first to test if we could play on it. One by one we went, Buddy first and the rest followed. Three people went and then it came to Bitty’s turn in deciding to go. I told her, Hold on real tight you have to be careful.She responded with, I will don’t worry.
At first she was hesitant to go but saw how much fun it looked and decided she would give it a try. Bitty swung so high and then she slipped. Bitty fell and fell until she hit down below. Into the piles of sticks and rocks and mud. There were some plants but mostly sticks and rocks which made this quite dangerous. Bitty was holding on tight but her hands slipped and she dropped into the ravine of sticks and rocks below,the ravine was deep and full of trees and sticks but also sharp rocks.
Everyone was scared, Bitty was not responding at first. We thought it was from shock from the fall. We were all scared everyone was nervous at how bad this situation really was. Bitty had blood oozing down her shirt from the gash in her chin. Floribel decided in quick action to get her dad Dr.Holman.
She ran and got him. He rushed down to see what had happened. He carried Bitty to my house in his arms and took care of her as her chin was not just like any ordinary paper cut.Her chin was cut open and blood was flowing down her neck. Dr. Holman, Floribel dad put a towel on her chin and took her to see my mom. Everyone especially me was scared of what was to happen. Bitty was crying and in shock all at once. My mom bandaged up her chin and Mr.Holman rushed Bitty to the doctor in his Hudson car.
Still crying, Bitty came back with many stitches and in pain. After this eventful day of play and panic .There was a rule made by Mr.Holman that the swinging on any vines in the woods was now aloud,not that no one would want to after that event. Once Dr.Holman had seen how bad Bitty was injured he said the vine could no longer be used. This scared everyone and all I could think about was if my sister was okay. All I wanted was for her to be okay. After this innocent mistake of a slip of hands on a vine, the vine was considered too dangerous for anyone to play on it anymore. Even for the little kids.The vine was later chopped down by Floribel father.
We were all disappointed since the removal of our swing, but we did not want to see each other get hurt so we were okay with it. We were just looking for a place to play and a fun activity to do. Our imagination was so great we decided to play on the seemingly harmless vine. We had played on it before and most of the group had already gone before Bitty went and we believed it was safe enough. We were all lucky that day except for Bitty. Only one person got hurt that day and luckily it wasn’t one of the younger children. They could've been seriously injured more than a cut open chin. The smaller children would have more fragile bones which could've led to broken an arm or leg. We were lucky only one person got seriously hurt that day and we all survived safely able to play in the woods again.
