The Stories Of My Life

My First Broken Bone

It was the middle of summer. There was no school, and I had planned on relaxing and doing absolutely nothing at all. Mid-June was upon us, which meant it was terribly hot outside. So hot that more than a few minutes in the sun would have you as red as Rudolph's nose. I learned that the hard way. 

This particular day, I was laying in the middle of my living room. It was too hot to do anything, so I stayed confined under my air conditioner. I remembered that I had some clothes in the dryer that I needed to be gotten. I live in an old house, so the rooms are set up in a strange order. The utility room, where we kept the washing machine and dryer, could only be accessed from the outside of the house. You would have to open the door that goes to the carport, walk down a few steps, and then go up some more stairs to get to the washing machine and dryer. 

I had a basket in one hand, and my other hand was on the doorknob. I turned it and opened the door. I immediately felt a blast of heat hit me, and it was anything but pleasant. I wanted to hurry and do what I needed to do, so I could go back into the house. I put my foot down onto the second step from the top, and that's when everything went wrong. It all happened in a flash.

I felt my foot come out from under me. I knew I was falling, but there was nothing I could do to stop. My back hit the ridges of the steps on the way down. I felt all six of them dig into my back. The next thing I knew, I was laying on my back staring up into the roof of the carport. I wasn't hurt, or so I thought. Finally, I was able to stand up. I noticed that my pinky toe felt numb, and I couldn't move it. However, I didn't think it was anything to worry about. 

When I managed to climb the steps back into my house, I screamed out for my mom. She came running towards me and asked what had happened. I told her that I was trying to get my clothes from the dryer, but I fell down the steps. My dad, who had heard all the commotion, comes out of his room looking alarmed. He looked like he had stuck his finger into an electrical socket because his hair stood straight up on his head. 

My mom helped me get to the couch. She asked me if I hurt myself, but I didn't know. That was until I looked down at my foot. It had started to bruise around my last three toes. They were swollen and discolored. As time went on, it only got worse. My parents thought the wise thing to do would be to go to the doctor for an x-ray. I didn't protest, because after all black and blue weren't very comforting colors.  

When I got to the doctor, he did a few Xrays. He told me that I had fractured my pinky toe. To me, it was kind of funny. I've heard of people fracturing their wrists or leg, but never the pinky toe. Only I would be able to do something like that. It hurt pretty bad, and I ended up having to use crutches. The rest of my summer was spent laying on the couch, doing absolutely nothing. It was ironic because it was actually what Id planned to do, but now that I had no choice I didn't enjoy it so much. Let's just say that after that incident I learned two things. 

1. Always find something to hold onto when you're going down steps with no railing. 

2. Old houses are like death traps.