I don’t remember how old I was but I was probably in my mid teens. We lived in a small town in upstate NY and I was trying hard to see what was outside my immediate family environment. My mother allowed us to ride bicycles into the local town which we did as often as we could. It was a way out it was something to do it was fun. The bikes were not new but they were functional. I did get a new bike for one of my early birthdays. It was purple and had a purple banana seat one it. Not sure what happen but my next oldest brother got a hold of it and things were not the same.
Sometime during my youth I was out for a ride and I had managed to build a ten speed road bike. No small feat when your brothers are attempting to do the same thing and your parts may become their in the blink of an eye. I had built this ten speed bike complete with racing road wheels and curved handlebars, the works.
I lived in the part of the county that had oiled dirt roads. Needless to say they were not smooth and they certainly were not good for thin tired racing bikes. I had been on the county road which is paved and I made a right onto one of the side dirt roads, which was not paved. Try as I might I could not get the bike to complete the turn. I made it about sixty degrees into this ninety degree turn and that was it. I lost control and hit a rock that stopped me dead. Next thing you know I am airborne and flying head on into a rock used to line the lawn of this house. It is safe to say it hurt. BAD. I remember feeling chucks of shattered front teeth in my mouth. I spit out the chucks and lots of blood and reached up with my tongue to where my front teeth use to be and hit the two raw nerves that were still there and had not been ripped out from my remains of front teeth. I had all kinds of new pain on top of the pain I already had.
You may be thinking I must have immediately sought help, you would be wrong. My mom and I never really had a good relationship, not sure why but it wasn’t good. I will accept half of the blame but only half. I really had no choice but to go home. So I picked up my now very wrecked bike and headed back to my house. For many years there was always a babysitter at my house. My mom chose to work and pay a baby sitter to stay with us. I can only guess how things might have been if my mom did not work and stayed home instead of paying someone to do that part of the mothering thing. The sitter didn’t notice anything at first and I as able to avoid her probing questions. My mom came home and I was in good shape as she never did ask much in the way of questions. I got lucky that night as my mom was in a good mood and I was allowed to go to bed without big issues. Mind you the nerves are still hanging you and hurting like hell. I woke up the next morning and got ready for school. Breakfast was interesting as I had to open my mouth very wide, insert the spoon of cheerios low, flip it swallow everything and withdrawal the spoon without hitting the nerves, lots of fun. I made it through school with no issue as I was not mister popularity and for at least that day it was ok. I got back home and there was the babysitter. This time she had notices my interactions were not the same. She drilled me and finally got me to open my mouth, literally and that was it the word was out. My mom came home and she was told. My mom asked why I had not told her sooner. My reply was I did not want the punishment that was to come whenever I did something that she did not like. That reply left her quiet for several long seconds. Then she told me to my coat and get in the damn car. It was a calm response from here and one I have not forgotten. It is my hope that I have not passed that trait on to my kids. I can only pray that in a time of need they would feel safe approaching me. I was more concerned with the typically beating that occurred when “wrong” things were done than with the pain of two raw nerves hanging out. I made it one day, I might have gone longer, I will never know. But I intended to avoid the punishment at all cost. The loss of the teeth and the bike were enough, I did not want punishment on top of that.
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