Part I (click here)
I had an ah-ha moment last time when I was writing about this. I know that my apprehension with doing a forward roll stemmed from the fact I discovered years later after complaining of back pain and a full body x-ray that at some point in my childhood, I broke my back. I have a compressed fracture on L4. I have no recollection of hurting myself except for a time when I was at my dad’s company picnic…I must have been 7 or 8 and I slid down the slide on the park playground and hit my lower back on the ground. This must have been when I caused the fracture. I know, one would think I wouldn’t be able to walk; I have no idea how it could be that I could. There was never a time when I was so incapacitate I couldn’t walk.
Yes, I know, K and I were both kids and kids do stupid things for stupid reasons. I can even remember a situation where I intimidated someone weaker than me only in an effort to look stronger. K just did it all the time. I am fascinated with why I kept coming back for more.
Once L, another girl in our grade who I was friends with had a slumber party in her basement. This time she invited me and K. I don’t recall anyone else there. We had this quasi stage set up in L’s basement where we were to act out songs we played on the record player. I had no idea what K was looking for when she came up with this idea. None. Looking back, it was a sort of an MTV kind of thing, although MTV was far from even being a brain child of someone in the future. I picked, “I’ll Honestly Love You,” by Olivia Newton John.
I was sitting at the café table we had set up. Across from me was an empty chair. On the table was a flower in a vase. How do you make a song like this come alive without someone to sing too? This was my plight. K and L were watching me intently. The music started, I had to do something so I lip synced Olivia’s words to an imaginary lover seating across from me. I poured by heart out; declaring my undying love to his man of my dreams. I was 14, what did I know?.
“Maybe I hang around you, a little more than I should. We both know I got somewhere else to go.” I removed my focus from the chair to the flowers,
“But I got something to tell you that I never thought I would but I believe you really ought to know…” I looked back to the empty chair and poured by heart out via lip syncing better than Millie Vannellie. The song ended. I honestly thought I did a good job considering what I had to work with.
Once again, I was on the receiving line of K’s approval and once again there was venom coming out of her mouth, “What was that? What? You honestly love the flower?” Yeah, once again I was crushed.
You’d think I’d not want to be this girl’s friend. You’d think when I saw her, I’d be running in the other direction. K never called me…never that I could remember. I was constantly walking passed her house and would just happen to see her and if she looked my way, I took it as an invitation to approach.
Finally I must have gotten the message because my encounters with her were limited in high school. I was friends with L more and she apparently knew K’s ways and as long as K wasn’t friends with L, I was good. In high school, K was fairly popular. She didn’t hang out with the cheerleaders, not many of them but she was friends with some on the squad. Her older brother was kind of a rebel and I think he didn’t even finish high school at our school. K was kind of a free spirit.
For our first day of high school she wore these knicker type pants that weren’t yet in style but she apparently wanted to be on the cutting edge. I don’t think she was super confident or at least she didn’t come across to me as over-confident. Through out high school we were cordial but that was it. I didn’t press the issue.
We graduated in 1979. I went on to college, K chose to work for a year and then go to another college. Our paths rarely crossed.
In October of 1982, I was walking uptown to a place to pick up a hamburger. It was dark and I remember almost tripping over something on the sidewalk in front of K’s house. I didn’t give it much thought though until my walk back when I stepped on what turned out to be walnuts and twisted my ankle and down I went, hamburger flying and my wrist smashing into the sidewalk. I was stunned at first. I could hear the older brother in the house yelling at the dog who was barking up a storm at my commotion.
“Shut up!” J said. I yelled out for someone to help me but no one heard me. I got up, held my right hand up with my left hand but I was unable to move it on its own power. It hurt like hell. I somehow scooped up the brown bag containing my hamburger and walked home.
It turns out my wrist was so severely broken that surgery was required.
My father had a friend, Mitch, who was an attorney. Mitch said we had a case against the landowners and the walnut tree owners. I wasn’t keen on this…suing my neighbor. Mitch claimed it was only the insurance companies we were suing, not the people. I agreed to go through with this…I wasn’t working but I was trying to find a job and having a broken wrist wasn’t going to make that happen any time sooner. Plus there was the pain and suffering. I could be all dramatic and bring up the fear that had gripped me when I laid there helpless in front of K’s house, yelling for help and no one came to my aid. I could hear the brother yelling at the dog but apparently he couldn’t hear my over the dog’s barking. And there were hospital bills, the ER, the OR, the overnight stay. So I went ahead with the law suit.
I had another ah-ha moment recently when I realized it wasn’t all those reasons why I wanted to go through with the suite; it was the fact that I still wanted to be connected to K and her family and if this was the only way to do it; I would.
Of course, I didn’t expect to be in a deposition, face to face with K’s dad and Mr. S, the tree owner. But there I was.
Months later, I talked to another neighbor who told me that K’s family hated me. Me? The exact opposite of what I was hoping. No, I know you can’t sue someone and expect them to like you but “hate” seemed a bit harsh. It wasn’t too long after that that I told Mitch to settle. The idea of anyone hating me was more than I could take.
(To be continued)
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