The bell rang. We all ran out of our third grade class room, our gym bags dragging across the floor as we sprinted toward the gym. Finally, we were free!
What would we do today in gym? Mr. Mars? Olly Olly Octopus? Toilet Tag? Who knew. As our class entered the gym, our faces lit up. The jungle gym, the ropes, and the cargo net were all out. We would only get all this once a month, and it was definitely something our class would look forward to. "Yes!" I said. I ran into the change room to put my gym clothes on. After I tied my shoes I ran to the middle of the gym. That's were we sit before we start. We would call it "The Big Black Circle". We weren't very bright.
Everyone gathered around The Big Black Circle. "I'm totally going to swing as high as I can on the monkey bars!" said my sister Ashlyn. "Well I can swing way higher!" I said. We both laughed, but a our laughter got disrupted by a loud whistle. It was my gym teacher, Mr. Mkenzie. He was a tall fellow, with black hair that would always spike up with gel. He was usually kind, but then there was the occasional kid who would try and get a laugh from the class and then get in trouble.
"Okay everyone! I will split you up into four groups and send you to different stations. The first station will be floor hockey, the second station is the jungle gym, the third station is the cargo net, and the fourth station is the ropes. Now everyone get in a line so I can split you up!" I waited in line patiently. Everyone wanted the fourth station, the ropes. The ropes was the best station out of all of them. You could climb to the top, or swing as high as you want. "Justine, you're in station number one." I sighed disappointingly. I walked over to my group. I hoped I at least had some friends in my group.
As I walked up to my group, I saw some of my friends faces, Josh and Dylan. We would always play soccer outside together. I looked over at the other members of my group. I saw Ainsley. Ainsley always wanted to play with me at recess. She was quite annoying, but I would always say yes.
After we played a couple rounds of floor hockey, we moved onto the next station, the jungle gym. The jungle gym was always fun. It had a swinging bar and also swinging rings. We could climb up the side of it and jump onto a soft mat. Then we moved to the cargo net. The cargo net was my least favorite, but it was one station away from the ropes.
"Hey Justine, look at this!" shouted my friend Josh as he flipped onto the mat under the cargo net. After that my friend Dylan tried one too. Since I was a gymnast, I wanted to show off. So I ran toward the mat and did a full twist onto my back. My friends gave me a high five. I wanted to impress them more, so I attempted to do a double twist. "Hey guys, check this out!" I said. They watched me as I ran toward the mat and twisted in the air. Instead of doing a double twist, I did a full twist and a half. I landed on my side and all I heard was "POP". I had no idea what it was. All of a sudden, my arm was in excruciating pain. I had a long sleeve shirt on, so I tried to pull up the sleeve. It hurt too much so I stopped trying. I managed to get myself up and walk toward my gym teacher. I held my wrist tight as I walked. Every step felt like someone was shooting a nail gun into my arm. "Mr. Mkenzie, I think I broke something!" I said through my tears. He checked my wrist a couple of times and said, "You look fine." I couldn't be fine if I was in this much pain. I attempted to pull my sleeve up. I managed to pull it above my elbow, and that's when I saw what was wrong.
My elbow wasn't connected properly. One bone was practically on top of the other. Mr. Mkenzie said, "Oh my. Can you walk to the office? We have to call your mom." I got up and walked toward the door. Everyone was crowding around me. The only person I wanted with me was my sister, but Mr. Mkenzie wouldn't even let her come. I looked around to see if she was near. She was jumping up and down at the back, trying to see what had happened. I gave out a little chuckle through the tears. When we arrived at the office the secretary saw my arm. She jumped out of her seat to get an ice pack while the other secretary called my mom. She put the ice pack on my elbow and wrapped it with tenser bandage. My elbow was on fire. The pain made my face turn blue. I looked out the window and saw my mother pull up in our silver van. She quickly turned off the car and ran into the school. I stood up and we both walked toward the car. She opened the door and I sat in the seat. She tried to buckle me up but it hurt too much, so I went unbuckled. As we drove down the highway every bump would make my elbow burn. Tears strolled down my face as my mom tried to console me. We came near the hospital, but all the parking spaces were full. We parked far away from the doors since it was the only space we could get. We got out of the car and started to walk. My mother tried to carry me there but that didn't really work out.
We walked into the hospital and the first thing I saw was a huge line. My mother told me to go sit on the couch beside the line. I sat down on the couch and looked at everyone in the line and they all looked at me back. "You can go in front of us," said one woman. "Yeah, us too," said another person. "Me too," said another. After many people let me cut, I was at the front of the line. A doctor came and put me in a wheel chair and wheeled me off to a room.
I lied on a bed as the doctor shot some morphine into me. Afterwords, the pain went away. The only doctor in the room said she would be back soon and left the room. An hour later my mom fell asleep in the chair. I slept as well. While I was sleeping, my mother was pretty hungry. So she snuck into my backpack and ate my sandwich. Four hours later a man came in and took me to the ER. I looked around the room. Doctors were running around getting prepared. The male doctor next to me asked, "What kind of flavor would you like? Bubblegum, mint, or orange?" I had no idea what he was talking about, so I just said bubblegum. He put a mask on my mouth and said "Now count backwards from ten." I started to count. "Ten, nine, eight, sev . . ."
I woke up to see my mother leaning over my side. "Hi honey!" she said with a smile on her face. I looked at my arm and saw a huge white cast. Then I noticed I was under a lot of sheets. Why are there so many sheets? I thought. Then it hit me. "Mom, where are my clothes?" I asked. "Um, honey, you were so relaxed during the procedure, you had a little accident." I didn't know what was more embarrassing. The fact I peed myself, or the fact that they had to undress me.
I had the cast on for a couple weeks then another cast for a couple more weeks.
This is what I have learned throughout that experience: Don't try to show off. You'll just end up with a big cast and soiled pants.
Now I shall go eat my burnt popcorn and go to bed.
Later! Poppinx3
