The Ball Game

As I stared in awe at the players in red and white running around the bases, admiring their skill, the world seemed perfect in my three year old mind.  I clung to the fence, not listening to my parents’ repeated warnings to stay way from the seemingly safe barrier. Three innings in, the baseball collided into my skull. With my ears roaring, I blacked out at the sound of the sirens of an ambulance.

I shook my head dazed and confused, finding myself on a roll-away-stretcher.  I had no idea where I was.  After my eyes adjusted to the light, they focus on the shelves lining the walls.  My ears keened in to the medical tools clattered around in the boxes while we rolled along the high way towards the Children’s Hospital.  Hearing my mother’s voice behind me, I tried hoisting myself up, but my head was injured much more severely than I had expected.  With a cry of pain, I lied back down with my head throbbing. I lied there sobbing until the doors were opened, and squinting out of the flaps; I spotted my mom.

As they brought me out, my mother informed me that my brother, Duc, and my dad were on their way because they were not permitted to ride on the ambulance.  We enter the Children’s Hospital and into an examining room.  The doctor had me climb up onto an exam bed.  At this point, tears continued to pour out my eyes.  My blurred vision allowed me to see doctors frantically scrambling around with sheets of papers and medical instruments like bees in the spring.  Stressed voices conversed using medical terms that left me thinking that they spoke a different language.

After performing countless tests on me, the doctors led me to my mother.  They address her and spoke softly, making sure that it was impossible for me to hear.  My mother gave the doctor her undivided attention and frequently nodded.  Finally, she smiled and sighed in relief; their conversation was over and she and I were free to leave. As we headed down to the ground level, my mother explained to me that I was fine and that we have to tend to the bruise every few hours.  I didn’t understand why I wouldn’t be all right but I was glad to hear that I didn’t have to stay with the odd doctors.  We walked out to the parking lot and found Duc playing with a toy castle set with my dad.  They smiled and rushed to hug me.  I couldn’t help but grin.  After much celebration, we determined that we were all hungry and decided to pay my grandparents a visit for dinner.