While biking to school yesterday Zach was "hit" by a car. It was more of a bump. As hee was heading to Craig High School he stopped at the cross walk and the woman was at the stop sign. He though she saw him so he proceeded to turn into the High School drive way. She did not see him so she ran into him. He fell off his bike landing on his elbow and his knee was hit by the bike more than the car, but was otherwise O.K.. The woman did check to see if he was ok and another man, who witnessed it, asked him if he was alright, but Zach said he was fine. In fact, Zach told the woman, "I'm sure you have other places you need to be. I'm fine and I don't want to be late for class." So not only did he make it to French class on time, he also didn't say anything to anyone about what had just happened.
It wasn't until the end of the class (which happens to be the last period) when he realized he needed me to pick him up because his bike wasn't working. He tried my cell, but when I'm at work I have it on silent and he didn't program the YMCA's number (my work) in his phone. So he went to student services to ask them to call me. In order to get their attention to call me quickly, he told them about the accident. So that is when I get the phone call. They called the Y and I happen to be the one who answered. They tell me, "your son, Zach seemed to have been in a bit of an accident. He was hit by a car. His bike is wrecked. He says his knee hurts - don't think it's broken. We called the police. Zach was wondering if you could come and pick him up because his bike is totaled." I talked with Zach for a bit to make sure he was ok and to get a better understanding of what happened. My mind was reeling! As a parent, a million horror movies play at once when these types of things happen. My boss, Joe, had no problem with me leaving early. Luckily, I only had a half hour left to my shift.
When I get there Zach is sitting in the AP office giving his account to the police officer. He is calm and answering the officer with as much detail as he can remember. The lady did give Zach her contact information which he passed on to officer. The three of us then walked out to check out the bike and the first thing I notice is that Zach isn't even walking with a limp and the bike looks fine. So much for it being "totaled!" Upon further inspection, I point out to Zach that the chain just fell off. He thought the handle bars had been bent, but they just got shifted out of position and was easily fixed. We told the officer that we weren't going to press charges or take Zach to the doctor unless he got a lot worse. If that happened we were to call the police so they could update their files.
On the drive home I told Zach I wanted the woman's phone number. He didn't want me to call her because he didn't want to make her feel bad or worry about him. I told him, this woman is probably riddled with guilt and worry already. I called her and assured her he was alright and we weren't going to sue her. She cried with relief.
This morning he was a little sore. But once he got moving around it got better. He likes that he has an awesome story and wasn't hurt too bad. He's having a little too much fun with it. But hey, I'd rather that, than it have been something serious. Gotta give a little shout out to Our Heavenly Father for watchin' over my boy!
