What Happened?

Have you ever had something happen that you were unable to find out the outcome? Did you ever find out?

We lived in a very small town in Tennessee. Our street was one block long. At the end lived a very nice woman and her family. Next door lived her daughter and grandson. On the other side lived a woman who was distant and seemed un-approving for some reason. Directly across the street were a man and woman who were quite a bit older.

My husband was an over-the-road truck driver. Usually he was only home on the weekends. I had 4 small children. More often than not my kids, the younger children of the woman down the street, and her grandson from next door were at my house. Lots of happy noise.

I believe the children annoyed the people across the street. Disapproving looks and grumbling from the man were constant.

The woman went on a trip out of town to visit one of their children. She seemed to have been gone for quite a while. The man continued with his routine. Mowing the lawn, sprucing up the house, and puttering around in general.

One afternoon the man knocked on my door. I knew the children were not bothering him because they were all inside. So I answered the door.

He asked me if I could call a doctor. He was holding his arm so I wondered if he was having a heart attack.

Then he held out his arm. He had a blood-soaked towel wrapped around it. He wanted to show me. I did not want to see. He showed me anyway.

He had been working in his back yard with a table saw. Somehow his arm was caught. He had cut completely through the bone. His arm was still attached by skin on one side.

I told him to re-wrap his arm as I grabbed another towel to wrap around that. I gathered my kids and we took him to the hospital.

They took him right in. I settled down in the waiting room with my children. Someone needed to be there for him.

After several hours of hearing nothing, the man's son rushed in. I told him what little I knew. 

We stayed with the son until he was called back to see his father. I took my wonderfully patient children home for a good meal.

A few days later the son came to my door. He said they were able to re-attach his father's arm. The son was taking him home to recuperate.

My family moved back to the big city a few months later. I never heard from anyone in the man's family again. 

I have so often wondered about him. I do hope things went well for him.