The grass was green, and the sun was out when Cathy Caudill decided to go rollerblading when her dad and sister were walking their dog.
It was a beautiful day, and what better way to enjoy it than to go rollerblading? Cathy thought.
The neighborhood itself has curvy and hilly roads, Cathy reflected, even when some of the roads didn’t look steep to the eye, they actually were.
Once the deceptively steep incline was visible, Cathy decided it’d be best to go back to the house.
“It doesn’t look steep at first glance, but when you climb it, it’s a very steep incline,” Cathy said.
She was going at a relatively steady speed after turning around when the hill began to slope downward.
Gaining speed, Cathy began to bring her body closer together in an attempt to control the speed since she had no brakes.
Accelerating at a faster speed, a car was approaching from behind in the lane next to her.
Now, like a snow-skier on a black diamond run, with one car behind, and another coming from the opposite direction, little choice was available in order to stop the speed.
“All I thought was, I’ve got to stop myself. How am I going to stop myself?” Cathy said.
The initial decision that came to mind: the patch of grass on the left beside the mailbox.
“I was aiming for the grass, but I didn’t think I could make it with one car coming from behind me, and the other coming in the opposite direction toward me,” said Cathy.
The brick mailbox was another option, but not likely a pleasant outcome.
So, there was but one thing left to do in order to avoid a hit from the oncoming cars – fall in place on the pavement.
A gash cut into the flesh of her left knee, scrapes and burns inflicted the hands and arms, and the cars came to an abrupt stop for the people to scramble out to see if she was alright.
Four stitches, a couple of band aids, and some love and support from the family, Cathy was happy that the outcome wasn’t a serious injury from the deliberate fall.
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I like the progression of the story. Because our interview was cut short, I might have been a bit unclear: I was at the top of the hill, and there were two inclines; on the one side was a noticeably steep incline, on the other side was the deceptively steep incline that I had just skated up. I decided to go back the way I came, instead of proceeding down the obviously steep side. But then I ended up falling anyway.
ReplyDeleteI like the "snow-skier" bit; it was a lot like that.
I think you gave away the ending a little bit by talking about the steep hills. You could kind of guess what was coming. But I liked your description about the injury (even though it brings back bad memories...ouch!); it's very vivid.
ReplyDeleteI really like how throughout the story you kind of told what was going through her mind so we could see the story from her eyes instead of telling it from an outside view. I also liked the description when she fell because it seemed really realistic!
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