by Misty P.
When I was just a small child of 3 years old, I was playing with a neighbor's child on a beautiful autumn day. We were acting out some strange childhood fantasy that involved tree branches a.k.a. swords. We were playing ferociously on the old metal swing when we both decided to take a break.
I sat on the open swing and she sat on the two-seater. I decided to be dramatic and fall off the swing from the highest height of my swing up.
It then all became slow motion. With my right hand clutching the hefty size tree branch, I launched myself from the swing with visions of gracefully hitting the ground and tumbling to my imaginary death, with my tongue sticking out of my mouth like children do (of course).
Unfortunately, fantasy almost became reality. I fell extremely hard, but the stick fell first and I fell on it. Actually, my open mouth fell on it and the stick went right through the back of my throat and lodged there. I began coughing up blood. My mother, who heard my friend screaming, ran out the door and almost passed out. She got our neighbor to rush us to the hospital, but the funny thing is she had to break the stick in half to fit me in the car.
When we got to the hospital the doctor examined me, they removed the stick and sprayed my throat with medicine to stop the bleeding. When the x-ray came back, it showed that I had only missed my brain my a little bit of connective tissue and I was really lucky. It did not require stitches because of the round shape and the mouth heals quickly anyway.
Happily, I got to eat ice cream and mashed potatoes (my favorite) for a month.
To this day I become very shaken when I see children playing with sticks.
