The Last Day

Hey All,  I went to St Luke's in Glenside for the 8th grade.  I was the new kid and unknown by all.  I had learned to be defensive as a second nature................so I stayed to myself when I could......and was in situations that had me in front of Mother Superior and the Priests on more than one ocassion.
      I had been in a few altercations that year............once with the biggest kid in class.................once with a couple of boys holding me while another hit me and a few times with individual boys.  I must have always been in the wrong as I was the only one up for discipline..........I wouldn't tell or rat out the others...........somehow I always felt these things were my fault.  My grandparents ended up getting involved when I came home with a few bruises on my face.
      The last day of school was a beautiful sunny day and the entire 8th grade was bussed to a local park.  It was a nice place with open field and some woods.  Some of the kids had been here before and many of the boys and girls went up into the woods along a steep hill.  There was a vine that had grown up through the  branches  of a tall tree and was used as a swing..................like tarzan.  The boys were taking turns swinging from the top of the hill to out over a space.........a drop of about 15 feet or so  in to a large pile of leaves.  I watched for awhile and then was taunted because I wouldn't go out like they had.   I relented and took my turn.  I took a deep breath and held on for dear life as I swung out over the leaves................looking down and afraid to let go.  I  started to swing back but instead of going to my point of origin..............I swung back to the tree..............into  a place on the tree where a branch had broken off.  When I collided with the tree.......it knocked the wind out of me and then I fell into the leaves.   I could hear the boys laughing as I crawled on my hands and knees out of the leaves and woods to the open field.  I couldn't catch my breath............gasping for air like a fish out of water.  One girl, Catherine, came down and checked on me......................she went to get one of the Nuns.  I had a round area under my left arm that was perforated by the ragged wood fibers from the broken branch.  The area was very sensitive ot touch.................when I got back to my grandparents house, my grandmother examined me and said we could go the hospital, but she believe that I had cracked some of my ribs..............and there was no treatment for that........so why waste the time and money?
       For the next 3 months, anytime I rolled over on my left side I was immediately wakened by a sharp pain from that spot under my arm.  I guess grandmom was right.  I still have a round mark there that sort of looks like freckles...............a tattoo, as a  physical reminder of that day.
                                Until next time.................................................God Bless