Climbing with the Medfords - Part 2

 Good morning!

Did anyone else have mixed up days this week? I sure did! My Wednesday felt like a Tuesday or Thursday, and yesterday was a Friday–except I didn't post–and today is a Saturday. Not sure what tomorrow will be. Another Saturday maybe?

You see, I mowed the yard on Wednesday. It was the only day this week that was not in the mid to upper 90s with a heat index of 100º+. I have been so glad I finished my 100 miles of walking last week as there were heat advisories this week and I would not have wanted to go walk.

I'm still writing, but some days have just been slow this week. Not sure if it's partly because of the heat, partly just me, and maybe partly because I'm focusing a lot of energies and brain power into getting ready for camp and that is distracting me from my story. But I plan to keep working on it.

Today is my 3rd nephew's birthday. In some ways it's hard to believe Doodle Bug is turning 11, but at the same time, it seems that he already is that old. I remember when he was just a little guy. My grandpa and aunt are coming down this morning, and we are all going to head over to my brother's to celebrate Doodle Bug's birthday. (And if you are wondering, no, his parents did NOT name him Doodle Bug. His aunt BehBeh–that's me–gave him that nickname.)

Anyway, that's that. If you haven't seen my KDWC Journals, head over to Read Another Page and check them out. I have mine ordered. I can't wait to see it in print!

I hope you enjoy the rest of this short story.

 

Climbing with the Medfords

Part - 2

    The others were so busy looking at different points of the city and pointing out interesting things to the others, that only Lillian noticed an old lady looking out her window at the children on the billboard. Lillian thought she was talking on the telephone, but it was hard to tell. Feeling friendly, she waved at the lady, but received no response. “Oh well,” Lillian thought with a shrug. “Perhaps she didn’t see us after all. We are pretty high up.”
    It was Alice who, turning around several minutes later and looking down at the street, noticed the police car coming towards them and stopping under the billboard. “Hey everyone,” she said. “Look.”
    The others looked down in time to see two uniformed officers climb out of the car and look up at them before walking over to the base of the pole. One of the officers looked like a friend of theirs who directed traffic near the childrens’ neighborhood. When he spoke, they knew it was Officer Hitt.
    “What are you all doing up there?” Officer Hitt asked.
    “Catching a bird’s eye view of the city, sir,” Walter replied, glancing quickly at Frank and wondering what was going to happen.
    “And what are you going to do when one of you falls?” the other officer asked.
    “Oh, we won’t fall,” Frank answered quickly. “We’re being careful. And we’re used to climbing things.”
    The officers held a low toned conversation while the children waited uneasily. At last Officer Hitt called up, “Why don’t all of you come down now so we can talk without attracting the attention of the entire neighborhood.”
    The children exchanged disappointed glances but knew better than to disobey. Lillian, the closest to the ladder, went down first followed by Ester. Katie and Alice followed. Since Alice was small, she had to drop a little ways from the last rung of the ladder and while she hung there waiting for Katie to get out of the way, her left hand slipped. Right at that moment Walter, who was climbing down quickly and didn’t realize his sister wasn’t already on the ground, stepped on her hand.
    “Ouch!” Alice exclaimed, and Walter quickly moved his foot, but only to put it on the next rung of the ladder which in reality was Alice’s shoulder. As he shifted his weight, Alice fell onto the pile of books, catching herself with her left hand.
    With an exclamation of surprise, Walter, having lost his balance when what he thought was the bottom of the ladder disappeared from under him, fell with a thud onto his sister and the scattered pile of schoolbooks.
    To add to the confusion, Frank dropped from the ladder after Walter without looking and landed right on top of his friend!
    “Walter, get off of me,” Alice cried, hugging her left arm and trying to get to her feet.
    “Sorry,” Walter apologized, “I can’t move until Frank gets up.” But even when Frank was helped up by Officer Hitt, Walter had to be helped up too.
    “What hurts?” Officer Shepherd asked him when he saw Walter wasn’t putting any weight on his right leg.
    “I think I must have pulled something in my leg,” Walter groaned, cautiously bending his knee and then gingerly putting weight on his foot.
    “Sorry about that,” Frank told him with concern. “I should have looked before dropping. Are you all right?”
    “Yeah, I’ll be okay, but next time I’ll go last,” and Walter managed to grin at his friend before turning to the girls who were gathered around Alice.
    “Is it just your arm?” Office Shepherd asked, kneeling beside Alice.
    “My left wrist and my right fingers,” she sniffed, trying not to cry though the pain was pretty bad.
    Gently the officer checked her fingers. “I think they’ll be okay. They’ll probably be rather sore for a few days, but it doesn’t look like any of them are broken. They’re probably just bruised.”
    “That’s good!” Lillian exclaimed, “You’d never be able to write to Natalie.”
    “Or do your homework,” Katie added. Ester didn't say a thing but was quietly gathering up the scattered books and papers.
    After carefully checking Alice’s wrist, Officer Shepherd said, “I’m not a doctor, but I think your wrist is lightly sprained.”
    A collective sigh of relief came from the gathered children at that, but their relief was short lived. Officer Hitt, with a series face, gave them a stern lecture about the dangers of climbing billboards and told them never to do it again if their fathers weren’t there.
    “Do you understand?” the officer asked the sober children.
    “Yes, sir,” they replied.
    “All right then,” he said in a more cheerful voice, “let’s get you all home.
    “I think Alice should get a doctor to take a look at her wrist.” Officer Shepherd said. During the lecture he had improvised a sling for the injured arm from Lillian’s scarf, and Alice was grateful to be able to rest her arm in it.
    Never again did any of those girls climb a billboard. As for Walter and Frank, I can’t say for certain that they never did, but, if they did, they never told.

 

 Do you think Frank and Walter climbed billboards again?

Would you like to climb one? (If you had permission.)

Did you have mixed up days this week or were they normal?