text: It was a cold, wet and dreary morning. One of those begrudgingly spiteful days that come only so often. I could have lambasted about how it began, which rightfully should have served as a prescient warning for how the rest of the day would follow, however my mind at the time was fixated on getting across town to an appointment. I mustn’t be late to this appointment! Thames Avenue was roaring with life despite the weather. The sidewalk clattered with the footsteps of the morning crowd as they splashed through well-established puddles. Umbrellas were bobbing up and down as the crowd shuffled along, eager to find themselves at their destination. Traffic was heavy and the drivers all seemed to be frustrated. Their commute was not going so well. As I passed by Eckman’s, a street side gastropub on the corner of Thames Avenue and Fisher Street, a man inside a delivery truck began to scream profanity laced obscenities behind me. Seemingly lost to madness over his current predicament, his fists began to pound the steering wheel before he threw them into the air, palms wide open with a look of angered disbelief on his face. His muted scream could still be heard as I stood next to an outside bar. The traffic was at a standstill at this point, and it was clear by his reaction that he had somewhere to be. Pausing for a moment, I checked the clock located inside Eckman’s and it read 10:09am. This was a disaster! I was most certainly going to be late. The rain must be slowing me down, or the crowd, but I had ten more blocks to go. I mustn’t be late to this appointment! I began to pick up my pace and hurried down the sidewalk. At this point, the rain was steady but light enough to put the umbrella away. As I pushed through the crowd with my umbrella under my arm, the beleaguered commuters snarled. The sounds of horns honking behind me could be heard. Not one, not two, but many can be heard over and over in quick repetition. The people stuck in the traffic must be losing their minds in frustration! As I approached Magnolia Street, the rain suddenly began to pour. Continuing my way through the crowds I haphazardly attempt to open my umbrella. Clumsily, I dropped the umbrella and attempted to grab it in the air. My failure was a complete embarrassment as I fumbled about and kicked the umbrella farther from me. The rain drops felt heavy as they battered my clothes, soaking them to a near dripping state. Rushing to get cover, my feet pounded the puddles and concrete. I took refuge under a small cover near a jeweler’s store front. Car horns were continuing to blare one after the other, the frustration was growing and moving further up the line. I could barely see through the rain as I searched for the umbrella. I spotted it and began to frantically run toward it, hoping to pick it up and open it before I got too wet. As I neared the umbrella I tripped, falling to one knee and both hands. I begin inspecting my hand for some scraping. The car horns continued to get louder, angrier. More insistent, it seemed, for attention. I needed to hurry. What an awful day it has been however I mustn’t be late to this appointment! I grabbed the umbrella and began to stand up to shake off yet another embarrassing moment. I looked quickly around and saw an old man with a furry mustache chuckling at me, offering assistance. Flustered, I turned away. In a frantic moment I extended the umbrella, hearing the familiar ‘fwoop’ sound as it opened, and once again free of the falling rain. "I'm perfectly able to get through today with a smile on my face," I thought. The horns were now blaring in a deafening chorus! I turned to look into traffic. Suddenly I was thrown forward off of my feet with great force. As quickly as I had been thrust forward, I had just as quickly came to a complete stop. Everything had gone black. \*\*\* \*\*\* \*\*\* Pain began resonating in every inch of my skull. Then my shoulder. Then my ribs and my hip. My world was suddenly dark and agonizing. I could hear crying. Was it me? Was I crying? I was told that I had been unconscious for several minutes. When I finally came to, the sounds of screams and crying could be heard. The chorus of horns seemed to have stopped. It was raining. Splish. Splash. Pitter-Patter. Splish. Splash. Pitter-Patter. My eyes opened. The first thing I could see was my hand covered in blood. Washing away in the heavy rain, the blood disappeared down my hand. I tried to stand, and that was a mistake. I lost my balance, fell to my knees and instinctively both hands to catch myself. A sudden jolt surged up my arm and through my shoulder and into my neck. I was beside myself pain, falling again- face first into a puddle. The rear end of a box truck covered my view. I turned my head to see that I was lying next to a red car. Face dripping with street water. My arm shaking with adrenaline as I try to raise it. A warm hand grabbed onto mine firmly. “Stay still”, the voice said. "Help is on the way!” A dizzying sensation took ahold of me before blacking out again. \*\*\* \*\*\* \*\*\* When I awoke a second time, bright lights were shining into my eyes and several voices began to fade in. Still, I could not make sense of where I was or what was being said. I tried lifting my head enough to look down however I was strapped down so tight that I couldn’t move. A pair of shadowy figures loomed over me. Panic began to immediately set in. I screamed aloud and writhed to free myself. “Ma’am, you need to stay calm and be still. You were involved in an accident.” \*\*\* \*\*\* \*\*\* A nagging beeping sound and unintelligible radio chatter could be heard while lying there feeling confused. The doors clacked open and swung wide. They pulled me out of the vehicle and rushed me into the hospital. Continuing to fade in and out of reality, only the faint recollection of lights passing and muffled voices remained. A brief feeling of falling startled me back to life. The hospital staff had lifted me over and onto a different bed and began to work me over. Several minutes go by and the commotion seemed to settle. Phones rang at the nurse’s desk and an announcement came over the intercom. Suddenly the room began to grow loud again as more people are brought into the emergency room. I couldn’t make out what the staff was saying. They seemed to be in a panic. Doctors and nurses were flying around another bed still rushing into the room. To my other side, people could be heard with elevated voice levels. Trying to focus on that conversation, I could hear a woman shout, “Clear!” followed by a loud thumping noise. “Again!” the voice shouted, followed by another thumping noise. Suddenly, the voices seemed to calm, but remained in a steady discussion. I focused even more on their voices, hoping to hear what was going on. It was then that I was overcome with anger. “This was the driver of the delivery truck involved in the accident.” It was then that I was able to see enough to recognize the man. This was the livid man stuck in traffic, waving his arms about like an animal. “I heard from the EMT that he cut through traffic, drove down the wrong side of the road to turn down Magnolia Street and caused the accident. What an ass.” “I bet he never saw the heart attack coming.” My concentration broke as the incoming patient was carted next to my bed in the next stall. The curtain was drawn back and I could see hospital staff hovering over another patient, working to stabilize him. It was an older man, his face blackened with dirt, bruised and bleeding. He had a mustache; it had a salt and pepper color. Furiously the staff continued to work the man. It was then I realized that it was the man who laughed and grinned as I fell when reaching for my umbrella. “This man is in bad shape. He took most of the impact. The witnesses say he attempted to push the woman out of the way before being struck by the driver. We need to get him prepped for the O.R., I believe he has internal injuries.” His heart monitor began to loudly sing just a lonely, single note. The staff began to dance around one another in their attempt to save his life. The heart monitor continued to blare a dreadful and lonely, single note. The doctor can be heard screaming as he tried to resuscitate the man. *“Clear!”* The loud thumping noise breaking any chance of a silent moment. They began to begin chest compressions, manually pumping his heart, working to keep him alive another day. This continued for several minutes. The staff’s energy levels began to lose steam. “How could this happen?” I thought to myself. This man may have ended his life at an attempt to save mine. Yet I was so selfish, too focused on rushing along. A tear began to form in my eyes as I lay there, hearing a lonely, single note, continuing for what felt like a lifetime. It was his lifetime, I suppose, which I suddenly found myself emotionally fixated on. The end of his journey. Trying to keep me from harm. I began to quietly weep for him as I wondered if his family knew yet, or if he had someone to care for him at all. I knew nothing of him but his action that likely saved my life. Suddenly the lonely, single note ended; replaced by unsteady beeping.