A Friend’s Prerogative
May. 7th, 2007 12:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dedalus_1947I’m going to deviate somewhat from my usual practice, and post a story from another writer. I’ve never done this before, but I think the story merits more attention. John sent it to me as an email on March 13, 2007, with no preface or preamble except for noting the date and instruction, “Sunday 03/11/07 (READ THIS)”, in the subject space. I was stunned by the story’s simplicity and detail. It’s been haunting me ever since. Luckily, I saved the email, and thought I’d share it.
John is the same person I have described in other stories (Sons of Pioneertown, Tres Mujeres, and Rosarito-Ensenada Bike Ride). I’d be curious to know what you think of his short story of a Sunday afternoon drive.
Sunday 03/11/07 (READ THIS)
My alarm went off at 06:00 AM. I'm off to the breakfast club at Keno's restaurant in La Palma, CA.. I met with the family, dad, Judy, Jim, Janet, Joanie and a friend Julie. We talked about my dad's up and coming surgery at UCLA for a melanoma he's being treated for, and a lot of minutia. Following the breakfast, I took my father home and did some repair work on his computer, it's always in need of repair. I got a free pass for the Boat Show at the Long Beach Convention Center from a friend of mine, so I headed over there at around 10:00 AM. I was searching for the ultimate Halibut Fishing Trip in Alaska, and found a lot of good prospects. It was pretty cool. I left at around 12:00 PM and decided to head home.
The freeway was nasty at that time of day so I decided to get off the 405 and go the beach, via the 10 to the PCH. It was equally as ugly, but bearable as I headed north from the city of Santa Monica thru Pacific Palisades and up thru Malibu. When I got to the LA/Ventura County line, around the Neptune's Nest Restaurant, I was following two old bikers. I say old because, from the distance I was following, they appeared, as I do, slightly over weight, gray haired and having a wonderful time cruising up Pacific Coast Highway. I kind of let off on the gas and followed, just reminiscing, how cool it would be to just cruise around on Harley Davidson motorcycles on PCH, on a day a beautiful as this. I followed them for about 20 or 25 minutes, until they exited from the highway at Las Posas Road, which is where I get off as well. We headed north and they stayed in view for the next couple of minutes.
I was paying attention to the road in front of me when I noticed the motorcyclist riding in the back, closest to me; veer to the left, on an open road, crossing over the dividing line, out of the corner of my eye. On closer inspection, he had collapsed over his handlebars and was heading into the celery fields at fifty miles an hour. I immediately hit my horn to alert his partner of the situation, but he was too far ahead to hear, so I pulled over and called 911, but as usual it was busy. I tried two more times, but no luck, so I made a U turn. I headed back to the incident location and found a group of people standing around, but not doing much. There were two pre med students standing over the biker, but there wasn't a whole lot they could do.
His color was bad, he was grey/purple, indicating his breathing and/or cardiac output were compromised. On initial inspection, his pupils were pinpoints, indicating a possible head injury, and his right leg was broken. He had irregular respiration, and his breathing was getting slower and shallower. I knew he was going to die, just not when. It is frustrating just sitting there and not being able to do anything. He eventually went into respiratory arrest and soon after, cardiac arrest. He was dead 10 minutes after impact. We did CPR until the Fire Department, showed up, but nothing changed.
I felt pretty bad for his partner, they were heading home after a great day. I guess you have to enjoy these moments, his last were pretty good.
John O'
John is the same person I have described in other stories (Sons of Pioneertown, Tres Mujeres, and Rosarito-Ensenada Bike Ride). I’d be curious to know what you think of his short story of a Sunday afternoon drive.
Sunday 03/11/07 (READ THIS)
My alarm went off at 06:00 AM. I'm off to the breakfast club at Keno's restaurant in La Palma, CA.. I met with the family, dad, Judy, Jim, Janet, Joanie and a friend Julie. We talked about my dad's up and coming surgery at UCLA for a melanoma he's being treated for, and a lot of minutia. Following the breakfast, I took my father home and did some repair work on his computer, it's always in need of repair. I got a free pass for the Boat Show at the Long Beach Convention Center from a friend of mine, so I headed over there at around 10:00 AM. I was searching for the ultimate Halibut Fishing Trip in Alaska, and found a lot of good prospects. It was pretty cool. I left at around 12:00 PM and decided to head home.
The freeway was nasty at that time of day so I decided to get off the 405 and go the beach, via the 10 to the PCH. It was equally as ugly, but bearable as I headed north from the city of Santa Monica thru Pacific Palisades and up thru Malibu. When I got to the LA/Ventura County line, around the Neptune's Nest Restaurant, I was following two old bikers. I say old because, from the distance I was following, they appeared, as I do, slightly over weight, gray haired and having a wonderful time cruising up Pacific Coast Highway. I kind of let off on the gas and followed, just reminiscing, how cool it would be to just cruise around on Harley Davidson motorcycles on PCH, on a day a beautiful as this. I followed them for about 20 or 25 minutes, until they exited from the highway at Las Posas Road, which is where I get off as well. We headed north and they stayed in view for the next couple of minutes.
I was paying attention to the road in front of me when I noticed the motorcyclist riding in the back, closest to me; veer to the left, on an open road, crossing over the dividing line, out of the corner of my eye. On closer inspection, he had collapsed over his handlebars and was heading into the celery fields at fifty miles an hour. I immediately hit my horn to alert his partner of the situation, but he was too far ahead to hear, so I pulled over and called 911, but as usual it was busy. I tried two more times, but no luck, so I made a U turn. I headed back to the incident location and found a group of people standing around, but not doing much. There were two pre med students standing over the biker, but there wasn't a whole lot they could do.
His color was bad, he was grey/purple, indicating his breathing and/or cardiac output were compromised. On initial inspection, his pupils were pinpoints, indicating a possible head injury, and his right leg was broken. He had irregular respiration, and his breathing was getting slower and shallower. I knew he was going to die, just not when. It is frustrating just sitting there and not being able to do anything. He eventually went into respiratory arrest and soon after, cardiac arrest. He was dead 10 minutes after impact. We did CPR until the Fire Department, showed up, but nothing changed.
I felt pretty bad for his partner, they were heading home after a great day. I guess you have to enjoy these moments, his last were pretty good.
John O'
