My name is Kim and when I was a little girl, my brother, Randy and I played like he was the Six Million Dollar Man and I was the Bionic Woman. We left off the boyfriend girl friend part of their relationship. We just wanted to have their super powers. Our dog was Max A Million . We would run and jump making the NaNaNa sound that we heard on the television show.

One afternoon when we got home from school, our mother had a severe headache. Looking back now I realize that she was severely depressed. She told us that she was going to lie down and for us to play inside while she slept. I was about eight years old and my brother was ten. Any how, we decided to go outside, even though we had been instructed to stay inside.

We started running with our dog in the backyard and along the side of our yard there was a creek. We ran and jumped the creek back and forth. Randy went first and I followed him and our dog followed me. It was a beautiful spring day. The sun was shining, the blooming azaleas fragrance was mingled with mown grass by a nearby neighbor.

We were having so much fun. Then, what happened next was traumatic, for me anyway. Randy jumped and made it across the creek. Someone had raked leaves in the creek. There was a tree root sticking out of the side of the embankment. When I went to jump my foot got caught in the tree root sticking out and I fell in the bed of leaves at the bottom of the creek. When I stood up pain gushed through my arm.

I was horrified as I looked at my arm. It just dropped longer than normal and my elbow was dislocated. It was poking out in a different spot. My brother who always took care of me, since mother had severe headaches all the time, put his arm around me and we walked to the house with me screaming and crying. I remember Mrs. Tripp, one of our neighbors who always wore those plastic pink and green hair rollers in her hair, she was taking her garbage out, when she saw me crying. I remember her just starring at us and being all nosy. You always have that one neighbor that wants to tell on the neighborhood kids when they are doing something that they are not supposed to be doing.

When we got into the house, Mama jumped up out of bed. She screamed, "I told you kids that I had a headache. Now stop all the yelling."

My brother said, " Mama, I think her arm is broken."

Mama said in her devil tone, "You kids were not supposed to be outside while I am taking a nap. Both of you go to your rooms and lay down."

Randy helped me to my room. When I laid down on my twin bed, my arm just dropped at a 90 degree angle off the side of the bed. Randy's eyes got big as saucers. He yelled, "Mama, her arm is broken. We need to get her to the emergency room.

I could her mama in the hall coming towards my doorway. She said, "She is fine,her arm is not broken. Go to your room like I told you to."

He obediently went to his room. I remember his eyes stayed on mine until he went through his bedroom door.

Then, mama came into my room. I was scared that she was going to give me a whipping. She came to me and I tried to stop crying but the pain was too much. She saw my arm hanging. She started screaming, Oh my God. Her arm is broken. We have to get you to the hospital. Randy help me get your sister in the car. She went to her room to change from her pajamas to daytime clothes.
My brother came and helped me up off the bed. He grabbed my teddy bear and helped me get buckled in our pea green colored Chevrolet Impala. Mama finally came out of the house patting her hair into place. She got in and sat behind the steering wheel and adjusted the rear view mirror while making sure her lipstick was on perfect.

We went to the closest hospital in our area. They were not equipped to do X-rays, so we had to drive another forty-five minutes to the next hospital that was equipped. The waiting room was packed. I sat there a little in shock. Then a little girl, maybe two years old came and pulled on my broken arm. I passed out. They brought a stretcher and took me to a room. I regained consciousness and I would not go to sleep until I saw my daddy come walking through the door of the room I was in.

He walked over to me with his kind eyes all concerned for my pain. He said, "Kim, you're going to be fine, daddy's here."

Then, I felt safe. I closed my eyes and when I woke up I had a cast on that was really cool and people could sign.

I don't know what life would have been like growing up without my sweet brother and I am glad that I don't have to find out.