This afternoon I had the unpleasant experience of having someone’s blood on my hands. Actually on my hands, arms, legs and clothes. Lots of it.
I just went to pick up a few things, just a few minutes from home. I guess this guy was just riding home after a day at work too. He just forgot a few important things…like safety gear. Not a mistake I think he’ll make again…if he ever rides a motorcycle again.
It had been drizzling and the road was damp, the cats-eyes were slippery and I guess he was in a hurry…
As he hit the throttle and skipped over lanes from in front of me, I saw his back wheel slip and twist from underneath him and I touched the brakes. He didn’t. He just looked over his shoulder and kind of let go.
As he slid along the bitumen at near 70km an hour, it sheared the synthetic jogger straight off his foot, along with the better part of his first two toes and most of the skin up to his knee, and then ripped into his flimsy board shorts. His arm folded under him like an origami swan, and I’m pretty sure it snapped somewhere.
I skipped the lane, and stopped the truck as close as I could, to get back to him. Nobody else did. I guess they were in a hurry too.
The bike had slid out from underneath him, and further onto the grass, so at this point was clear. I managed to roll him carefully off his face (and away from the road edge) and onto his side, checked he was breathing properly and called an ambulance. One of my most hated things…I could hear the siren trying to work its way through the traffic from miles away. It still makes me shudder.
He couldn’t move much, probably mostly from shock and pain, which was a good thing, because if he could have seen what I could, he would have likely freaked out just a little bit.
Blood, lots of blood.
Bone near his knee, and what was left of his toes.
Fragments of the road embedded into what was left.
The ambulance arrived, medics took over, and they took him away. They took my details too. Because I had his blood on me, they wanted to do a test on him to make sure he was clear of any lovely contagious diseases…just in case.
His name was Andrew. At a guess, I’d say he was about 30 give or take.
He wanted to know “what happened?” He kept asking me what happened.
I didn’t have the heart to tell him he had just lost half his skin, possibly his balance and the use of his foot, and maybe even his arm…because he was too fucking stupid to wear safety gear.
As I was got back to the truck it started to drizzle lightly, the sun came out, and a rainbow appeared right there above me.
Ride safe Kids.
V
vampressa 