Just What I Needed

Not every need for a ride is the same.  Sometimes it has to be just the right person for the job.  Thanks Leeds.  

 

At first, I picked myself up and started toward the grocery store. After all, I'd been headed that way when I hit the patch of ice and went down. I still needed groceries, and I'd certainly fallen on winter ice before.

 

But then I tried to move the fingers on my right hand, and nothing happened.

 

I turned and headed around the corner for home. It was a short walk, and soon I was in my kitchen, cell phone in hand, thinking through my options. It was Saturday, and the emergency room seemed to be on my agenda, so I called Leeds.

 

When he picked up the phone with his customary, drawn out "He-ello" I got my first sense of how upset I was. It took me a moment to get into shape to talk.

 

"Leeds, I . . . need a ride to the emergency room. I think I broke my wrist."

 

"Oh hell!" he said. Leeds and I had been playing music together for ten years, and he knew instantly what a mess this was for me. "I'll be right there."

 

I have many fine friends who will willingly give me rides, especially under such circumstances, but Leeds was at the top of my list for this particular ride for one big reason. Leeds inevitably gives me a raft of shit about things, little things, important things. Nothing is sacred. It's all fair game. I needed someone who wouldn't make me cry, because I was on the edge of a truly amazing abyss of grief. If I went over the edge, I knew it would be a long, bad fall. Leeds is also absolutely there when needed, whether it's home repair, moving large items in his truck, or joining me for some strange, low paying, musical gig.

 

He was at my door within 15 minutes, honking, as usual, rather than coming to the door. No special treatment. Good.

 

He did open the truck door for me, and helped me with the seat belt, laughing at my one handed ineptitude. His outraged "Reid, what did you go and do that for?" was pretty helpful.

 

The only bad moment came when I said "I'm not sure if I broke it or just sprained it."

 

"sometimes a sprain is a whole lot worse." he said.

 

I sat back in misery, hoping it wasn't a bad sprain, not quite hoping it was a better break.

 

At the hospital, Leeds was quite matter of fact, helping me to "sign in" which seems simple, but becomes difficult when your right hand is out of commission.

 

"Call me when you're done." he said, once he knew I was in line for care.

 

I felt like I was in a parade. There were three of us who had fallen on the ice that morning, all three of us going through X-rays, finding out our wrists were indeed broken. Because one of the breaks was particularly ugly, they called the hand/wrist surgical specialist to do the splinting, explain our options, and write prescriptions for pain medications.

 

Four hours later, Leeds met me at the emergency room exit, and drove me back into town to fill that pain med prescription. "Broken?" he asked, and that was all.

 

When we got to town, Montpelier Pharmacy had just closed, so we went to Rite Aid. The pharmacist, brusque and clueless, asked me to fill out a bunch of paperwork. I looked at my wrist, looked at her, looked at Leeds and just started laughing. So did he. She didn't get the joke. Leeds filled forms out, and we went for coffee at the Coffee Corner while Rite Aid processed paperwork and put together a pain killer prescription.

 

Mike, co-owner of the Coffee Corner took one look at me when we walked in the door, and handed me a coffee. "On the house." he said.

 

I realized as I figured out the sugar packet, that I'd have a lot of learning to do.

 

Leeds laughed at me, of course.

 

Just what I needed.