You know how you occasionally hear of a person lifting a car off someone, or some other amazing feat of strength? Is it adrenaline? Is it an angel? Or…what? That's what everyone would have wondered if there was a slightly different outcome to the horse riding episode. RKORadio and I had this idea about three years ago, and since I have so little time now and am basically getting some ideas out of the way, this is going up now. However, if anyone wants to write of something similar, please go ahead. You might do better; it was just the idea of her being saved this way that we discussed. I just can't bring myself to write of her actually getting hurt real badly like some do, though I understand, with some, how they can want to show different stuff. (I did write one where there was more brain damage, "Just Like We Always Will," but even that was just a bad dream Steph had in my story, a bad dream I refer to later in "The Way We Were," my take on the accident and what happened between scenes and afterward.)
An Angel…Or Mom?
"What do you mean, go on strike?"
Michelle Tanner, eight, explained for her friend Elizabeth. "You see, my sister didn't want to spend her whole life becoming a professional dancer once. But, Dad wouldn't listen. So, when the competition came, she danced the wrong kind of dance. She did way different from all the others up there."
Elizabeth smiled. They'd both been thinking of going out on the trail, but that was also a good plan. "So, what do we do; just walk around?"
"I guess. Then if your mom and my dad stop arguing, we can decide to jump, anyway."
"Sounds like a good plan!"
The plan went off well at first. When Michelle's name was called, both girls walked their horses over to the porch. "What are you doing here?" came from Michelle's dad, Danny tanner, and Elizabeth's mom at the same time.
"We're on strike. Just like the baseball players do," Elizabeth explained.
"You guys don't want to have fun. So we're not." Michelle parked her horse so its tail was facing the families.
D.J., Michelle's oldest sister, scolded lightly, "Michelle, that's not a very nice gesture to park your horse like that." The middle sister remained silent, still stewing after a fight the younger girls had had the day before.
"But, Elizabeth, if you don't jump, you can't win again this year," her mother said as Jesse Katsopolis, the Tanner girls' uncle, entered and looked oddly at the scene. Michelle greeted him warmly.
Jesse's wife, Becky, had their three-year-old boys, Nicky and Alex, stay with their dad and walked over to the young girls. "I like your plan," she told them. To the feuding adults, she began to lecture them on how childhood was supposed to be fun, and how they were supposed to be setting an example. "What if they'd wandered off somewhere else; you're lucky they decided to stage a strike right here!"
One of the judges had come over to see if there was a problem. Michelle gave her dad a look. "Well? What are you waiting for?"
Elizabeth's mother was forced to concede. "All right. I guess I have no choice." She breathed deeply, trying hard to avoid choking on her words. "Mr. Tanner, good luck. I…guess I don't mind if your daughter wins."
"And…I don't mind if your daughter wins, either. Good luck."
"Now will you shake hands already?" Michelle asked insistently. She still felt uneasy, because of the fighting she'd seen, and the argument with Stephanie the previous day. But, as her Aunt Becky started to tell the others it wasn't about who won at all, but about having fun, something happened.
Michelle went to jump her horse. However, therew as a problem.
Horses can sense when human riders are anxious. They pick up cues as to what to do. So, noticing the hesitation in its rider and following suit, the horse balked. Without the argument, it probably wouldn't have. With a more experienced rider, it likely wouldn't have. But, here, Michelle wound up tumbling, with the horse coming down on her.
It wasn't directly on her, but there was danger. And, that's when Stephanie gasped, and began running out there.
Her mind was numb to the shouts, the screams, and to the ambulance that was always ready in a shed at such events. She ran toward Michelle with two thoughts on her mind. One was that terrible argument they'd had, and how she'd told Michelle she would never forgive her. She was determined not to let that become prophetic. The second was that her sister was in trouble.
She'd always been very excitable. That anxiety, worry, excitability, and so on that she'd inherited from Pam Tanner – who died when she was only five – swirled as her heart raced, her adrenaline pumping to a degree it wouldn't have normally. Indeed, to a degree it wouldn't in many people.
Still, as she got there, she muttered an "I forgive you" and "I'm sorry" to Michelle, but that myopia that caused her to act before thinking a lot worked overtime here. Before she knew it, her hands were under the horse. And, she was trying to lift it.
"Steph," Danny was saying behind her, totally unheard by Stephanie. He'd run after her, unsure of what to do. As the paramedics approached, they quickly realized they wouldn't need to try to pull the animal off Michelle. instead, they and Danny quickly pulled the moaning and weeping girl out from under the struggling animal.
As the paramedics began working on her, a huge roar erupted from the crowd. Stephanie's huge adrenaline rush, however, prevented her from hearing it much; she could only stare back and forth at the horse and Michelle as she began to recover from her shock.
"Steph, are you okay?" Danny said for the fifth time, alternating between that and checking on Michelle. Stephanie looked at her younger sister. "Steph, they think Michelle's going to be okay, though a bit longer under that horse and she wouldn't have been." He noticed the still somewhat blank stare in Stephanie's eyes, as the adrenaline slowly died down. "Steph...?"
"Huh? Oh, I'm fine, Dad. I just…I lifted a horse, that's all," she said, starting to come to grips with what she'd done. "I just…lifted a horse! I…lifted…a horse!' She stared at her hands, as if they were the hands of some strange alien, and fainted into Danny's arms, the rush of adrenaline having sapped all of her strength.
A few moments later, Stephanie was coming to. "Steph, are you okay?" she heard Jesse say. "Your dad went with the ambulance; they think Michelle's going to be fine, though the way it was on one leg she might need some therapy in walking."
"Yeah…I'm fine, Uncle Jesse." He helped her slowly get to her feet. "Thanks. Wh-what happened?"
Joey described the situation. "I always told you spinach was good for you," he quipped, referring to his favorite character, Popeye, who would get superhuman strength if he ate spinach. He and Jesse had been helping Danny raise the girls since their mom died, when Stephanie was five and Michelle was a baby. "Let's go to the hospital."
"Joey…what happened out there was not the result of spinach," Stephanie proclaimed, suddenly starting to recall. Like a player who'd been in what athletes called "the zone" for a time, unable to miss a shot in basketball, or seeing the ball come at him twice as big in baseball, she began to piece together what had happened, and couldn't explain it. "I don't know what it was, but it wasn't spinach. Besides, I haven't had spinach since last week," she managed to joke. After giving herself a couple of "how rudes"s concering the argument in the car, she turned to D.J., then back to Joey. "All I know is, a human being is not supposed to be able to lift a horse!"
"I wouldn't be too sure about that, Steph," D.J. remarked. "I mean, think about it. You get really excited at stuff, just like Mom. You've always been protective of Michelle, even when she drove you crazy, just like I have of the two of you. Not only that, but that fight you had gave you even more reason to want to do it."
"Deej, if I'd been called to protect her from a charging pit bull, that would be one thing. That, I could see. I'd get pretty messed up myself, but I could probably stop a charging pit bull if someone's life depended on me doing it; especially hers. I mean, right now I just want to be singing 'You Are My Sunchine' to her and gently helping her to recover, showing how much I really do love her. But, a horse is a horse of a different color. I was lifting an animal that weighed a whole lot more than that!"
Jesse consoled her that, "We don't understand a lot about the body. I mean, for instance, why do I have such great hair where other people start getting little bald spots when they're my age? Maybe your strength in tough situations is just like my hair is all the time." He prided himself on his perfect hair. When that didn't help, he said, "Or, maybe it was an angel."
"It could have been, Uncle Jesse. I was praying harder than I ever have, and I bet there were quite a few others praying just like here there," D.J. admitted, considering that alternative just as viable. An angel like on "Touched By An Angel" would make sense.
"I didn't see an angel beside me, or feel one." Stephanie, of course,w as thinking of how they were visual on that show. "But…well, we'll ask Michelle." Stephanie smiled and said, "I'm just glad we'll be able to."
After rather extensive surgery, Michelle was recovering in a hospital room, with a number of tubes attached to her. "The doctors say you can stay a few minutes," Danny told the others as they walked in. He told Stephanie once again how proud he was.
They could tell Stephanie needed to be first. "Hey, Michelle." She apologized for their fight again, admitted it was al her fault, and pledged that they would be a lot closer in the future, which they would be. "I love you."
"I love you, too. Thanks for lifting that horse," Michelle muttered. "I didn't think people could do that."
"I didn't, either. Michelle, we were trying to figure out something out there. Was there an angel? Could you tell?"
"I don't know, Steph. All I know is, that thing was laying on me, and it really hurt. It felt like it was crushing my legs."
"The doctors say you'll be able to walk again with rehabilitation," Danny promised. "I'm sorry again I pushed you so hard with the horse jumping. And, I promise I won't drive you crazy with your therapy here."
Michelle looked at Stephanie. "That's good. 'Cause from the look on Steph's face, she will."
"You better believe it."
Michelle thought for a second. "It could have been angel beside you lifting it. Could it have been Mom?"
Stephanie was stunned as D.J. reminded her of some of the Sunday School lessons when they'd get to church. She had the same teacher who'd taught the older girls all about prayer - such as when Stephanie had prayed for Mr. Bear's return, a favorite stuffed friend.
"I don't think people come back to help like that. From what I always learned, it was so amazing up there, she wouldn't want to leave. Still, it's fun to think about," D.J. told her.
"That's right, Deej. I have to keep telling myself that your mom's always there with me no matter what, at least in spirit, even if she's not here physically." Danny put a hand on Stephanie's shoulder." And, I'm sure she'd be proud of you, no matter what."
Stephanie smiled. That was something her dad always said, too, that he was proud of them no matter what, but he did struggle at times like this. However, it had helped their whole family draw closer. Indeed, it helped her friend Gia, who could be quite a rebel, get better, too, as Stephanie not only worked hard with Michelle in her rehabilitation, but insisted on Gia helping, too. It helped all three girls become close.
"Tell me the story about the horse jumping again." a friend of five-year-olds Nicky and Alex requested a couple years later.
Stephanie shook her head as she and her babysitting helper, ten-year-old Michelle, tried to get their cousin's friend to go to bed while babysitting. "You've heard that story I don't know how many times, from probably every member of my family." It was true. Comedian Joey Gladstone had even told it as Popeye.
"Will you please go to bed if we do," Michelle said, hobbling a bit, as she probably always would, as she came in from the kitchen. Still, her gait was quite good, all things considered.
The boywasn't sure. But, then again, he probably wouldn't hear the story again from his babysitters if he didn't promise that. "Okay, I guess.
"I know, it sounds like a superhero adventure to you," Stephanie said as they went up to hisbedroom. "But, it's not about superheroes. I don't think I was alone out there."
"Who else was there?" the boy asked.
Stephanie smiled as Michelle helped by tucking him in. "I don't know. There was lots of prayer going on just then, and it was God's will she recover. So, probably an angel. But, Michelle's right. There's part of me that thinks, just maybe…it could have been Mom." She smiled wistfully. She'd always wished Pam were there to help with things. She knew she was in spirit, and in their hearts. But, still, for once... "It's fun to think about Mom being besides me there, anyway."
"But, then you're not a superhero," he protested.
Michelle sat next to Stephanie and put an arm around her. "It doesn't matter if it wasn't her alone lifting it. The important part is, she's always special to me."