Prickly sat on the edge of the deck of the oil derrick, hanging his feet over the side, watching as the blood dripped off of the visor of his hard hat.
No, it wasn't his own blood, it belonged to his friend, Toby. He'd gotten his arm caught on the drill pipe as he was attaching another length of pipe. It tore his arm clean out of the socket. Blood sprayed everywhere as Toby let out a blood curdling scream.
Prickly, who had been in the military, fortunately as a medic, went into war mode and did what he could to help stop the bleeding. He removed the top of his coveralls and whipped off his t-shirt. He then balled it up and held it to Toby's shoulder. "SOMEONE CALL 9-1-1!", he yelled.
Handy quickly hit the Emergency Stop button with his face. Lumpy grabbed the phone and called for an ambulance. [No, he didn't scream, "Ambulance" into the phone]
Sniffles arrived a short while later, bandaged Toby's wound, packed his arm in ice, put Toby on a strecher, and put him into the ambulance.
Now, Prickly was in a state of shock. All he could think about was the look in Toby's eyes when his arm got caught, the sheer terror. Then, the blood and the screaming. He shook the images from his mind as rain began to fall, gently washing the blood away.
"Hey Prickly!", Handy called, "It's quittin' time. Let's get outta here!".
Prickly nodded and said, "Alright. You guys go ahead. I gotta go pick Brandi up from school".
After Handy and Lumpy left the drilling site, Prickly faced the drill, got down on his knees and prayed. He prayed for God to spare Toby's life. He started to think back on all of the good times they'd had together. They had been best friends since Pre-School, and they were closer than brothers.
When Prickly was finally finished praying, he punched his timecard at the clock, changed out of his coveralls, got into his truck, and drove to Treeville elementary. Where his half sister, Brandi the pink bat, went to school.
Why was Prickly picking her up? Because he was the one raising her. Prickly's father, Spike, a porcupine, had been arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison for possession of drugs. Brandi's father, Bruce, a fruit bat, had died with Prickly and Brandi's mother, a bear, in a tragic car accident.
When Prickly pulled up infront of the school, Brandi and her best friend, Moska, the blue cat, who was a foreign exchange student from Russia, were standing infront of the front door, under the overhang.
Brandi and Moska ran out from the school and climbed into Prickly's truck.
"Hi Prickly", said Brandi as she kissed Prickly's cheek.
"Hi Brandi", said Prickly as he kissed her back. "Howdy Moska", he said with a smile.
Moska reddened slightly and said, with her Russian accent, "Hello Prickly". [I don't know what a Russian accent sounds like].
After they dropped Moska off at her house, Prickly and Brandi were talking.
"Ya know, Prickly", said Brandi, "I think Moska likes you".
"What would give you that idea?", Prickly asked.
"Oh don't act like you don't know", said Brandi, "Every time you talk to her, she turns beet red. She never manages to say more than a few words to you at a time".
"That means 90% of the girls I meet like me", said Prickly.
Brandi smirked at him and said, "Ya never know". She glanced out the window and said, "We're going to the hospital now, aren't we?".
"What makes you say that?", Prickly asked.
Brandi sighed and said, "It's easy to tell a friend of yours got hurt really badly today. I can smell the blood on you". She gestured out the window and continued, "Not to mention, the only reason you come to this area of town at this hour is visit someone at the hospital. Do the math".
"Ok, ya got me", said Prickly, "Yeah, we're on our way to the hospital. My buddy, Toby, lost an arm to the drillin' rig today".
Brandi nodded. This wasn't the first time someone had lost a limb to that cursed machine. Handy had lost both of his arms a few years earlier. Prickly had been a wreck for the entire six weeks Handy had been in a coma for.
"Excuse me, Nurse", said Prickly as he and Brandi entered the hospital, "Could you tell me where we might find a patient named 'Toby Webslinger'? He was brought in by an ambulance".
The nurse asked, "Are you family?".
Prickly shrugged his shoulders and said, "In a round about sorta way. I would tell ya how, but it's almost supper time and you're probably hungry".
The nurse nodded, typed the name into her computer and said, "I'm sorry, He is in surgery right now. If you'd be willing to have a seat in the waiting room, I'll let you know when he's finished".
"Ok, thank you", said Prickly as he and Brandi headed to the waiting room.
Oh no! Will Toby be alright? Who knows? Btw, I still need a title for this story. You have any ideas? Leave then as a comment. Bye now.