Chapter 2, A Trip to the Hopcickle
Location: The park in Yucaipa, California, March 8, 2014
It was a beautiful sunny day in Yucaipa, California, and the Generics were watching Tommy Pickles for the day, while Stu and Didi took Dil to his first ice show an hour away in Medesto, California, Goober on Ice. While the two-year-old Tommy could still not talk to grown ups yet, it was so apparent that he had no interest in Goober the Gofer like his one-year-old brother, and since the Generics had nothing planned on this particular Saturday, Martha agreed to watch Tommy while they were gone for the day. As soon as Stu, Didi, and Dil hit the road, Martha took 5-year-old Bobby, and his 2-year-old playmate to the park, where they inticipated a day of fun and adventure, only they'd soon find out, their plans would change, and not for the the rugrats couldn't talk to the grown ups, Bobby could understand them, just like any other young child and toddler, and on this particular day, Martha was sitting to the side, reading some house cleaning magazine that Didi had lent her, while Bobby and Tommy were playing on the tall wooden play structure in the park.
"Come on Bobby, the evil aliums are at the top of the space station." Said Tommy, as he started to climb the ladder of the giant play structure, pretending it was a space station, with Bobby, following close behind.
"I'm right behind you Captain Tommy, it's the Space Explorers to the rescue!" Said Bobby, as he followed his friend up the ladder to the top of the toy.
Once they reached the top, Tommy and Bobby started moving around in different directions, waving their arms around, as if they were defeating the evil aliens, which were only in their imagination, only appearing as the invisible air around them to any grown up who was really watching the two boys up the top of the play structure from a distance. In the imaginary play, Tommy and Bobby were fighting some evil green aliens.
"You will never take over our planet, you evil alien you." Said Bobby.
"No you won't. Now, you evil aliums, be gone! Be gone!" Demanded Tommy, as he shot a laiser at the imaginary alien.
They continued to battle the aliens, until all of the sudden, Tommy tripped on a bump in the space station floor, and started floating off into orbit.
"Help me Bobby!" Tommy shouted, but it was too late, he was floating away, until all of the sudden, Bobby heard a loud crash.
At that very moment, the imaginary space adventure ended, returning Bobby to the reality of the park on a beautiful sunny day. It then hit him what had really happened. Tommy hadn't floated off into space, in reality, he had tripped on a rock that was up on top of the play structure, falling over the edge, and landing on the ground of the park down below.
"Ow!" Tommy yelled from down below.
"Oh no Tommy, are you ok?" Bobby asked, scrambling down the ladder of the play structure, and running over to his injured toddler friend, who looked to be hurt pretty badly.
Tommy was lying on the ground, face down, his left leg, out at a funny angle.
"Ow! Bobby! My leg! It's hurted!" Shouted Tommy, as he started to whale in pain.
Just then, Martha overheard Tommy's crying, and came over to see what was going on.
"For crying in the mud what happened here?" Martha asked.
"He fell mommy." Replied Bobby, pointing to Tommy on the ground.
Martha got down to examine Tommy, only when she tried to move him, his crying only got louder.
"Now Tommy little mansy, hold still." Said Martha, but it was no use. Tommy was too severely hurt, and there was only one thing left to do.
"Well boys, looks like a g golly trip to the hospital, looks like Tommy's leg might be broken don't ya know." Martha said with a sigh, as she got out her cell phone and dialed 911, as she didn't trust herself to move this injured child, that wasn't her own.
This only caused Tommy to cry louder, which Martha had to shush him up by getting Bobby to cover Tommy's mouth, while she spoke to the operator on the phone, and let them know of their location at the park. Once Martha had finished talking with the operator on the phone, an ambulance arrived at the park ten minutes later, and paramedics put Tommy on to a stretcher and placed him into the back of the ambulance, and rushed him to the hospital, with Martha and Bobby following behind them all the way there in their car.
Once they got there, the three of them were placed into a waiting room, while they waited for the doctor to see them. Tommy sat in a chair, clutching his injured leg, whimpering ever so slightly.
"My leg, it has an owie Bobby, I want my mommy." Tommy whispered.
"Don't worry Tommy, I'm sure everything will be ok." Said Bobby.
"You're right Bobby, I'm sure I'll be ok." Said Tommy, trying to smile, but his leg hurt to much to do that.
Just then, Bobby turned to his mom.
"Mommy, what are they going to do with Tommy?" Bobby asked.
"Well Bobby, the doctor is gonna come, and take a close look at Tommy's leg, and they'll ask some questions about how he got hurt." Explained Martha.
"And then what?" Bobby asked.
"Well then, they'll know how to make Tommy's leg all better. And while we wait, I'd better send Stu and Didi a text so they know what's going on whenever their ice show should end." Said Martha, as she got out her cell phone, and started texting Didi.
A few minutes later, a secretary called them in to see the doctor.
"Tommy Generic, the doctor will see you now." Said the receptionist.
"Oh for crying in the mud, we're the Generics, this is Tommy Pickles, we're only watching this poor child." Said Martha, scooping up the injured toddler, and following a nurse back to where the doctor would meet with them, Bobby, following close behind his mother.
"The doctor will see you now, Tommy Pickles." Said the receptionist, correcting herself, as the three of them disappeared from the waiting room.
A few minutes later, Bobby, Tommy and Martha were in a doctor's examining room, where the doctor came in.
"Hello Mrs. Generic, my name if Doctor Harvey and I'll be examining this young child." Said Doctor Harvey.
"Thank you Doctor Harvey." Said Martha.
"So, what happened here?" Doctor Harvey asked.
"Well, we were at the top of the space station, and Tommy floated off into deep space, breaking his leg." Explained Bobby.
"Well, that's only part of what happened. You'll have to excuse my son, he's got quite a g golly imagination. Tommy really fell off the giant wooden play structure at the park, and hurt his leg." Said Martha.
"Thank you for telling me." Said Doctor Harvey, as he closely examined Tommy, and closely examined his leg.
The doctor put his hands on different parts of Tommy's leg, asking if each area hurt, looking for a reaction from the two-year-old. Finally, upon pressing up against the cast in a spot, a loud whale came from the child.
"Well, I'm gonna take care of that. You're doing great young Tommy." Said Doctor Harvey.
"I think Tommy is doing better, are we finished? Can we go home now?" Bobby asked.
"And miss, getting an X-ray? You don't wanna pass that up." Said Doctor Harvey.
"Oh, I just hope this youngster is going to be ok, and his parents aren't too mad at me." Cried Martha, who was pretty upset at this point.
"Oh, I wouldn't worry mam. These accidents happen all of the time. I'm sure they'll understand. Now, let's go see about that x-ray." Said Doctor Harvey, as he scooped up Tommy, and Martha and Bobby followed close behind.
A few minutes later, they were walking past the x-ray machines. Tommy, looked eager to see what it was, but Bobby, appeared a little bit nervous at the sight of the machine.
"Now Bobby, there's nothing to worry about kiddo, the X-ray machine is just like a camera." Explained Martha.
"That doesn't look like a camera to me. Dad and Uncle Ted's cameras don't look anything like that." Replied Bobby.
"That's because, X-ray cameras, take pictures of your bones, like those." Explained Doctor Harvey, who pointed to some pictures of some bones that were hanging on the wall.
"They're like the dinosaur bones my kindergarten class and I saw at the museum last month." Said Bobby, as he started to imagine he was in an arina, with a bunch of dinosaur skeletons dancing around him.
At this point, a musical number started.
Tom broke his leg,
Tom broke his leg.
It's so sad, Tom broke his leg.
He had to go, to the hospital.
You've got more bones than me.
You've got many many bones.
Tom broke his leg,
Tom broke his leg,
It's so sad, Tom broke his leg.
He had to go, to the hospital,
He's got the broken leg blues.
Just then, Bobby was singing so loud the entire hospital could hear him.
"For the love of corn muffins Bobby, let's tone it down a bit. It's time for Tommy's x-ray don't ya know." Said Martha, as she drug her son away from admiring the pictures of the bones on the wall, and heading into the room, where Doctor Harvey got Tommy set up to get his xray.
Tommy was placed down on a table, where Doctor Harvey covered him up with a special apron.
"Now this special apron will cover you up while we get a good picture of your leg. And now, we'll put your leg right here, so the camera can get a good picture." Explained Doctor Harvey, as he positioned Tommy's injured leg, so the x-ray could take a picture.
Tommy flinched as the doctor positioned his leg, as it hurt to move it.
"For a two-year-old Tommy, you're doing great." Said Doctor Harvey.
"You be a brave litttle space ranger Tommy now." Said Martha.
"You don't have to worry mommy, Tommy is afraid of nothing, right Tommy?" Bobby asked.
Tommy nodded.
"Now, all you need to do Tommy, is lie completely still for one minute. We'll be back before you can count to five." Said Doctor Harvey.
"And you expect a two-year-old to lie still for an entire minute? And I thought my son was the only one around here with a big imagination." Said Martha, following the doctor out of the room.
But Tommy knew he could do it. After all, a long time ago, he sat in time out for a full five minutes at Golden Apple Daycare, surely, this would be easy.
"One, elevendy, sixty-four, two-hundred." Tommy counted in his head, as the x-ray machine took the picture.
"Five!" Tommy thought to himself, just as soon as Doctor Harvey, Martha, and Bobby reappeared in the room.
"So, can we see the picture of Tommy's bones now?" Bobby asked.
"Yes we can Bobby, but we've got to wait for the x-ray to be developed first. In the meantime, I'm gonna listen to Tommy's ticker." Said Doctor Harvey.
"What's that?" Bobby asked.
"A ticker is just a fancy name for the heart." Said Martha.
"I'll use this, to listen to Tommy's heart." Said Doctor Harvey, as he put on his stepiscope, and listened to Tommy's heart.
Just then, Martha felt a vibration come from her pants pocket, so went out of the room, to see if it was a text from Stu or Didi. Meanwhile, Tommy pointed to the stephiscope, eyeing it with curiosity.
"Would you like to hear my heart?" Doctor Harvey asked.
Tommy nodded, and reached up for the ear pieces of Doctor Harvey's stepiscope, so Doctor Harvey put them on to Tommy, and let him listen to his heart. Tommy giggled when he heard it, and at that very moment, Martha and the x-ray technician, came into the room, where the x-ray technician handed Doctor Harvey the picture.
"Good news Tommy, I just heard from your mommy, and she's on her way here." Said Martha.
Doctor Harvey placed the x-ray on to a computer screen, so the x-ray could be easily seen.
"Is that Tommy's leg?" Bobby asked, pointing to the picture on the screen.
The picture appeared to have a broken bone.
"Yep, and it appears that Tommy's leg is broken." Said Doctor Harvey.
"Oh no!" Cried Tommy.
"Oh no!" Bobby echoed.
"But the doctor is going to fix Tommy's leg." Said Martha.
"How?" Bobby asked.
"By putting it into a cast." Explained Doctor Harvey.
"What's a cast?" Bobby asked.
"A cast is like a protective shell that will keep Tommy's leg still while it heals." Replied Doctor Harvey.
"Oh." Replied Bobby.
"So, let's get that cast on to Tommy's leg." Said Doctor Harvey, as he helped the group get back to his examining room, where he got to work at putting the cast on to Tommy's leg.
Half an hour later, a white cast went from the tip of the toes on Tommy's left foot, all the way up to his knee cap.
"How does that feel Tommy?" Bobby asked.
"Heavy, like a rock is on my leg." Replied Tommy.
"I think Tommy finds the cast heavy." Said Bobby to the doctor.
"Are Tommy's parents here yet? I'd like to go over a few things with them." Said Doctor Harvey.
"Let me check." Said Martha.
Just as she was about to open her phone, to see if she had a new text from Didi, she walked into the room.
"Oh my goodness, Tommy, are you all right?" Didi said, running over to her injured child, now wearing a cast.
"Are you misses Pickles?" Doctor Harvey asked.
"Yes, yes I am, and thank you for tending to Tommy." Said Didi.
"It's no problem mam. Now, you should know that we'll need to see him back here in two weeks for another x-ray. He should keep his leg nice and dry, and make sure he plays quietly. His leg needs time to heal." Explained Doctor Harvey.
Didi was just thankful that Tommy, while his leg was broken, was going to be ok. She picked up her son, and gave him a hug.
"You mean, Tommy can't make any noise?" Bobby asked.
Doctor Harvey and Martha laughed before responding.
"Oh no no Bobby, playing quietly means, Tommy needs to play games and do things that won't hurt his leg." Explained Doctor Harvey.
"Well Bobby, I believe we're free to head home now that Didi is here to see about her son. I'm sure Howie, Kelly, Derek and the twins are starting to wonder where we've been all day. Thank you Doctor Harvey." Said Martha, as she scooped up Bobby and started walking out of the examining room.
"And thank you Martha for getting Tommy to the hospital." Said Didi.
"It's no problem, as soon as I heard Tommy whale at the park, I knew something was really wrong, so got him here just as fast as I could." Said Martha.
"Feel better Tommy." Bobby whispered to Tommy before leaving with his mom.
"Thanks." Tommy whispered back.
"Now Didi, we'll just need you to sign these release forms and you can be on your way." Said Doctor Harvey, handing Didi a small stack of forms.
She signed the papers and left the hospital with her son.
Location: Tommy and Dil's home, on the evening of March 8, 2014
Later on that night, Tommy was finally home from the hospital. He was lying on the couch in the living room, his head against a pillow, with another pillow beneath his left leg, to keep it elevated.
"Stu, do you think we should rig up that buzzer we used for Angelica when she broke her leg?" Didi asked.
"No!" Stu shouted.
"But Tommy needs our care." Said Didi.
"And I need my sleep. No way will I go through that again." Stu muttered, as she scooped up Dil, who had wandered through the entry hall at this point.
"Hey Dilly, your brother's home, and I promise, we'll go see the Goober ice show some other time." Said Stu, carrying his youngest son into the living room, and placing Dil on the floor across from the couch where Tommy was resting.
By this time, Didi was in the kitchen, preparing everybody a late dinner, so Stu went in to help, while Dil and Tommy were left alone in the living room.
"Hey Tommy, what happened?" Dil asked, eyeing the cast on Tommy's leg.
"My leg gotted broked, but don't worry Dilly, this cast, will make it all better." Said Tommy, pointing to the cast on his leg.
"Maybe it will make it all better but that won't change the fact that I had to miss half of Goober on Ice." Snapped Dil, crossing his arms and giving his brother an angry look.
"I'm sorry, Dil, but I couldn't help it. I fell off the space station and my leg gotted broked." Said Tommy.
"Fine, I hope it never gets better." Grumbled Dil, as he toddled off into the kitchen.
Tommy so wanted to chase after his brother, and give him a hug, as he felt bad for making his brother have to miss the one show he had been wanting to see for the last bazillion weeks, but when he tried to move, he realized, he couldn't, and it was at that moment, that the reality of it all, hit him. He would be stuck on that couch, until his cast came off, and his brother was mad at him. Tommy then remembered back to when Angelica's leg was broken, only then he remembered, while Angelica's leg was never really broken, his, unfortunately, was.
And how will the long, painful recovery go for our braveliest toddler in the whole wide universe? We'll find out, starting in the next chapter.