Epilogue
During recesses there were nearly always a few students gathered near one of the large brick planters. They were all learning how to use triangular bandages. the favorite use at least for several of the boys was to tie them over their mouth and nose and calling out, "this is a stick up," while pointing their fingers at someone else. But they did learn a few other things.
The school board representatives that were sent to help monitor the play ground during recess and to watch the young first responder in action to note of these activities, learning a thing or two as they watched and one of them even asked young Jenny why she was teaching other kids how to use the triangular bandages.
"My Daddy told me that some of the boys that were being mean were jealous of me. I don't want that to happen again. Every body can do this kind of thing if they want to learn," Was Jenny's answer.
A couple of months latter the school board had managed to work with a pharmaceutical supply company and each student was presented their own first responder kit. It was nothing really spectacular just a small plastic bag with a triangular bandage, made from plain cloth no colors or prints on them, a gauze pad and half a dozen adhesive bandage strips (generic Band-Aids).
Some students kept them in their pockets like Chris Desoto, some put them in their desks, others in their back packs and yet others never remember what they did with theirs.
Still something stuck with them. The day two children were swinging from their knees on the monkey bars and managed to collide hitting their heads and breaking open a gash in each of the girl's foreheads several students knew what to do.
Before anyone even thought to call for Jenny four students went into action, two of them even had their first responder kit on their person at the time. When Jenny did arrive she found that both of the girls had pressure applied to their wounds but wasn't able to hide the giggle at what she saw. One boy had just placed the whole kit, plastic bag and all, over the wound and was holding pressure bringing the bleeding under control quickly. The other person had pulled the gauze pad out of her kit and was holding pressure but she hadn't taken the paper wrapper off first.
Still some how Jenny realized that the goal was achieved and the bleeding was under control on both girls. Both patients knew what had happened and their name and neither girl was crying any more so Jenny suggested they be taken to the nurse's office. Two students on either side of the two that were injured and Jenny led the way holding up her nurse pass as teachers moved back in awe that any student could learn how to handle an emergency not just the children of a paramedic.
The school nurse was quick to replace the used kits for each student and stories of students helping students started coming in all over the district. At the school the DeSoto children attended more and more of the students felt comfortable when a student was injured. If they suspected a broken bone they still sent for Jenny and her bag with the newspaper splints, and colorful bandages, then they sent for a teacher.
Children were still mean to each other, children still got bullied, and children were still hit and abused at home but a force to help each other was started. Some schools tried harder to match the colorful triangular bandages Jenny was known for. The TV news even covered an event where the children of one school got together at an afterschool gathering and tie dyed their plain ones. Jenny just sat on the living room floor in front of the TV and laughed and her parents laughed with her.
They also cried with pride, the world had become a little be better in their neck of the woods and their little girl was part of the reason for it.