It was recess time, AKA the only good part of the day. Well for the most part. It was good when Chloe Barbash wasn't being a pain in the ass or when she was being a pain in the ass when Louise could avoid her. Unfortunately, that was not the case today. Mr. Frond had got it in his head that if kids were fighting or if there was a bullying incident. That the students involved should be forced to spend recess together and "bond." It was a terrible plan. Non surprisingly bullying had actually gotten worse since students were practically literally chained to their bullies. Which was how Louise ended up stuck spending recess with stupid Chloe Barbash. Really it was Ms. Labonz' fault. She was the one who made the kids read "The Bridge to Terabithia" and what started out as a cool story about a strong girl befriending a socially awkward boy. Going on adventures to a magical realm and dealing with bullies. Ended well it ended badly. The ending annoyed the hell out of Louise. It felt like Amelia Earhart all over again. Why was it that every time there was a strong, awesome woman she had to die? Why did it have to involve water so often? Maybe the book reminded her of the incident under the wharf. Under the Mole Hill, under the street of Ocean Avenue. Hell in the sink hole. How close she had come to dying. How she had almost been another statistic. Another story that made somebody cry out in grief. So maybe she had cried a little. Which unfortunately reinforced Chloe's insistence that she was a baby. So maybe she had chucked a giant size eraser at Chloe's stupid head and maybe she had ended up with the ultimatum spend recess with Chloe as part of Mr. Frond's pilot "Bullies to Buddies" or whatever the stupid name was program or spend the afternoon in detention. No way she was going to detention. Besides the fact that she was still in danger of having to join the Thinkgineers. Bob and Linda were really putting their feet down in regard to her getting in trouble lately. Now any time she got detention. Bob and Linda would give Tina and Gene the afternoon off, and she had to do all the restaurant chores by herself. After spending an extra hour and a half at school. Foolishly she chose to endure recess with Chloe. Not knowing how bad it could be. If she had known what she was facing. She would have gladly served detention and done extra restaurant chores for the rest of her time at Wagstaff.
Recess with Chloe meant being stuck with not only Chloe but the other nauseatingly girly girls. The girls who never made history for another other starting MLM nightmares that swindled middle aged woman into selling useless crap under the guise of "contributing to the family's finances." God she was so glad Linda had dodged the oils bullet. In literature girls like Chloe were too busy trying to woo the captain of the football team to die from a rope snapping over a river. Not that Louise wanted Chloe to die. She wasn't a sociopath. She just hated the idea that being adventurous meant being doomed. She had plenty of adventures, plenty of close calls but she always survived unscathed. Maybe she would be the first woman on Mars. The first person on Mars. That would really show Wayne. No, she wasn't interested in space travel. She would do something great, and she would still die of old age.
Recess with Chloe meant glitter, stickers, and talking about boys, and Chloe making fun of Rudy behind his back. That one really hurt Louise's heart. She didn't understand what Rudy saw in that red-headed snake. She wanted to pounce on Chloe and send her down the slide headfirst but if she did that it would be automatic In School Suspension or worse even more hellish recess with Chloe and her minions.
"We should do the Dead Man's Drop!" Abby cried as she finished braiding the hair of a fifth-grade girl who was actually named Meredith Grey.
"Aw we can't do that. Louise is a baby and afraid of doing Dead Man's Drop. She's afraid her stupid hat will fell off." Chloe laughed.
"Um we established that I got over my fear of my hat falling off. I even did Dead Man's Drop and lost my hat, and it didn't bother me." Louise reminded.
"Once you did it once and then never again! Because losing your hat scared you but you are too cowardly to admit it." Chloe snarked.
"Uh I did it once because it's stupid and I only needed to do it once." Louise insisted.
"Oh yeah well prove it!" Chloe demanded.
"I will just as soon as I get back from the bathroom." Louse replied nervously.
"The bathroom? Why are you going to the bathroom?" Chloe demanded.
"Uh because I have to pee. Unless you want me to wet my pants. Because causing a classmate to have an accident is definitely bullying and that might get Miss. Perfect her fist detention." Louise scoffed.
"Just go!" Chloe barked.
Louise told Ms. Labonz she was going to the bathroom. In reality she snuck back into the classroom, she opened Ms. Labonz' desk drawer and grabbed the special, teacher only double-sided tape. She carefully removed her hat; she pulled a piece of tape off the roll and applied it to her hat. Before carefully pushing her hair to the side and returning her hat to its rightful place on her head. She had been OK when her hat fell off, she really had. Except maybe she wasn't so OK. She put the hat back on right away and assumed she was cured. She wasn't, she was still afraid, and she didn't know why. A few days after the incident Bob had told her why he suspected she wore the hat. About how the fire had broken out when he was bringing her the hat. How if he had been home and in front of the grill he would have died. Could have died. He could have died. That was the thing. She was afraid that if she did not have the hat that something terrible would happen. She didn't understand it and she sure as hell did not want her family or worse Mr. Frond to find out. The last thing she needed was therapy.
"Crap! How long had she been gone?!" Was Chloe getting suspicious? She patted her hat down and raced back out to the playground. One of the sixth-grade girly girls was doing Dead Man's Drop when she returned.
"OK Louise! Your diaper has been changed! Now do the drop!" Chloe barked.
"OK but be warned. This is going to be the greatest Dead Man's Drop in the history of Dead Man's Drops!" Louise declared.
"Recess is almost over!" Chloe sang.
"OK here it goes." Louise said as she hoisted herself up on the bar. She sat down, crossed her arms over her chest, and dropped.
"Hang on your hat didn't fall off." Chloe observed.
"Yeah, because it fits me perfectly. Because it was made by my mother and not an idiot mouse like Cinderella's glass slipper." Louise rebutted.
"Hang on Jeremy was going to the bathroom around when you allegedly went, and he said she saw you in the classroom. In Ms. Labonz' desk. I told him that was impossible. Because you were making mommy proud on the potty. Well maybe I was lying. Because you were lying and maybe you were getting the strong double-sided tape from Ms. Labonz' desk. Maybe you were tapping your stupid hat. Because you ARE afraid of your hat falling off. Because you ARE a baby." Chloe tormented.
"Oh, please Jeremy is out to get me since the science fair. He's lying. I was peeing and if there were a legal way to prove it I would." Louise insisted.
"Oh yeah?! Well prove it! Do it again but no stalls this time! Do it now or be a baby forever." Chloe insisted.
"Fine!" Louise snapped once again hoisting herself up on the bar again she sat, again she crossed her arms, again she dropped. This time had a very different ending. An ending that while it only lasted seconds seemed to play out in slow motion.
"Ah-hah!" Chloe cried yanking the hat off of Louise's head.
"What the?" Louise gasped, feeling the hat be yanked off of her head. She was dropping but the hat was taped. She attempted to flip herself upward. In doing so she inadvertently stretched her legs. She was falling! It was only a few feet, but it felt like she was falling miles. She arched her back and tried to grab the monkey bar. Big mistake. It was too late to grab anything. Why did she have to go on the high bar? With her back still arched, her body hit the ground with a heavy thud. She must have it a rock or piece of concrete leftover from when before the school cared about student safety. A sharp pain radiated from her mid back upwards.
"Oh shit!" Chloe cried.
"Meredith! You are named after a doctor! Be a doctor!" Harley cried.
"Chloe! What did you do!" Jessica gasped.
"I am named after a doctor I am not one!" Meredith hissed.
"She killed Louise! That's what she did! She's a murder!" Millie screamed.
"Not dead just injured." Louise replied weakly.
"Oh no! Louise! I picked the wrong day to forget my inhaler!" Rudy wheezed.
"That is not good" Wayne commented.
The bell signaling the end of recess rang but half the school was seemingly not returning to their designated classrooms. Instead, they were gathered around the monkey bars. It wasn't technically Tina's hall monitor period but part of the hall monitor code was always making sure that rules were enforced at all times. She knew she was obligated to tell a designated authority figure. Except all the designated authority figures were rushing over to the monkey bars.
"What the heck?" Tina thought. Curious she turned and ran to the monkey bars.
"She's down! Call 911! Somebody get Nurse Liz!" Ms. Peters, the fifth-grade teacher called.
"Rudy's having an asthma attack! Get help for him too!" Mr. Frond cried.
"Somebody get her siblings!" Ms. Labonz ordered.
Woah 911? Somebody must be hurt really badly! Tina felt terrible for the injured party, and they had siblings? She could not imagine how she would feel if one of her siblings were seriously hurt in a playground accident. Well, it turns out she did not have to imagine. Because it was Louise lying crumpled on the ground! Her sister was the injured child!
"Back off! Give her air!" Nurse Liz cried.
"She jumped! I saw her she jumped!" Chloe insisted.
Tina's stomach dropped. Somehow, she did not believe Chloe's story.
Gene ran around in circles on the back of the playground. The bell had rung a while ago, but he had a massive geography test next period. A massive geography test that he did not study for. He needed to throw up and fast. Recess was over but nobody was calling him inside. That was unusual. Usually, Frond was practically dragging kids inside if they were lollygagging even ten seconds past the recess bell. He wasn't even the only kid still on the playground. Everybody was still outside. Heck some teachers were actually coming out! What on Earth was going on?
"GENE! Come on! Something has happened to Louise! They called an ambulance!" Tina cried, practically dragging him towards the crowd around the monkey bars.
It was a typical day at the restaurant. Business had picked up slightly since Jimmy Pesto had inexplicably closed down and seemingly disappeared without a trace, but they were still underperforming. It was lunchtime and only a couple of tables were occupied. Teddy and Mort were at their usual seats at the counter. Bob was behind the grill and Linda behind the counter. Bob was terrible about leaving his phone upstairs. So, it was Linda who would receive the unfortunate call. Her phone hummed and she excitedly yanked it out of her pocket. Expecting it to be Ginger who tended to call around this time as it was when she typically took her lunch breaks. Except it wasn't Ginger. According to the caller ID it was Wagstaff calling. Linda sighed and pressed answer. Wondering which kid was in trouble this time and what they had done. She prayed it wasn't anything too serious. Not knowing how she would soon be yearning to be told her child was simply facing disciplinary action.
"Hello this is Linda Belcher."
"Linda this is Patty Selbo from Wagstaff, and I am afraid I have some bad news regarding your daughter Louise."
"What did she do now?"
"Linda she isn't in trouble. She's been in an accident on the playground. She is being transferred via ambulance to the hospital."
The older Belcher siblings raced back to the monkey bars. Teachers were dispersing the crowd. Ms. Jacobson and Ms. Twitchell were shooing their respective classes back into the school but neither dared say a word to Tina or Gene. The Belcher children were known for their close bond. Everybody knew trying to separate them would be a futile attempt. Tina fell to her knees beside Louise. While Gene hung back slightly resting his head slightly on the side of an unusually concerned Ms. Labonz.
"Tina?" Louise called weakly.
"I'm here." Tina assured.
"It hurts so bad." Louise sobbed.
"Where?" Tina asked.
"My back the whole top of my body actually." Louise confessed.
"So, your legs don't hurt. That's good. At least." Tina replied.
"Tina I can't feel my legs." Louise confessed.
