Years ago; I'd be guessing if I said 45, my Dad and I were out in the family car, stopped at a red light. While we're waiting for the green, I saw one of my best friends from my class walking in the median of what was a very busy 6-lane road. I called out to him and he turned, saw me, and waved. He then turned around and, without looking, started to cross the highway.
You know how an ice skater looks when they do that spin, crouched down on one skate with the other leg and their arms extended straight out in front of them? That's what Jimmy looked like when he got hit by the first car.
That's right, the first car.
In an instant, a second car hit him and spun Jimmy around the other way. He collapsed, lifeless, in the left lane.
My father, a Captain in the local volunteer fire department, said "OH, S**T!" and leapt from the car, putting himself between Jimmy and oncoming traffic as he began waving his arms. Thankfully, traffic stopped. Of course, we didn't have cell phones back then, so you can only imagine how fortunate it was that one of the people who stopped was a doctor, and this happened directly in front of the hospital where the doctor worked.
I stayed in the car, and I'll never forget the unbridled horror that I witnessed that day. First watching Jimmy get hit, then watching my Dad jump into traffic. I also remember Jimmy not moving; not at all. My 12 year old brain had already convinced myself that Jimmy was dead. How could he not be?
The doctor and my Dad knew what to do to stabilize him (as much as they could) and an ambulance was there within a minute and a half. When my Dad got back in the car, I asked him if Jimmy was going to be alright. Dad, never being one to pull punches, said "I don't know. I don't think so."
Jimmy, however, wasn't dead, and he didn't die. It took many months, but I still remember the day Jimmy walked back into the classroom. He wouldn't be staying, sadly, but everyone was happy as could be that Jimmy was, all things considered, okay. His family was moving to Arizona. You could tell that, as a result of the accident, Jimmy was different. Mentally, as I think back on it now, he was probably 70%.
Well, the other day I was telling someone that story and I got to thinking about Jimmy. I did a Facebook search and a name and face came up. Now, there were other people with his name, but there's only one guy on the planet with a face like that; a goofy grin that, thankfully, the accident didn't erase.
I reached out to him and confirmed that it was him. He graduated high school in Arizona, then joined the Army. He only spent 16 months in the Army, but he didn't say why and I didn't ask. He was married for a time, but didn't mention any kids. Some of the photos on his Facebook page showed a sailboat and palm trees.
The guy lives about three hours from me here in Florida.
I know a lot of people have bad things to say about Facebook, but there's simply know way I would've found Jimmy without it. We're going to get together after those whole Covid nonsense thing is over, and I absolutely can't wait to see my old friend...
