| "Jack. Jack. Heeeelp." Daniel screamed from his bedroom. |
| Jack immediately jumped out of bed and raced into the lads room. The room was illuminated only by the small lamp on the bedside table and his heart almost stopped as he saw his thirteen-year-old Daniel sitting up in bed with a huge red splotch on his nightshirt. The lad was clutching at his chest with an equally red hand and had tears running down his face. |
| "Oh God. Daniel, what happened to you?" Jack asked. |
| Daniel just shook his head as he gasped and spluttered, clearly in a total panic. |
| As Jack grabbed Daniel's cell phone from the cabinet next to the bed he said, "Just you hang on, you hear me? I'm phoning 911 to get the paramedics on their way." |
| As soon as he'd been assured the paramedics were on their way Jack hurled Daniel's phone back onto the table and lay the boy down so he could examine him. |
| "It's OK, Danny. The paramedics'll be here soon. Now let me have a look at you, maybe I can help before they arrive." |
| Danny clamped his eyes closed - he was too frightened to see the damage under his nightclothes. |
| Jack kissed Daniel's forehead and unclasped the boy's hands from their death-grip on the nightshirt, grimacing at the red stickiness he found they were covered in. Carefully he lifted the shirt up until he could see the affected area and gently he prodded the area, covering himself in the red goo. Frowning as he did so, Jack was baffled when he found no wound, just lots and lots of sticky red… |
| 'Hang on,' thought Jack. 'There's something strange here.' |
| Lifting his fingers to his face Jack sniffed suspiciously. 'Not blood then,' he thought. 'Thank God…but what is it?' |
| "Hey, hey. Don't worry, it's all OK, Danny," he said, stroking the boys hair. |
| Without startling the frightened boy, Jack patted the bedding around where he lay, looking for some foreign object that could have created such a mess. |
| Sure enough after only a couple of pats Jack felt something thin and hard under the comforter. Reaching under the cover he pulled out the item and found it was a shattered Bic. |
| Lifting it to the light so Daniel could see, Jack stroked the youngster's face and softly asked him to open his eyes. |
| After a moment the slightest glimpse of blue appeared in Daniel's left eye. When his gaze fell on the pen the eye popped wide open, followed immediately by it's comrade. |
| "P…p...pen?" he stuttered. "N…n…not gonna die?" |
| "Yeah Danny, pen." Jack agreed. "And no, you're not gonna die…but you are gonna be in BIG trouble when the paramedics arrive. I'll phone 'em and see if I can put 'em off but they might have to come anyway just to be certain I'm not lying about you being OK." |
| "Jack?" |
| "Yeeeah," |
| "I'm sorry. I just woke up, and there was all that…well…well, I thought it was blood. And my chest hurt…and…and I guess I just panicked. I'm sorry Jack, really I am." |
| "Danny, Danny. It's OK. Thank God it was only pen. I almost died on the spot when I saw you sitting there like that. You must have dropped the pen when you were doing your homework earlier. I reckon you must've laid on it during the night and it broke. Maybe your chest hurt from where you were lying on the wrecked plastic. There's no broken skin but I can't guarantee you're not gonna have a bruise there tomorrow. How's it feel now?" |
| Danny thought for a moment. "Actually…actually it's OK. Jack?" |
| "Yeah Danny." |
| "I think I need a shower!" |
| "You're not wrong there, Sport. Tell you what - you go get clean, and I'll try and call off the paramedics." |
| "Jack?" |
| "Yeah, Danny." |
| "Thanks Jack, and…and I really am sorry." |
| "I know, Sport. Now - go wash!" |
