The idea was we would go to Target. The boys and I. We have the pool at the gym to swim but we wanted to get a slip n slide and/or small pool to play with with Stella. We would come home and frolic in the water with our puppy and look just like a puppy chow commercial right?
Oh no. No slip n slides that were less than $40 (give me a break!) no plastic pools that Stella wouldn't pop and that Dom wouldn't kill me over. "$30 on a plastic pool for a dog!" I could already hear that! No no way.
We had limited funds to work with. Joseph wanted a toy chain saw.. Derek wanted a lego. I reminded them birthdays were coming. Derek was pretty cool but not Joseph. He began crying and carrying on. It was murder. I reminded him he had a birthday coming. Oh no. So finally I left him in the toy area to cry and scream and pretend I had no idea who that child belonged to I mean he doesn't look like me, you can't prove anything... I mean we headed off to the candy section as I wiped his tears away and promised him any candy he wanted as long he shut up I mean he could even eat it in the store....I am that kind of mother...candy will help. I am over by the candy section and the boys are looking at some shovels that look like cows(?) and I hear a crash. I think "what have they done now?" and here they come running to me. I say "What did you do?" and Joseph is shaking his head fiercely "nothing mama" and climbing into my lap. Derek comes and says "There is a lady on the floor over there"
"Did you knock her out?" I ask "NO she just fell" he says. I head that way thinking she'll be getting up. She won't still be on the ground. Nope there she is laying on the floor. I can't see her face but I am running through every CPR and first aid class I have ever had expecting to see her passed out not breathing, bleeding something! Thinking of all that needs to be done. I get to her and she's just looking up at the ceiling as if there were stars up there.
"Are you ok?" I asked
" yes" she said "I fell out of that chair" and she wasn't making any attempts to get up. So I am quizzing her. Where are you? Who are you with? Are you dizzy? Have you eaten today? Smile for me. Does anything hurt? Where do you live? All the stroke questions. All the heart attack questions. She seemed to be doing ok. BUT making no attempt to get up.
A Target employee walks but but does not stop. Hello lady on the ground? Should you stop? Other people walk by and do not ask if we need help. Finally I get her to sit up. She looks into my eyes and says "Are you a nurse or a doctor or a teacher? What are you?" I was struck by this. (I told Derek later I should have said "I am an angel" and blinked my eyes sweetly but I wasn't thinking) I told her I was just a mom helping her out.
I don't know how long we sat there talking. Me looking for signs or symptoms of something more being wrong. I didn't see anything. She had her grandson so I didn't want to send her off if she wasn't ready. I talked to him and he seemed perfect fine that granny was on the floor. I couldn't smell any alcohol on her and I she said she wasn't on any medication. We finally got her up moving pretty slow and she hugged me and thanked us for the help and we were off. It left me with a sick feeling in my stomach for the rest of the day. Hoping she really just fell and was going to be ok and it wasn't a sign of something more. Hoping I did the right thing.
I wish I could say that was the end of this story. No it's not. We went to three other stores and could not find a pool. (We didn't find any ladies on the ground either, which was a good thing) Could not find a slip n slide. Each time Joseph was brought to tears and general unhappiness. So much unhappiness. Derek would not be quiet about what a disaster it all was. Then Joe spilled his root beer and complained that he could not believe what his family was doing to him. This made us laugh but made him more unhappy.
It was not the trip I planned. We are not frolicking with our puppy by the pool but maybe I helped someone that needed it and that was the purpose of the trip after all.
I wish you a good day.
4 comments:
You might want to try Van's. Whenever I can't find what I need/want, Van's always has it. They should at least be able to help you with the pool.
Thanks Monica, that was going to be my suggestion too. Less that $14, low enough for a puppy, enough water to satisfy two hot kids! Van's @Grantline and Tracy Blvd.
What a shame about the lady in Target, hard to believe that no one else stopped to help. I'm glad that you were there for her.
As for the slip and slide, do you have an old tarp and a soaker hose? It would be great fun for the time being and of course, once the kids got tired of it, you'd have a hose and a tarp still!
We've been using a tarp & sprinkler for the past couple weeks. I laugh so hard just watching them. There's always a 2-3 girl pile up at the end. We've been calling it the "Poor Man's Slip N Slide".
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