Danger in the Autumn Leaves

                                                    "Danger in the Autumn Leaves"

The weather was typical for this Northeastern part of the United States. A cool breeze that began in early September often blew the multi-colored leaves off the trees. The air was dry and it allowed the children to rake those pretty leaves into piles. This weekend was especially nice for the children because it started their Thanksgiving week off; there would be no school for the remainder of the coming week.

A few of the younger children played in the leaves and that frustrated the older children as they tried to maintain the piles in their "work areas". Several piles appeared throughout the yard. Neighbors came out with their children and decided to make their own piles. Before long a row of homes along the rural part of the county had piles and piles of fallen leaves all over their yards. Eventually even the older children gave up raking and began playing.

One yard had so many piles that they stretched out to the edge of the road. The children ran from each pile and dove into the leaves, playing tag. Robert liked hiding in the leaves. He would cover himself just enough not to be noticed by the others. When another boy or girl dove into the pile, Robert would surprise them by jumping out and they loved this much excitement. The children would tidy the piles up and start over. Robert would play along until they were too busy to notice and then he would hide again in a different pile.

Of course this took a lot of energy out of the children. They stopped to get a drink, go to the bathroom or sit along the side of their driveway to watch but would rejoin the rest when they wanted to play again. As cars passed by they slowed down to be safe, avoiding the children running around in the yards from house to house. Quite a while went by and no one had seen Robert jump out of a pile so they thought he went inside for a break.

Katie had been walking down the street and saw the children playing. She didn't know them well enough to join them. She was a few years older than they were. As she passed Robert's house she could hear the sound of moaning. She paused for a moment to determine where the sound was actually coming from. The sound grew louder and she stopped. Immediately she looked down at the pile of leaves nearest to the road.

There, in that pile of leaves was Robert! He had been run over by a car. The driver probably didn't realize a child was in those leaves. The children didn't realize that Robert was trying to call for help because they were making enough noise that they could not have heard him. But Katie heard him and began scooping the leaves away. Frantically she called for help and the others came running towards her, still not knowing that Robert was in that pile! Robert's parents came outside to see what was wrong. His mother ran back inside and called 911.

Without Katie's help, Robert may have died that day but was given "a second chance" to live. Every time I saw Robert at school he would tell me to thank my sister for him because without her help he's sure he would have died in those leaves.

P.S. This is a true story.