Kirby called on the house phone and asked to speak to his dad. I asked if he was okay. He sounded fine. He said "Mostly okay."
For him to call Keith on one of Kirby's work days meant for sure something had happened. I thought maybe he'd had a fender-bender.
Turns out he was hooking up a computer and got in the path of the electricity somehow. He says it seemed like two or three seconds he had the electricity in him, but maybe it was shorter and it seemed that long. His boss thought it was more than a full second, though. He wasn't burned and his hand wasn't numb, but he said he felt a weakness in his chest.
Then he went out to lunch with friends (their "lunch" is more like our dinner time) and slammed his other hand in the car door, not horribly.
I suggested he might want to take the rest of the shift to go home and sleep it off. I don't know whether he did or not.
The whole thing was exciting and amusing to him. That's because he's not his mom. But I did tell him when I was a kid we used to hold on to the door of our freezer to see who could hold it the longest. We had a cement floor there, and a rubber mat in front of the freezer to prevent shocks in times when the floor was moist from rain or winter (both are rare in New Mexico), so when it was a shocking day, sometimes we kids (nine to twelve or so in age) would move the rubber tug, hold the handle and count.
I had a record player, and a bedroom with a cement floor (my "bedroom" had been a canning room and was half underground). I had a rubber mat there myself, to keep the metal arm that held a stack of records from shocking me, but that one was a small shock.
Anyway, when I was telling Kirby how awful it was for a mom to hear something like what he had called to tell, he said that if it made me feel better, the computer didn't work at all anymore—it was fried. "You should've seen the other guy!" he said, laughing.
Somehow it did not cheer me up.
It's a little funnier today than it was yesterday, but I think I need a few more days and maybe to see Kirby to feel really much better.
8 comments:
Wow, I'm glad he is ok. I know why you aren't thrilled, I hate to see my kids get hurt. It's just a mom thing.
GLAD he's OK! Wow!
Yeah. Hearing the computer shorted out made the amount of electricity seem much larger. It wasn't just a momentary little thing.
Well it was momentary... but you know. :-)
Eek, I'm glad he's mostly okay -- talk about a double whammy, first the electrical shock and then slamming his hand in the door. I hope you'll post an update in a few days.
"You should've seen the other guy" -- that's something my stepson (who's about Kirby's age) would say when relaying a story like that!!
I'm so glad he's ok! That's scary.
tonight I got a call from my boy evan, age 20 and living on his own:
"do you know where the urgent care clinic is on bald hill road?"
"I'm sorry I don't...what's up?"
"ok gotta go, it's nothing mom" and a hang-up.
needless to say, I didn't breathe well for the next hour til he called to tell me he was coming by.
It really WAS no big deal; his girl wanted to get checked for a cough she's had for weeks.
Since my first child entered adolescence and left with friends without telling me, my heart clutches everytime I hear any of their voices on the machine asking for mom in particular. I'm not really a worrier, but that voice on the phone gets to me.
Glad he's okay, that is scary. I got zapped by turning on a garbage disposal one day and it sure scared me. I hate that feeling. I get shocked all the time at the grocery store (when I reach for cans)if I wear the wrong shoes...so I take off my shoe before reaching for something ; ) LOL
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