Slip n' Slides

It was my sister's family birthday party when the unfortunate incident occurred. Since my sister's birthday takes place during the summer all of the kids attending the party always go outside and have a big water fight. We were having a blast with the "water war", but eventually got bored and were looking for something new to do. My parents had the great idea of getting some tarps from the garage and staking them down on the hill to the side of our house.

We all took turns sliding down the slip n' slide and were having a blast...but then the inevitable happened. Most of the tarps were brand new and didn't have any real damage, but one of the tarps had a very minor hole in it about the size of a 50 cent coin. Let's just say I'm not the luckiest person I know. I slid down the slip n' slide head first, water spraying up in my face, a smile starting to form. My hands were leading the way and all of a sudden I heard a ripping sound and felt a slight jolt in my left hand. When I came to a sliding stop I automatically knew something was wrong.

The slight jolt I had felt just seconds before had now turned into a deep, searing pain that was unbearable. I looked down at my left hand and saw something extremely disturbing. My pinky finger was sticking directly out - horizontally. There was a 90 degree angle between the ring finger and pinky finger on my hand. Once I saw this I started shouting in pain and disgust. A couple people at the party wanted to try to "pop" it back into place. Instead of this splendid option, my dad drove me to the emergency room where they would numb it and put it back into place before placing a cast on it. To this day when I see a slip n' slide I always think back to that July afternoon.