"Sue-Sue.. She'll Remember!" for (me!) sandra, tvgp
niles blvd. Fremont, ca. oh! the cerebral hyperlinks are too many.. my brother's band.. of course! but, cut to:
because.. Anthony and I.. accidentally went the wrong direction on 84.. gorgeous mistake! breathtaking.. Calaveras drive this time of year..
and eventually, we turned around.. found our correct way to the Florence bar, where my rockstar co-worker friend's band -heartstonerocks.com was performing..
but.. Calaveras... Calaveras...
sue-sue.. isn't this where we rescued the bleeding-everywhere man who crashed his bike? and, was it the very same day, we rescued the senior citizen who was lost?
I know you'll remember better than (me!).. but what I told Anthony
"we completely justified our skipping school that day... I mean, how much more important that we saved lives than sat in a closed room being lectured and tested -write"
"to memories!" cheers friend... comment section reserved for you
love & blessings xoxo
posted by SANDRA HARRISON KAY @ 9:19 AM
4 Comments:
It was one of those days where none of us wanted to go to school. We didn’t know what we were going to do with ourselves, but it wasn’t going to be at school.
We never had a lot of trouble finding adventure. I guess because we were open to it.
This particular day I had agreed to pick up Sandy at her Dad’s apartment complex. When we (Tina and I) got there, Sandy wasn’t ready yet. She asked if I could give her a ride to the 7-11 on the corner for cigarettes. I remember I was a little surprised that she wanted to come along to the store, because she was wearing her favorite “yellow robe”. That was her go-to when she was putting her face on. It was classic! It had makeup smudge marks all over it. Very colorful indeed.
After we left the store, I got an itch to drive onto the campus of the high school across the street. This was extra funny, because Sandy still needed to go back to her Dad’s so she could get her clothes on. If we got stopped for being on campus, it would have been a very interesting situation...especially for Sandy.
I knew we were not allowed on campus, I knew better. I admit, breaking rules secretly entertained me. As long as no one got hurt, what was the harm?
It was quiet. No one seemed to be around. I could see their track. It was prepared with fresh chalk, freshly marked for a track meet that day. The mischievous nature in me was screaming in my head...”DO IT”! So, I did. I jumped the curb and drove onto the track. I began revving my engine and gunning it, fish-tailing my car back and forth.
I saw two men in maintenance uniforms running toward us. They were yelling for us to stop. We all were in-sync...”uh, oh”!
I tried to go around them, pretend that I didn’t notice them...but one of the men jumped in my path...and, as much as I liked to have a good time, I did draw the line at hurting anyone.
The first man was very impatient, maybe even angry with us. He asked me what we were doing there. I said, “We are supposed to be going to an interview, but we got lost”. He wasn’t buying it. I could tell. He looked in the car at my friends. One giggly girl in the back and another, in the front seat wearing only a robe. (It was fairly obvious).
He asked me for some ID. I said I didn’t have any. Then, he yelled to the other man. Saying, “write the license plate down”. I only had a second to think and react...and I did not want him to rain on our parade...I said, “Bye”!
I dropped my transmission down three gears to 1st gear with One quick motion. Sort of a “pop” you might say. I peeled out...and gravel and dust filled the air. We were gone before the man even realized what happened.
We laughed and laughed until we cried. We drove around the block to take Sandy back to her Dad’s so she could get some clothes on.
About an hour later, we were traveling down Jackson Street, when we noticed a man on the approach of the freeway. It was a dangerous place to be for anyone, but this was an older gentleman, very much older. We guessed him to be at least in his 80’s, maybe even 90. Very tall man, but frail. Nicely dressed. He didn’t look like your average hitchhiker. So, we put our rescue hats on and turned around.
As we drove up, he was wondering if we were going to stop for him. He had a kind face. Somehow we felt he needed our help. We pulled to the shoulder, and called the man over. We didn’t want him getting hurt out there on the freeway. So we suggested he get in the backseat with Tina. His name was William. He soon began to tell us his story. He appeared to be in distress.
William began filling in the gap right away. Then I noticed that Tina kept saying my name. She was trying to get my attention. She raised his arm, holding his wrist, and was showing me that he was wearing a wristband. An ID band maybe?
I said, “what does it say”? Tina read the band. It was a care center where seniors live. All of our hearts sank. Oh, no!
William had been telling us that he was trying to get to his daughter’s house. Her name was Janice.
To be continued...
Part 2, continued...
He said he didn’t know where his daughters house was. He couldn’t remember. We offered to give him a ride if he could tell us where she lived.
We had a friend that worked at a different senior care center nearby, so we went to see her for some advice on what we should do.
William began begging us not to take him back. He said we could have all of this...suddenly he was pulling wads and wads of cash (I could see $100 bills) out of his dress coat. He kept saying, “here, you can have all of it...don’t take me back there to that place. Take me to my daughters house? Please! They are mean to me there. I don’t like them! Please, I’ll do anything. Just please don’t take me back there”!
Our hearts were aching for him. We told him if he would tell us where his daughter lived, an address, something so that we could find her. We would gladly take him to his daughter’s house. He said, “It’s in San Mateo, but that’s all he could remember.
We told William we could never take his money, we just could not do that. But, give him a ride to his family? Now, that we could do.
We met ur friend Joyce at her work, & she came to the car & looked at William’s name band. She said she would be right back. She went into her work and called the number on William’s wrist band. When she came back, she said, “you guys, I know you feel bad for this man, but, you have to take him back”.
They are looking for him. Then she told us the address. It was nearby.
William heard us talking and began to cry. He said, “no, please don’t take me back. Take me to my daughter, Janice’s house.” Then he mumbled If he could only remember where his daughter lived”.
I was torn. What if it was true what he said?
We tried to reassure William that maybe his daughter was looking for him. That she would go where he lived, and she might be worried that he wasn’t there. That was the loudest he ever got...he said, “NO! No she would not! “Please”, he said again.
We pulled up in front of the care center where he lived. Two nurses came out to the car. I got out to talk to them...but I could see what William meant. They wouldn’t listen to one thing I tried to tell them. I was concerned & I wanted to tell them that he had all that cash that he was carrying around with him. They kept talking over me instructing William to get out of the car. They didn’t even want to know where we picked him up. They weren’t nice at all. They were scolding him. I said, “are you going to call his daughter to tell her what happened? He wants to see her”.
One of the nurses just moved me out of the way and reached in the car and grabbed William, pulling him out. She said, laughing, “oh, is that what he said? His daughter doesn’t live in San Mateo, she lives in Walnut Creek”.
William kept looking back at us. Saying, “please”!
There was nothing we could do. They wouldn’t listen to us. To them, we were just kids. I felt in my gut that what he said was true, but we were helpless.
Occasionally, it haunts me to this day, all these years later.
We were all a little somber for awhile after that.
We tried to lift our mood, rocking out to our favorite upbeat rock tunes.
We decided to head to our friend Linda’s house. Here, we ran into another friend, Glen & Sandy’s brother Larry. Someone came up with the idea to drive through Calaveras Canyon.
We followed each other like a convoy.
We followed Niles Canyon Road, until we reached Sunol, then we turned onto Calaverous Road.
On we drove, reflecting on our crazy day.
We drove through Sunol Regional Wilderness area, then the canyon began getting tight on the turns.
Linda’s truck gradually got a little ahead of us. As I came around the next turn, I could see Linda’s truck stopped. Then I could see, there had been an accident that must have just happened. It was a bicyclist that had crashed into the side of the mountain. There was blood on the side of the mountain, and the cyclist was on the ground very bloodied & banged up.
To be continued...
Part 3 continued...
His racing outfit was dirty, bloodied and disheveled. We all got out of the car to check on him. Egads! He had bones sticking out of his very bloody leg. We all decided he needed emergency treatment. Not having cell phones back in 1979/1980, we had to act fast. There was no time to drive through to either end of the canyon to call for help, and he needed emergency treatment like Now. He was in horrible pain.
We lifted him carefully into the back of Linda’s truck, then we drove as carefully and quickly as we could. We still had to make it past Calaveras Reservoir. We had quite a ways to go.
What seemed like forever, finally we reached the other end of Calaveras Canyon.
Now in Milpitas, we started searching for the nearest hospital. A passerby told us we were fairly close to Kaiser Hospital. They gave us some brief directions...and we raced (again, carefully) in search of Kaiser. We took the injured bicyclist to the ambulance entrance. There were some Firefighters/Paramedics that we’re there for some reason, and were observing us bringing the injured man to the emergency entrance. Some nurses came out with a gurney, then helped the man into the emergency room.
A couple of the Firefighters stopped Larry (I believe) to ask if they could ask what had happened. When they heard what we did, they said what we did was great! They were proud of us. Some of the firefighters left, and some stayed in the parking lot and chatted with us. They said a lot of people would not have got so involved. They said they thought we were really brave for what we did.
The other firefighters returned and one of the guys told us, he knew we all weren’t 21, but that what we did was very heroic, and they wanted to reward us for doing the right thing. He said he was going to trust and then they put a case of beer (Budweiser I think) in the back of Linda’s truck. And, then he said it again. “We’re trusting you”. “You’re not going to make us regret trusting you, right”?!
We gave them our word. We couldn’t believe they gave us a case of beer.
What a day it had been! We always had some action going on, but this day was an exception. This day was one for the books.
or, shall we say.. "one for the blogs!" /although we had no idea all those years ago..
but, oh, "thank you!!" "thank you!!" so much, -I knew you would remember more details.. and help me out.. and, yes.. it comes back clearer -the entire day
and I just smile.. because, it is very clear.. that while we may not have cared too much about school -we cared very much about people. /so there.
I think that should be the very definition of a higher education, don't you. -anyway,
we should drive it together for old times sake, and soon.. it is gorgeous!
and, I just can't wait for our next coffee tour date.. catch up in person.
love you so much! so grateful.. xoxo
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