I have read that there are moments in your life when stuff beyond your control can change things.
My name is Lucas and I can testify that there came that exact moment in my life when EVERYTHING changed.
Not everyday things like when a girl you like smiles at you for the first time, although that will be pretty awesome, or when you get two burgers for the price of one on a Monday……
I mean total change.
Like when Life becomes Death………or Death becomes Life!
I was walking on the main road on my way home from school to save the bus fare. It was unusually empty for 2 o’clock in the afternoon.
Suddenly before my eyes was a near head on collision!
A car was on the wrong side of the road and the smart bus called 'The South Coast Safe Ride' came round the corner and to avoid a smash up of metal and guts, the driver swerved an almighty swerve. My mouth went dry and my heart sped up to a million beats a minute as the car screeched past me and the coach disappeared into the sugar cane right next to the road. The last I saw of it was its ugly undercarriage and 4 spinning wheels up in the air. The green tall cane closed almost gracefully like curtains and then there was the THUMP and I knew that my eyes and ears were NOT playing tricks on me.
I was alone on the road. Totally confused and scared out of my wits, I followed the path of the bus.
I could smell diesel and I could hear a voice, a lady yelling instructions. So I put my eye to a gap in the ripped side of the coach and saw blood and oh my goodness the driver hanging upside down from his seat, bleeding all over the place. His eyes were closed and I just knew he was dead.
Although I heard two women’s voices it was the blood that got me crawling back the way I had come down………..up the steep bank to the road. I was praying aloud as my Grandma, Oumie I call her often did when she discovered another of my efforts to help had gone wrong. If God went to her rescue more times than not, I figured that if I shouted loudly enough he would help me too. I was pretty surprised to find tears and snot all over the place.
She always says God works in mysterious ways and so I wasn’t totally surprised when I burst onto the road from the sugar cane that I nearly frightened a young guy who was ‘taking an emergency leak’ next to the highway. He peed all over his shoes in fright and yelled, ‘Dad, come here,’ in panic.
Well his dad had a cel phone and after a few minutes he too could smell the diesel and saw the newly broken sticks of the sugar cane and thank God who was in the business of answering prayers that day, the driver believed me.
Within 20 minutes the police blue lights were flashing and the ambulance was screaming, just like in the movies, and the policeman and other uniforms followed me down the steep bank to where the driver and two ladies were crawling, damaged and bleeding on the stones trying to get away from the wreck as the smell of diesel got stronger and stronger.
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The fire, when it started spread fast and everything came to life in a rush as medics and police helped the injured and we got everyone to safety on the tar road. There were beacons and lights on the road by then and cars were crawling past with the ‘rubber necks’ almost twisting their heads clean off their shoulders to see what had happened.
The old lady with the red bag saw me and she nabbed me by my arm as her stretcher came past bumping on the rough stones. ‘I saw you peeking in through the gap,’ she was breathing as though she was going to die any minute. What’s your name son? I managed to gasp, ‘Lucas,’ before she fainted clean away.
The policeman saw me and he was the one who had followed me down the bank in the first place and he got, ‘all my particles,’ as they say in the crime books I love reading.
A week later, just when my story about the rescue had fizzled out for lack of evidence,I was called out of class and the same policeman was in the principal’s office.
‘Lucas Pienaar,’ he stood up as I came, scared as a mouse, into Mr Duvenhage’s big office, all fancy furniture and beautiful shiny curtains. ‘I want to shake the man who saved those 3 people from certain death, by the hand.’
I nearly died of shock first and then I felt my face go red with pride.
Mr Duvenhage had a huge smile on his face and also put his hand out and shook me by the hand. Mrs Delport the receptionist lady, who we all thought was the prettiest lady on the planet, gave me a kiss on my cheek. (I didn’t wash the spot for several days after that.)
‘Next week in assembly there is going to be an award ceremony especially for you Lucas,’ explained my headmaster.
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I stared in utter amazement.
‘The mayor is going to make a speech about “going beyond the call of duty”. What is more, the 3 people who you saved want to be there and they will be ok enough to come on Tuesday. We have checked with your grandparents and they can take time off work to come too.’
He beamed at me and somehow I managed to smile back and Mrs Delport cooed and gave me a hug which nearly finished me off especially as the man from the newspaper was there and took a flash photograph which he put on the front page of the South Coast Star newspaper when it came out on the following Wednesday.
One of the proudest moments of my life so far, was when I was lined up on the stage with my headmaster, the mayor, 3 big shots from the local police station me and the 3 people who apparently I had helped save.
The school kids stood up and the clapping seemed to go on forever. My Oupa and Oumie were brought up from the front row and more pictures were taken. I was given a badge of honour which my grandmother, Oumie took for safe keeping before I lost it!
That fuss and huge ‘palaver’ was awesome but what really and truly changed my life was the old lady Violet who had chatted over tea with Oupa and Oumie and discovered that I desperately needed a soccer uniform before I could be considered for the local boys’ under 12 team. She had found out my size and everything that I needed was there in a big fat package……….for me…………..to make my dream come true.
I didn’t know there were tears pouring down my face as I put the beautiful red T
shirt with the picture of a fire breathing dragon on the front up against my chest and I could see it would be nice and long and loose for me. The special red soccer boots with yellow flash were the best thing I had ever been given in my life.
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To top it all there was a brand new, latest style school back pack for me too.
The old lady Violet looking very different from when she was dying on the stretcher came up to me and said, ’we are honoured to meet you properly Lucas. I want you to know that when your team plays next season, I will be there to take you all for giant milkshakes to celebrate. Win or lose,’ she said laughing.
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And so ended the time when everything, I mean EVERYTHING…………..changed.
