I'd like to share something my niece-by-former-marriage did while she was a senior in high school. Good girl, had never cut school previous to this incident. (A couple classes, but never left campus before...)
She decided to go to the beach for the day. Got to a particularly wind-swept, very nicely duned area, parked her car in the public parking area, and headed up a dune. This was a route not advised, as there were wooden slat paths through a low area in the dunes, but she was, after all, ditching school and wanted to be all alone. Write poetry or something solitary. Think about boys. Whatever.
As she neared the crest of the particular dune she had chosen, and her head poked up over the top so she could have seen the bay, a hang-glider came in for a landing. She, having been trudging up a steep slope, had her head down and didn't see this. The out-stretched feet and foot-bar on the hang-glider struck her directly in the chin, bowling her backwards down the dune.
This was a state beach, with a ranger on duty, and a whole class of hang-gliders and an instructor present. She was transported by ambulance to the hospital with a jaw and cheek-bones broken in three places. Her mother gets a call from the hospital ER with the medical condition news and request to respond.
OMG, how did she get a broken jaw? (Remember, it was a school day...) The nurse said, "She was hit by a hang-glider.". At Salinas High School!?!?! "No, at Marina Dunes Beach."
Can you imagine? The very first time you ditch school..... And a hang-glider lands on your face.
She decided to go to the beach for the day. Got to a particularly wind-swept, very nicely duned area, parked her car in the public parking area, and headed up a dune. This was a route not advised, as there were wooden slat paths through a low area in the dunes, but she was, after all, ditching school and wanted to be all alone. Write poetry or something solitary. Think about boys. Whatever.
As she neared the crest of the particular dune she had chosen, and her head poked up over the top so she could have seen the bay, a hang-glider came in for a landing. She, having been trudging up a steep slope, had her head down and didn't see this. The out-stretched feet and foot-bar on the hang-glider struck her directly in the chin, bowling her backwards down the dune.
This was a state beach, with a ranger on duty, and a whole class of hang-gliders and an instructor present. She was transported by ambulance to the hospital with a jaw and cheek-bones broken in three places. Her mother gets a call from the hospital ER with the medical condition news and request to respond.
OMG, how did she get a broken jaw? (Remember, it was a school day...) The nurse said, "She was hit by a hang-glider.". At Salinas High School!?!?! "No, at Marina Dunes Beach."
Can you imagine? The very first time you ditch school..... And a hang-glider lands on your face.
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