It was the weekend, and I was watching our daughters while my wife ran errands. I decided to work in the yard of our new home while Fawn, the eight-year-old, pushed her three-year-old sister, Taffy, around on her tricycle.
While I kept a close eye on the girls, at one point I lost sight of them. I began to look for them right away. Then I noticed two neighbors walking up the hill. One was holding our crying eight-year-old's hand, and the other was pulling the tricycle. I identified Fawn as our daughter, and the neighbors explained that her younger sister had been badly injured when the runaway tricycle crashed into a fire hydrant at the bottom of the hill near our house.
Another kind neighbor, not recognizing the children, had bundled Taffy up and rushed her to the emergency room of the nearby hospital. I went there immediately. The medical staff met me with a bleak prognosis. Although they were still assessing the situation, the doctors said a gash in Taffy's head indicated that she might have a fractured skull. Several teeth had been knocked out, her face was badly wounded, and they were concerned about possible brain damage.
