Horseshoe And A Red Truck
Jock Pichette

 

It's early morning, in the early fifties, and a bunch of us are bumming school. Jocko of course is the leader, and hates school, but loves sports and action. On this beautiful morning, shaded by a huge Elm tree, Jocko and his three friends are playing horseshoes at Carney's Park, located on St.Patrick Street, just off the canal bank. Jocko's mom who speaks French only, works all day, and his Dad passed away many years ago, so it's easy for Jocko to just do what he wants. On the other hand, Jackie, Maurice, and Andrew have both parents to deal with, and must keep out of sight for the whole day, otherwise, if spotted they are grounded. It would take only a truant officer to inform Jocko's mom, because she speaks French only, while Jocko's buddies parents are English, and for that matter don't associate with Jocko's mom.
 
The horseshoe pit is regulation size, with sand for the shoes to slide into the peg, a wooden frame to keep the shoes from flying out of the pit, shoes of steel and to a certain degree heavy. Jocko's trade mark was his blond hair, always flowing from under his cap in the summer, and tuque during the cold winter months. His blue eye's rounded off his character with a natural tan from his ancestors. With speed of a Jackrabbit, he excelled in sports, and could elude any truant officer, not to mention having the key's to every secret hideout in the neighbourhood. On this day, Jocko would be brought down to his knee's. In anticipation of throwing his horseshoes, Jocko bends down to pick up his pair of horseshoes, only to be smacked right in the middle of his head. The sensation, and sound was equal to breaking a coconut, but unfortunately it was Jocko's coconut. Maurice screams at Jocko, you are bleeding badly, and off Jocko goes towards home for help, blood now filters through his blond hair, and down his face, but of course nobody is home. Without tears, and embarrassed with the situation, he decides to head back towards Bridge Street, where two of his buddies live, and his best friend Tim, just might be around. Nothing doing, so he heads towards Mrs.Miller's, who is Maurice's mom, and Maurice is at the park.
 
It's about noon time, and before he can reach Mr.Miller's front door, two men are coming out from the Arawana Club, a drinking establishment, and see Jocko's predicament, what happen son, I got hit with a horseshoe, one of the men shot back, you certainly have some tough friends son, not really, we were playing horseshoe, when I got hit. Without hesitation these two men who Jocko never met before, grab Jocko's hand, sit him the middle seat of a small red truck, and yell out, EMERGENCY, we have a bleeding boy on our hands, and must get to the hospital immediately. >From an upper window, I could hear Mrs. Miller yelling, I know that boy, be careful. By now, the whole street are watching these two drunks speeding towards Wellington Street and off to the hospital, which is located about twenty minutes away.
To make matters worse, it's lunchtime, and we must go up one of Montreal's busiest Street, Guy Street.
These two men were having a ball, speeding through the tunnel, then missing one light after the other, beeping their horn, and yelling at other cars to get out of the way, we have an injured boy. Ho-ho, the driver yells to his friend the cops are chasing us, and you can hear the siren blaring, what should I do, no problem I will take car of it, keep driving, as the police car nears the truck, the man grabs Jocko's shoulder, pulls me over towards the window, and yells at the officer, its an emergency, we have a boy bleeding badly, and we must get to the hospital before he dies. What are these guy's talking about, Jocko is now scared with half his head out the window Jocko hears the police yell out, follow me. These guy's are now in their glory, three sheets to the wind, and singing Irish songs with a police escort, joking around, telling Jocko, you will be ok son, that's the hospital on the hill. As they approach the front door, the cop car moves ahead, but these two decide to park right at the entrance, creating some noise as the security guards shouts move that truck, sorry Sir, they yell back we have an emergency, this boy is bleeding to death and both grab Jocko's hands and begin once more to yell out loud, we have an emergency, this boy's head is split open, no time for registration, where do we go. Jocko is totally embarrassed, yet he is injured. We reach the emergency ward, not a seat is available, this boy needs help, when a nurse points them towards a room for medication. The nurse informs the men they could wait in the waiting room, see you later son as they tap me on the back, and leave.
 
Jocko is now worried, what will his mom say, when she arrives home later that night? The nurse begins to ask questions, how did this happen?. Are the two men related to you? Meanwhile another nurse begins to shave Jocko's head, x-rays are taken, and now a bunch of instruments are placed on a metal plate, stitches closes up the wound, and a bandage is placed over the cut. Jocko is given some liquids, and donut of some sort. The nurse cleans off all the blood from Jocko's face, and tells him to go find his friends in the waiting room.
 
At this point Jocko is a bit groggy from this episode, with a headache to boot. He reaches the waiting room, but he can't find his rescuers, and worried about getting home. His sweater is bloodied with some stains on his jeans, and wonders how does he explain the blood. Jocko sat in the waiting room, keeping an eye out for the two nice men who took care of him, but nothing. Jocko's only solution is to retrace the route, after all, his little blue eye's could not have been much bigger, when the red truck powered it's way through a tunnel, and up Guy Street towards the hospital. As long as Jocko heads south, he will find his way back.
 
From the steps of the Hospital, he looked for the red truck, but only taxis, ambulances, and cars were parked along the road. Slowly with trembling little legs he crossed the main street, stopping to rest on the church steps. Jocko felt that as long as he stays on Guy Street, he would eventually hit the canal bank, and then cross over towards Carney's park. It took awhile, but he managed to reach the Canal Bank. Rather than walk under the Wellington tunnel, he bravely crossed the feared black's bridge, belonging to CNRail. As he approached the park, an air of maturity surfaced, hoping he would meet, Maurice,Jackie or Andrew and show off his bandage.
 
A sweaty little Jocko snuck through the bars at Carney's park, but none of his friends were around, so he headed towards the Lachine Canal, and the piles of lumber for cover from the heat of the afternoon. The wood piles reached the skies, and not only did they protected Jocko from the hot sun, but also gave Jocko a spot to sit and rest near the water, and recuperate somewhat, before heading to Bridge Street, and meet his friends. Headache now gone, and only the sensation of the stitches to worry about, Jocko was now looking for his buddies as he strolled towards Bridge Street, and the Arawana Club, hoping to find the little red truck, and the two men, so that he could thank them for their help. Maurice was the first to see Jocko coming down from St.Patrick Street, and ran towards him, wondering how things went, of course Jocko, was proud of the fact the he took care of himself. Tim, Andrew, and a few others all congregated around Jocko, a brave little boy who conquered the day.
 
Later that night when all his friends went home, he used St.Agnes Lane to reach home, climbed the backstairs, and hid in the shed until darkness. Once he felt safe about going into the house, he gingerly walked towards the back door, placed his tiny hand through a broken pane of glass, and opened the door. Before getting into his cot, he moved the bottom part towards his mom's bedroom, and slipped into bed, with his head almost to the corner, so that his mom could not see the damage. Jocko's mom was not well, and worked extremely hard and late to pay the weekly rent. Jocko's mom never realized what had happened to Jocko, nor did he tell her.
 
Each day Jocko would saunter over towards the Arawana Club, check the parking lot for that little red truck, and the two strangers, but no dice. Could it be that he met drinking Angels on that day.

 

 

Copyright © 2000 Jock Pichette
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