The Shock of the Fall
In January I started a book club at work. This tells you that I have a job that is relaxed enough that we can discuss literature in a lunch break; as the company would have it “It’s a great place to work”. About the third book we read was The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer. In the story the main character accidentally kills his sibling in a fall on holiday. As a teen the accident prays on his mind and he slowly develops schizophrenia. In essence it’s a book about both bereavement and mental illness and it’s an excellent read.
Last Friday Imogen and I were recovering from the shock of the fall by Albert Goundry; here’s what happened. I was making lunch in our 2nd floor flat and we were going to eat outside in the garden as it was roasting. Imogen had just gone down to the picnic table. I suddenly heard a distraught howling and knew Imogen was hurt. Without a second thought I ran downstairs to discover Immy spreadeagled on the floor with a bleeding knee. It was a fairly superficial cut, but blood is a serious business when you’re four. Just as I was picking her up with reassurance my brain kicked in: open door; Albert; stairs! Carrying a sobbing Immy I ran back inside and up the two flights of stairs. Just as we were approaching the last landing I heard Albert fall and he fell at my feet. He’d fallen down a flight of eight, fairly steep uncarpeted steps.
This was perhaps one of the worst experiences of my life. No one knows how they’ll cope in an emergency, but it turns out I did okay. Reprioritising casualties, I dropped Immy, scooped up Albert and took him into the flat. A quick 10 second check told me:
He was awake and crying
He was moving all limbs
None of his limbs felt broken
His face was intact
I then retrieved the even more distraught Immy back into the apartment. If you ask Imogen she’ll tell you “It was a bit of trauma”. At least all the crying was in one place! Many people would have taken their child to hospital, but I spoke to Abi and I though Bertie was okay. When he’d stopped crying he ate some lunch and then had a nap; cue some internet searching. The thing with searching the internet is you can find anything to agree with your viewpoint; here’s what I found:
Husbandhood: How to react when a child falls down stairs
Post nap he was back to top form and none the worse for wear. We went for a family picnic tea and Albert did a 30m long bum shuffle as if to prove a point.
Personally I can’t help feeling a bit gutted. It feel’s a bit like I’ve failed my parenting/childminder badge just at the end of my probationary period. Nobody thinks that this kind of thing is going to happen to them but thankfully it seems I’ve got away with it. As long as Imogen doesn’t develop schizophrenia in her teenage years!