2006-11-06 - 3:33 p.m.

Broken finger? Doctor? Mountain stream near Chimney Rock?

I didn't actually break my finger but I thought I did. We all thought I did enough to take me to the urgent care.

About a week ago I damaged my third finger on my right hand (not counting the thumb) while playing football. Spencer threw a perfectly great spiral for him but a bad spiral for me since it caught my finger and pushed it all the way back when I tried to catch it. I didn't even realize it was hurt until I tried to close my hand and I couldn't bend it because it caused me pain. It started feeling better so I didn't think much about it until Saturday when I tried to block a pass that Will threw to James. That same third finger got pushed forward with such force I was sure I had broken it.

I was excited that Dad was taking me to the urgent care because I wanted to see a doctor since I don't remember ever going to one before. I liked the urgent care because they take very good care of you there.

First, we waited for a very long time but they had a TV so we could watch the Carolina game. Carolina played the Arkansas Razorbacks who have mean pigs on their helmets. Then, a nurse took me into my room and felt my finger and I had to pick out a picture from a chart of faces that showed different levels of pain. It started with a smiling face and then each face got worse and more painful looking. It ended up with a face that was in so much excruciating pain that it was drooling. I picked the face in the middle. If they had just asked, I would have told them that on a scale from one to ten I was hurting a five. I guess picking out a face was kind of fun since I had never seen such a thing. Then, we went back and watched some more of the game.

At last a white nurse came and took me to get my finger x-rayed and she kept saying "awesome" but nothing awesome was happening. She put my hand in a certain position and after she clicked the picture she'd say "awesome" over and over and she kind of sang the last part in a cheerful way... "awe-soooome!" She was very perky and chipper.

Then, we went back and watched more of the ball game. After awhile the jolly white girl came back and said my finger wasn't broken but sprained. A normal black girl who wasn't either cheerful or mean or anything wrapped my finger on a splint she cut with some weird-looking scissors. She told us how to care for it and we went home. I never did get to see a doctor.

On November 2 I had my birthday but we haven't celebrated it yet. Mom sliced me a nice pear for my breakfast and she paid special attention to me all day. My chores went by much quicker for some reason. On Saturday she also made me french toast out of granola cranberry bread and it was very good.

Yesterday we went to the mountains for the day. We had to wait for the sun to rise a little so we could see to do the animals. Mom made chicken salad sandwiches and pastrami sandwiches for our lunch, while we did our chores and Sarah milked.

We picked up Ma and had breakfast at The Other Pancake House. Ma eats there most every day and she wanted to treat us. I had a chocolate chip pancake. It has a clump of tasty whipped cream that is drizzled with chocolate on top.

A girl who works there started talking to me. She talked to me, and then talked to her friends, and then they watched her talk to me again. It was like she was trying to hit on me. I had on a western shirt of James that Mom found for me since I outgrew mine. She thought I was a cowboy-- you could tell it in her eyes.

It was exciting to see the first glimpses of the mountains as we got closer. It is a thrilling thing to see them in the distance and the colorful trees were so beautiful.

Once we got into the mountains, our first stop was the farmer's market in Asheville. We ate our sandwiches in the parking lot facing a shop so Ma could eat and shop at the same time.

The farmer's market had all sorts of fruits and vegetables and crafts. Mom bought some Christmas ornaments and some Sourwood honey with some cut comb in the jar. Ma bought ornaments and crafts and cornmeal and whatever she wants. She bought us each rock candy. She's like the rich one and we're like the poorly ones. She spends money and we save money.

After the farmer's market we rode through the mountains and saw cool sights of streams and caves and valleys and bridges... places for great adventures!

When we got to Chimney Rock, Dad stopped at a great place to explore the mountain stream and we jumped from boulder to boulder in the rapids and we saw caves and nature's nooks and crannies. My mind was thinking of books Mom has read to us and I pictured myself in them. One strange thing that confused my imagination was when we saw bamboo growing near Biltmore House. I didn't expect to see bamboo in The Smokey Mountains. It belongs in a jungle or on "Lost" or in South America.

On the way home we stopped and ate at Cracker Barrel. I ordered macaroni and cheese. It had like a fried part in the middle. It must have been the top layer of baked cheese crust-like that got pushed down into it. That's the part I love. It is worth all the soft cheese and macaroni to get to that part.

Today, before Mom read to the older kids, she put on the copper kettle and then I chose hot chocolate. I also had a chocolate eclair. Ma bought me a box of petit fours and a box of chocolate eclairs because I almost broke my finger. That cream inside the eclair is "Yowsa!"

I'm eight years old but I'm starting my ninth year. Will just tried to explain that to me.

I can't write my letters to Mom with my finger in a splint. I guess I'll have to type them. She wants me to practice my penmanship, so I've been writing them with a pen. I'll be in this splint for at least a week, I'm sure.

I am a horrible speller. I want to be a good and nice gentleman with fine penmanship and well spelled words. That's my goal.

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