Thursday, September 8, 9:01 PM. Garrett.

Trevor broke his arm today. I think he’ll be okay but I’m not sure.

This morning we decided to explore the land around the farm. Mom told us to be careful and we promised we would be.

We went to the left at the back of the house. As you walk along the creek the ground slopes down that way. There’s a place where you can get to the creek easily. There’s a path there like someone used to drive into the creek or launched boats from there. You can’t drive straight through because the opposite bank is like six feet tall.

The creek is shallow right now. You couldn’t actually boat on it. There’s been hardly any rain the last month. We crossed over on stepping stones. I showed Claire and Trevor how to do it and they followed me. It was pretty easy. Then we walked farther along the opposite bank until it was just a foot or two tall on that side. It was maybe a hundred yards from the house. We spent some time throwing sticks into the water and watching them float down.

Then we climbed up and came out of the woods. There is a big field on the opposite side of the creek from the house. We decided to walk across the field and up the slope to see if we could see the house. We found a skeleton in the grass. Claire thought it was a dog but the arms and legs were really long and I think it might be a raccoon.

We climbed up and up and it was really hot and they were starting to complain. We got up to where we were even with the tops of the trees. We could kind of barely see the house.

We walked straight toward the house and found the top of the bank above the creek. It’s almost like a cliff there and it’s probably twenty feet up but it slopes and there are little trees and I thought we could kind of slide down. I thought it would be quicker and more fun than walking all the way back around again.

So I slid down and it was pretty fun and it wasn’t too difficult. But then when Trevor was coming down he stepped on a rock that looked like it was solid. It gave way. He slid down and tumbled over and landed at the bottom with his arm crossed in front of him. I could tell right away it was broken.

I sent Claire over to the house to get Mom and Dad. It took them a long time to come back. Trevor was crying. I tried to help him keep his arm still. I made a sling out of my shirt. By the time they came he wasn’t crying so bad but then when they got there he cried real hard. They looked at his arm and then Dad carried him back to the house. Then we tried to figure out what was broken exactly. There’s a bump sticking out a couple of inches below the wrist. We couldn’t decide if it was the ulna or radius. Dad tried to push it in place but it hurt too bad. Mom washed his arm real carefully. Dad wrapped it in gauze and then plaster to make a cast. I think he did a good job.

I think Mom and Dad are mad at me but Claire says they aren’t. I feel like they should be. I shouldn’t have tried to go down the steep way. If I had taken us back where the bank is low, Trevor would be okay now.

I’m glad he’s not crying anymore. He says it doesn’t hurt much. Tonight I said I’m sorry and he said, “For what?” I said, “For making you go down that cliff,” and he said, “You didn’t make me.”

I’m glad it was his left arm. I hope it heals back to normal.