Daniel lay on his back on the ice. He did not move. For the first time in his short life, Derek Wentworth feared he may have just gone too far.
“Oh man, Derek!” said one of the boys. “His head is really bleeding, and he’s not moving.”
“Maybe he’s dead,” one of the others said in a panic. “What do we do?”
“I don’t know,” Derek said. He bent down at his victim’s side on the ice. A gooey red puddle had formed under Daniels head—the bleeding slowed by the cold.
“Daniel! Wake up!” But Daniel did not respond.
“I’m gettin outta here,” said one of the boys. The entire group of four, plus Derek, degenerated into pure cowardice. They shuffled clumsily off of the ice and then hit the snow covered shore, running with all of the strength they had, leaving Daniel unconscious and alone on the pond.
HELPLESS
By the time William got out of bed it was already approaching noon. Mrs. Trumble had laid out some winter clothes for him which had been specially bought for the occasion. Daniel had snuck out ahead of him, and William wanted to go find his friend and explore this magnificent estate of his. He hoped it might take Daniel’s mind off of his problems with his parents.
William waited for Parker to arrive outside with him in order to show him where the pond was where Daniel had gone to skate that morning. The temperature remained quite cold even with the noon sun. The pair chugged along through the snow, puffing out steam like locomotives as they went.
They had to walk about three hundred yards from the manor house in order to get to the pond. William spotted the ice and expected to see Daniel cruising around, showing off. Instead, Daniel lay there still and spread eagle on his back.
“I wonder what he’s doing, just lying there?” William said.
Parker took notice of the boy then and stopped for a moment. He called out to Daniel, but there was no response and no movement. Parker broke into a sluggish run through the snow to get to the pond and Daniel. William, realizing there must be something wrong, sprinted for Daniel even faster. He passed Parker and got to the pond first.
Daniel lay there on the ice unconscious with a small puddle of blood around the back of his head. The blood had already frozen to the ice. Daniel’s broken glasses sat on the ice thirty feet away. William began to panic when he saw his best friend’s condition. “Daniel, wake up!” he shouted, but Daniel did not respond to his pleas.
Parker arrived right behind William and immediately shook Daniel lightly to rouse him. When he did not respond, Parker checked for a pulse. He did have a good steady pulse and he was breathing, only unresponsive. Parker examined his head and began to work at trying to remove the icy blood holding him stuck to the pond.
“William, go back to the house as fast as you can and have Mrs. Trumble call for the paramedics.”
William instantly complied and set every bit of athletic skill and strength he had to making it back to the house quickly. When he arrived, William informed Mrs. Trumble of Daniel’s condition and Parker’s request. She trembled while dialing and barely remained composed on the phone asking for emergency help. “I knew something like this would happen someday. That pond is no place for a child to be playing alone.” She kept saying it over and over.
By the time the paramedics arrived and made their way down to the pond to retrieve Daniel, Parker had freed his hair from the ice. He had removed all but the bare essentials of his own clothing in order to keep the boy warm with it. The paramedics brought a portable stretcher to the scene. And once they had placed a neck brace on Daniel and deemed him moveable, they slid a spine board underneath his body and lifted him to the stretcher.
William and Mrs. Trumble watched as the ambulance sped away with his best friend. Parker had gone with Daniel inside the ambulance and promised to call back with information as soon as he had news to give them on his condition. Daniel’s glasses dangled from Williams fingers. The frames were bent on one side and one of the lenses had been knocked out.
“We had better go inside and wait for Parker to call,” Mrs. Trumble said.
“If it’s all right, ma’am, I think I’m going to walk outside for just a bit to calm down.”
“Well, I suppose. But don’t stay out too long, dear.”
Mrs. Trumble shuffled back inside the house to wait by the phone and worry. William, on the other hand, had been thinking. They had supposed that Daniel must have fallen backwards and hit his head while skating on the pond. But when William examined his friend’s glasses, it just didn’t make sense to him.
If Daniel had simply fallen backward the way he had been found on the ice, then his glasses probably would have still been on his face and not in the condition they were now. For the spectacles to be found busted in one place on the frame and lying so far from where Daniel lay sounded like foul play to him.
Daniel had often bemoaned the fact that a certain unfriendly person’s family estate bordered his own. William decided to investigate. If his theory proved right, then mischief was the reason for his friend’s condition and not an accident. As he walked back toward the pond, William whispered a prayer for Daniel.