One of my clients for a road test today was 18 year old Phillip. I get into his car and he informs me that he might have a problem with the steering wheel because 70% of his right hand and arm are severely burned and that he doesn't have any feeling in them. "Do your best" I tell him and we go out for the drive.
"Did you need any skin grafts for your hand and arm?" I ask after a little while and Phillip tells me no, they are 2nd degree chemical burns and that the doctor says that he should start getting feeling in his nerves in a year or two. "How did you get your burns?" I inquire, and thus began a most interesting conversation.
"My buddy and I were making smoke bombs out of black powder. We put some powder into a jar and tossed it into the fire but after 4 minutes nothing happened, so I grabbed it out of the fire. There must have been a hole in the jar because the fire got to it and it exploded. My hand and arm got burned and I had plastic shards stuck everywhere."
"Oh my! It must have really hurt." "Yeah, they gave me Vicodin. They asked if I wanted morphine but I said no. Then the doctor started working on me and I ripped the fabric off the arms of the chair." "You didn't take the good stuff, huh?" I commented. "No."
"Are you on any medications for it now?" "No, not for that. I'm going to the doctor in 2 days to get some more meds for my neck and back." "What happened?" "Well, you know that curve on 68th street? I was riding my moped and there was a pickup truck in front of me and both the front and the back brakes broke and I hit it broadside. I flipped over 3 times and the handlebars of the moped folded in half."
Wanting to change the conversation to a lighter note I ask Phillip if he likes to hunt or fish. He tells me he loves to hunt and has gone hunting in Colorado with his buddy twice. "I bet that was fun" I say. "Well, the last time I went my buddy shot me in the back of the head. We spent the afternoon in the tent with him picking buckshot out of my skull." I respond; "Lucky he didn't have a slug in that shotgun." "Yea, last year one of his friends shot him in his knee with a slug while deer hunting."
"You would think that after his experience your buddy would have been extra careful with a gun." "Well, it was partially my fault. I climbed up the tree." (Don't ask, I didn't)
A minute later I ask Phillip if he has been in any other accidents. "Yea, a few months ago my buddy and I were driving his car over to my garage to work on his brakes. A car stopped in front of us, my buddy slammed on the brakes, but both brake cables broke and we rear ended it pretty good." "Did you get injured?" "I was leaning down looking at some CDs and I hit my forehead hard against the dash. There was blood everywhere." "Did you go to the hospital?" "Nah, we went to my buddy's house and his dad gave me some stitches." Seeing the puzzled look on my face Phillip adds; "My buddy's dad is a doctor."
We get to 28th street near the end of the test and Phillip remarks that his church is nearby. "What's the name of your church?" "Good News Baptist Church." "What's the good news at Good News Baptist Church?" I ask. "What?" "What do they tell you the good news is at your church?" "Huh?" "Good news, like Jesus died for your sins and you can be born again." "I don't really know about that" says Phillip, "I usually have to babysit my stepbrothers on Sunday. They swear so much my Dad doesn't like to take them there."
We get back to the test site, I inform Phillip that he passed, and in his review I mention that for the most part his traffic checks were pretty good but sometimes he seems to lack focus.
"Probably the Meds that I'm on. They do that to me."
Now he tells me.
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