Accidental Hero Ch. 01-04

"What's your phone number? I'll call them and let them know you are safe and helping us in our accident investigation. I'll drive you home when we're done."

"Oh ... okay."

We went over to his car and he made the call. In a real calm voice he said where I was and that I was helping him with his investigation into an accident. I could just imagine my mother wondering what the heck was going on and asking a million questions. I saw the policeman smile a couple of times, so it wasn't all bad.

He explained what had happened and wanted to take my statement while it was still fresh in my mind. I guess Mom asked to talk to me, so the constable handed me his microphone.

"Ian, are you alright? You weren't injured in the crash, were you?"

"No, Mom. I wasn't on the bus when it happened. I just got some of the kids who got off with me out of the way so they wouldn't get hurt."

That seemed to calm her down and I handed the microphone back to the policeman.

We sat in his car while he wrote down what I told him. We went through what happened just as I saw it and I could see him nod and write down most of what I told him. I mentioned Mrs. Davidson and using the two-way radio, checking on the kids and then checking on the car driver. It seemed like he wrote down almost everything I said.

"You've had quite an afternoon," he said with a smile as he closed his notebook. "How old are you?"

"Twelve, Sir."

He shook his head. "Son, I know people in their thirties and forties who wouldn't have had the presence of mind to do what you did. Your parents can be very proud of you, and I'll be the first to tell them. Now, let's get you home."

I'd never ridden in a police car before and my eyes were constantly flicking around, looking at all the stuff he had in it. The police car was way different than my dad's car. He had a couple of radios and bunch of other stuff that I couldn't figure out what they were for.

We pulled up in front of my house and I could see Mom and Dad looking out the window. The policeman walked me to the door and introduced himself to Mom and Dad. We all came in the house and he talked to them about what had happened.

"I don't ever recall a youngster of Ian's age being so composed and effective in a crisis situation, Mr. and Mrs. Dunlop. From the time he got the youngsters who'd alighted from the bus out of harm's way, until he went through the bus, helping both the driver and the other children, keeping things calm. Then he identified a serious situation with the driver of the car and radioed it in. There wasn't another thing he could have done that he didn't do. You can be very proud of Ian."

I didn't know what to say, so I just stood there, looking at Mom and Dad as they beamed with pride.

"Thank you, officer Dupuis. We are very proud of Ian," Dad said, putting his arm around my shoulder while Mom kissed me. Uhhg!

"He told me he thought he would like to take a first aid course so that if he was ever in this situation again, he'd know what to do. I can guide him in the right direction. He's a little young for a full-fledged course, but I'm confident we can give him the basics for now until he's old enough for a complete first aid certificate."

"Thank you, officer," Dad said again, holding out his hand. "I'll make sure he finds the time to take that course. It's a very handy thing to know, even around the house."

The officer said goodbye and left, with me heading for my bedroom to get ready for dinner. I looked at the clock and saw it was almost seven o'clock and I'd missed dinner.

"Mom, can I get something to eat? I'm starved."

"You can have anything you want, Ian, but I have some beef stew on the stove and I know that's one of your favourites."

"Yeah ... that's great." Life was back to normal, or so I thought.

Chapter 2 Girls aren't so icky after all

The next day at school, the principal came on the PA system and announced that the school had a hero amongst us, and he named me. Me? A hero? No way. Mr. Ullman went on to say that I had remained calm and aided in the rescue of Mrs. Davidson and the driver of the car, as well as the kids on and off the bus. Remained calm? That didn't happen.

Well, that set off another round of nice-goin's and attaboys from the kids, just like the last time. Mr. Ullman gave me a letter to take home to my parents, and it said I had done something very courageous and my parents should be very proud of me. They already knew that because Constable Dupuis had told them what I'd done. Anyway, I was famous again ... and that got me another kiss, this time from Mrs. Davidson when I visited her in hospital. She wouldn't be there for long, but she wouldn't be driving the bus for a while, either.

I felt about ten feet tall, even though I thought it was all kind of phoney. I was no hero, I was a scared kid. I just did what I could ... and that wasn't much. But it didn't matter what I said, everyone thought I was, so I had to live with it. Tough! Kelsey Barnes came by my room and said she just knew I was going to do something special. She just knew it! Yeah, sure.

~*~

Constable Dupuis stopped at our house and gave my mother some information on a first aid course that I could attend. It wasn't the real grownup version, but it was designed for "young people and seniors" to learn the basics on how to help people who were in bad situations. He gave Mom a book that told all about what I needed to learn, and I spent a couple of nights reading all about what I should do if such-and-such happened. I didn't know how I would be able to remember all this stuff ... especially when I remembered back to when I was on the bus and how scared I was. Anyway, I promised Mom and Dad I would study the book and learn as much as I could. I didn't know when I would ever get to use any of this stuff, but I made a promise to myself that I would learn everything in the book, and I tried to keep that promise.

~*~

I passed my thirteenth birthday and I was now officially a teenager. I didn't feel anything like my sister Danielle did when she was that age. As far as she was concerned, she was now grown up and didn't have to listen to some kid ... especially me. Well, now I was thirteen, so I didn't have to listen to her lord it over me all the time.

Danielle and her girlfriends were now in grade eleven at Mountainview High, and she was trying out for cheerleader. No way she was going to be a cheerleader. I would never hear the end of it if she accidentally got picked. So, guess what ... she got picked. Rats!

Strange things were happening to our bodies, too. Danielle suddenly had boobs. Not real big ones, but you could tell they were there. She made a big production number out of moving up in bra size, not that I cared. But I did notice more about the girls in grade nine and the ones I saw in high school. Somehow or other, girls weren't so icky anymore. Not that I went out on dates with any girl. I wasn't that interested, but I did notice some of the pretty ones ... like Kelsey Barnes.

My body was changing too. I was a lot taller and I had more muscles now. I wasn't the biggest kid in class; Chug and Pigpen were the title holders. But I wasn't the shrimp or the skinny dork I used to be. I also noticed I had hair growing near my penis. I didn't expect that, but when I was in the locker room getting changed for PE or soccer, I noticed I was one of the few kids who did have hair there. And I also noticed I wasn't the smallest in the dink department either.

Now it's not like I went around checking all the guys out, but when you're in the shower it's not hard to sneak a peek at the other guys and see how you compare, right? So, maybe I was going to be normal, like other grownup guys. That was a big relief.

~*~

When I got to high school, Danielle had already graduated and was going to some school where they taught women how to type and take dictation and stuff. Mom had taught her how to cook, but I'm glad I didn't have to eat what she cooked very often. She wasn't very good at it. I felt sorry for the poor slob she married. He'd probably starve to death.

By the time I turned fifteen, I was definitely interested in girls. Mom taught me how to dance, even before they made us take dance lessons in PE last year. Dad said Mom was a real good dancer and I should learn from her, so I was okay with that. Now I could take some girl I liked to the school dance and not embarrass myself. But deciding who to take meant I had to ask someone first, and that was a real problem. I wasn't the most confident guy around girls, so I didn't know quite what to do.

Chug had a partial solution for me.

"Just go stag and pick one of the girls you like from the ones who go by themselves too," he said.

That sounded like a sensible solution, so I agreed and we went to the next dance by ourselves, bragging to each other about the hot babes we would pick up that night. Yeah, right! When we got there, we sat up in the grandstand and looked the situation over. I didn't see any girls that were there by themselves. They were all in bunches of three or four or more, talking to each other. As a matter of fact, when I looked around, most of the guys who didn't have a date were doing the same ... just like Chug and me.

I didn't know what to do, but Chug was elbowing me in the side, commenting about some of the unattached girls.

"Check the jugs on Mary Jean Rappaport, Soup. Wouldn't you love to get your hands on those?"

Chug wasn't the smoothest guy to hang out with, but we'd been friends for years, so I'd kind of got used to him. Anyway, we were sitting up near the top of the stands and Chug was offering his fairly crude comments about the various girls as he eyeballed the possibilities. I wasn't really paying much attention, just watching some of the kids on the gym floor, dancing, or what they thought was dancing. I knew I could do better than that. Mom made sure of it.

Anyway, low and behold, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a girl heading our way and when I looked up, I realized it was Kelsey Barnes. Now Kelsey had grown up along with us and I guess I hadn't really paid attention to just how grown up she looked, but she was looking pretty good to me.

"Hi, Ian. Would you like to dance with me?" she asked, bold as brass.

"Uhhm ... uh ... yeah ... sure," I finally managed, standing and nearly tripping and falling down two or three rows of benches.

Kelsey held out her hand and I took it and we walked down the stairway to the gym floor and out with the other kids. It just so happened that the music was fairly slow, so I held my hands and arms in the position my mom taught me and Kelsey stepped right into them. It took a few seconds before I found the rhythm of the music and we began. I don't think I even looked at Kelsey's face for the first number. I was watching my feet to make sure I didn't step on her toes.

By the second tune, I was a little more confident and could look up to see where we were going. Kelsey used to be taller than me, but not anymore. I was at least three inches taller. As the second tune ended I wondered if Kelsey wanted to stop, but she didn't act like it, so I stayed with her, looking around to see who else was out on the floor. Most of the kids were older ... like grade eleven or twelve. Some of them were dancing real close. I didn't dare. I knew what might happen.

"You're a good dancer, Ian," Kelsey said with a nice smile.

"Thanks. My mom taught me. You're a good dancer too, Kelsey."

"Thanks," she smiled, "My dad taught me as well as my mom. Those PE classes were useless for learning to dance."

"Yeah ... I agree," I said. I could smell something very nice when I was close to her, so I told her so.

"It's probably my shampoo," she said. "Thanks for noticing." She was blushing and for the first time, I noticed her chest, the little I could see of it, was also red like her face. I didn't mean to embarrass her, but maybe I had.

"You're my hero, you know," she said as we stood waiting for the next number.

"I am? Oh ... you mean that thing years ago with the car and all."

"Yes ... and the accident with the bus and the car and you helping all those kids and Mrs. Davidson. I was really proud of you, Ian."

Now it was my turn to blush. "I was pretty scared in that bus thing."

"I know. My dad said most heroes are scared when they're doing hero stuff. They don't think about anything but doing what they have to do. Is that what happened to you?"

I nodded. "Yeah ... I guess so. I was scared, but I knew I had to help those kids, and Mrs. Davidson. I couldn't do anything for the guy in the car, though."

"Well, you did let someone know that they would need to rescue him. And you got the kids who got off the bus out of the way in time. That was pretty heroic."

"How do you remember all this stuff? That happened over three years ago."

"I cut the story out of the newspaper and put it in my scrapbook. I have a picture of you too," she smiled.

"A picture of me? How come?"

"I told you, you're my hero, so I wanted a picture of you to go with my story about you saving my life and the newspaper report as well. I took a couple of pictures of you when you were playing soccer last month."

"Oh ...," was all I could manage.

"You don't have a girlfriend, do you?" she asked as we resumed dancing.

"No ... I don't," I said, until my mouth got ahead of my brain. "Would you like to be my girlfriend?" I tried, wondering if I'd get slapped or something.

I got the biggest smile I'd ever seen ... and no slap. "I'd love to be your girlfriend. It's not every day that a girl has a hero for a boyfriend."

"Uhhm ... just so you know ... I don't do hero things much anymore."

"That's okay, Ian. I know if something came up,

you'd do the right thing. That's all that matters," she said sweetly, pulling me in closer to her.

Now, the combination of that nice smell and the warmth of her body and the bumps that were pressing into my lower chest made my worst fears come to life. I was getting hard and I couldn't do anything about it. I tried to stick my bum out so she wouldn't notice, but she just kept moving closer to me as we danced. I was doomed.

"Maybe we should take a break, Kelsey," I tried. "We've been out on the floor quite a while now."

"Okay," she smiled as we separated and moved toward the stairs. The cafeteria was open and serving cold drinks and snack foods. I had some money, so I bought Kelsey an orange soda while I had my usual root beer. She didn't want anything to eat, so I didn't get anything either. By this time, my hard-on had gone away and I was able to relax.

"So what do you do when you're not in school?" I asked.

"I hang out with my friends. I'm taking home economics as an elective, and with Mom's help I'm learning to be a better cook and homemaker."

"I hope you do better than my sister, Danielle. She's going to poison someone someday."

Kelsey laughed like it was the funniest thing she'd ever heard. "I've been cooking for some time now. Both my mom and dad work, so I often get the dinner ready before they get home. My parents are still alive, so I guess I'm not too bad at cooking."

I laughed with her. That was funny. "What's your favourite food?"

"Uhhm ... let's see. Well, I really like lasagne, and I make a pretty good beef stew," she said.

"I love beef stew. Mom makes the best I've ever had," I claimed.

"Well, you haven't tried mine yet," she challenged.

"Maybe I'll get the chance someday. My other favourite is baby back ribs done on the barbeque. We don't have them very often because Mom says they're expensive. But I could live on beef stew and ribs, any day."

We talked back and forth about the things we liked and didn't like and discovered we had a lot in common.

"It's funny, you know," I said as we headed back to the gym. "When you kissed me at school that day, I thought, 'Oh no, I'm doomed. A girl kissed me, yuck.' I guess you change your mind on things when you get older."

Kelsey laughed again. "If I'm going to kiss you now, you'll know it's different," she said with a sly smile.

"Yeah, I bet I do," I agreed.

We danced some more until it was time for the last dance, which kept us on the floor. I think we spent most of our time together out there on the gym floor.

"I had a really good time, Kelsey. Thanks for asking me. I was too nervous to ask anyone," I admitted.

"I thought I'd better get to you before any of the other girls did," she said. "Now I'm glad I did," she smiled.

"How are you getting home?" I asked. "My dad is picking me up, so we could give you a ride."

"My mom is picking me up. She's probably already here. Call me tomorrow. If I'm going to be your girlfriend, we need to plan what we're going to do together."

"Oh ... okay. I'll call you later tomorrow morning. Is that alright?"

"Sure," she smiled, then leaned in and gave me a quick kiss before she turned and ran off.

"Damn, you sure work fast, Soup," Chug said as he sidled up to me. "She's hot, man. You want to hang onto that one."

I nodded. "Yeah, I do ... for sure."

Chapter 3 A job for the summer

I celebrated my sixteenth birthday in February, and as promised I was allowed to enroll in Driver's Ed. I already knew most of the rules of the road. I'd been studying the book and pretty well knew it front to back. I couldn't wait to get my license so I could take Kelsey out on my own. We were getting along really well. She let me kiss her pretty much any time I wanted to ... and I wanted to kiss her pretty much any time. If she wasn't the prettiest girl in school, I don't know who was.

The only problem I had with Kelsey was a bunch of older guys thought she was pretty good looking too, and they always seemed to be hanging around her. But Kelsey didn't pay any attention to them. Even some of the hotshots from the football or basketball team struck out trying to horn in on my girlfriend. I told her how proud that made me of her. That got me a big smile and an even bigger kiss.

We hadn't got into the heavy petting stage of our dating. Partly because we really didn't have much privacy, and partly because I definitely didn't want to push Kelsey into something she wasn't ready to do. But, we held hands, cuddled up together with my arm around her in the movie theatre, and kissed ... a lot. All things considered, I thought I was a pretty lucky guy. That is, until it all came crashing down.

"I've got some bad news, Ian," she told me one Saturday afternoon. "Dad has a new job and we're moving away when school's out in June."

"Oh no!" I moaned. "Where are you moving to? Maybe I can come and visit if it's not too far away."

She was shaking her head. "We're moving east to Toronto. Dad got a promotion to head office. I'm afraid I won't see you again after I'm gone."

I could see she was really unhappy with what had happened. I felt just as crummy as could be. I was going to lose my only girlfriend and we'd only been together for a few months. I could see some tears forming in Kelsey's eyes and I wrapped my arm around her to comfort her.

"I'll never forget you, Kelsey. Maybe someday, somehow, we'll get together again."

"I'll never forget my hero, Ian. Will you write to me? I don't want to lose you."

"Sure. I'll write. I'll send you pictures even. I don't want to lose you either."

Three months later, she was gone. For the first time in my life, I felt what it was like to lose someone I was close to. I wouldn't say I was in love with Kelsey, but it was something close to that. I was looking at a summer of loneliness. I needed to do something to get my mind off losing her. Fortunately, Dad came up with an answer.

"You said you wanted a summer job, Ian. Well, if you see Mr. Fosdick at the city works yard, he's willing to talk to you about some general labour. It pays well, so you'll be able to afford gas for your mother's car and the odd movie," Dad smiled.