Tell me it ain't so.

August 3, Northfield.

My Dylan fell and broke his arm last night.
He was trying to bring his bike down some stairs and I should have been with him carrying his bike for him, the way we did all day while playing in the park.  We were coming home for the night, and I was just telling him what a great day this had been.  I heard a cry and a loud harsh thump and turned around just in time to see him and the bike hit the concrete ground at the bottom of the five steps.  The sight was horrifying, I thought his head had hit the ground; it was his arm, and he fractured it.
It is a small fracture, what I learned is called a "green wood" fracture, most common in kids, whose bones are soft, for the bone bends while breaking but does not break completely.  It usually heals fine without surgery or other care than a brace.  I drove to the nearest hospital, in Alliance, a little more than ten miles north of Minerva, and because it was a small hospital we didn't have to wait long and were done in less than two hours.  Because we are in the circus and we move every day the physician decided not to give Dylan a full cast, which entailed coming back for an orthopedic surgeon's visit over the next few days for a follow-up, but a simple brace, and we'll wait until we are in Columbia to check again on the healing process.
The kids and Fridman had been practicing every day since we arrived, handstands, jumps, and balancing on Fridman's hands, stretching and strengthening exercises.  Before Dylan can get the opportunity to practice again it is going to be months.  He was doing so good; just yesterday Danny came to see him work and do the handstand.  No more practice, and he will start school not being able to write either.
But yes it could have been much worse, and he is taking it all in stride.  I told him he could have ice-cream for breakfast, ice-cream for lunch and ice-cream for dinner.
I'd like to give it to him in enormous spoonfuls regardless, just rewind that scene and stay forever with the sweet memory of a day full of my Dylan tumbling through time and joy with bike rides and laughter.