Hot Potato (Shelby and Blue) - Alyssa Brugman [31]
'Your mother is on her way,' Mrs Edel told Shelby. 'So what happened to your saddle?'
Shelby thought for a moment. If she was whisked away in an ambulance then she wouldn't have an opportunity to tell Erin or Lindsey what she'd said. Lindsey's mum was suspicious enough and they already had the problem of Erin saying something other than the story they had agreed upon.
'It's all a bit of a blur,' she replied. 'For Erin too. I think she's in shock – post-traumatic stress, or something. She was obviously babbling. Even more than normal!'
'Tell me what you remember.'
'I would, but it hurts to talk,' Shelby said, holding her cheek.
Lindsey's mum narrowed her eyes, but she didn't ask any more questions.
The ambulance pulled into the driveway with its lights turning on the top. They knew to pull into the float bay near the arena, which indicated that this wasn't the first time they had been here.
The two ambulance officers were cheery, telling jokes and making Shelby smile, and all the while pressing in different places – asking whether she could feel this or that, and when it hurt, telling her to rate the pain from one to ten.
Some of the other girls gathered around to sticky-beak. Shelby was embarrassed and hoped Mrs Edel would shoo them away, but she didn't.
Shelby had quite a crowd of spectators by the time her mother had arrived – with Blake in tow, since Connor was at soccer practice with her dad. The ambulance officers had put a foam brace around her neck and she was perched in the back of the ambulance keeping her spine still, as instructed.
'She looks OK, but we'd like to take some pictures of her noggin,' said one jolly officer.
'I feel fine, Mum,' Shelby assured her mother. 'I'm sure I can go to school tomorrow.'
Her mother gave Shelby a thin smile, but her face was white and her hand worried at the fine silver chain she wore around her neck.
'Tomorrow is Saturday, love! Maybe you do have a kangaroo loose in the top paddock!' joked the other ambulance officer. He was trying to distract Shelby while the white-clad officer drew her mother away, but they didn't move far enough.
'Horses!' Shelby heard him say as he shook his head. 'Why would you have 'em? I see so many riding injuries. They're often quite serious too. It's a very dangerous sport. Kids have no idea how risky it is.'
Shelby felt terrible. She knew that her parents had always been apprehensive about her riding because they feared something would happen to her.
The ambulance officers lowered her down carefully so that she was lying flat. All the way to the hospital she closed her eyes, willing her face and neck to get better before they arrived.
At the hospital they waited for the radiologist. Shelby reclined on a trolley and her mother sat on an orange plastic chair by her side. They both held tattered magazines with missing covers and torn pages, while Blake squatted on the floor mining a deep basket of toys.
Shelby wasn't reading her magazine. Between bouts of feeling sorry for herself and being annoyed that it was taking so long, she was finding it hard to concentrate.
After half an hour Blake was fractious and Shelby was hungry. She flipped through the celebrity cellulite and middle-aged miracle pregnancies and huffed.
Fifteen minutes later a nurse scooted across the waiting room in her quiet shoes and switched on a television that was suspended from the ceiling by a metal bracket.
Shelby put down her magazine and wriggled so that she could get a better view. Blake put down the plastic truck he was holding and sat cross-legged, eyes on the screen. After the image flickered to life Blake turned to his mother, wrinkling his nose. 'News!' he whined.
'Shh!' Shelby's mum blushed, glancing around to see if anyone had taken offence. Shelby was with Blake on this one. She'd been hoping for a cartoon – even an educational one would have been acceptable under these circumstances.
Soon afterwards, an orderly came to collect Shelby. He wheeled the bed out of the waiting room, down a corridor and into the lift. Shelby waved to her mum