As soon as he gets home James comes over to my house. It’s only been four days since we visited him in hospital but apart from a few scabs he looks fine. It turned out he wasn’t hurt as badly as he could have been. Mum and Dad told me that if the pump had been damaged and it let go too much muscle relaxer it might have relaxed his heart because it’s a muscle too. He could have died right then.
When I think about the accident I see James lying there all crumpled and covered in blood with Ranga wailing next to me. At first it felt real, like it was happening all over again, but now it’s more like a bad dream. The last four days have stretched out forever. They were both hurt badly that day but James is already pretty much over it. He wants a game of Dip and Gunk.
Mum puts on the kettle for us and I’m just getting the ramp ready for James to roll into the house when he calls, ‘Hey Sticks! Ranga just ran out on the road without looking. He’s coming here.’
Ranga leans over as he pelts past the letterbox. He’s beaming. ‘James, you’re home!’
‘Yeah!’ says James as if it was never in doubt.
‘Milo’s ready, boys,’ Mum calls from the kitchen. ‘Oh, hello Warren. Do you want a Milo?’
‘Ta, Mrs Whyte. That’d be great.’ He looks nervous.
Mum gives him a big smile as though she actually likes him. ‘It was nice of you to try and do something for James,’ she says and then she looks around at all of us, ‘but you guys should think about what might go wrong before you do anything like that again.’
We all nod together. I know I will, but I bet caution doesn’t even enter Ranga’s head next time he gets an idea. James’ either. I just hope I can get them to listen to me.
Mum puts our cups on the table and we all sit down.
‘Guess what, guys,’ Ranga says. ‘The contest was postponed to this weekend ’cause of the storm. Mum says I can go in it.’
James gives a hoot so loud that I jump.