Tommy's Turn

Here's what happened to us last night:

It happened at the playground. Tommy was sitting on top of the monkey bars, and when his friend arrived, he got so excited his hand slipped and he clonked his chin on his way down to the ground. The good news is that he checked out this morning at the dentist as well. Apparently, the state of re-growth of his teeth really protected him. The other good news is that I now consider myself an expert on ascertaining whether an injury requires medical attention or not. I very calmly and with ruined blood-stained white leggings got everybody into the car and very calmly found all the shoes and socks that had been shed minutes earlier, and very calmly drove to the hospital while both of my children cried in the backseat. Tommy cried because his chin hurt and he was scared of stitches; Lizzie cried because she didn't want to watch Tommy have stitches. Want to know the craziest part of this story? When I paid at the hospital (we have to submit all our medical claims for reimbursement), they charged me 10 rial. That's twenty six dollars.