84- Burn Victim

My new student, Jamie, has settled into our class with ease. He is a likable boy with a good sense of humor, so the other students quickly decided they liked him. And, true to Mrs. Goat’s word, Jamie is a mighty smart youngin’. He reads well and is good at math. His mother obviously adores him; every morning, clad in plastic high heels and a clingy bathrobe, Mrs. Goats walks her son to the door of his classroom and showers him with kisses. Given the hours of her occupation, I am impressed that she makes the effort. Jamie always looks mildly embarrassed, but dutifully kisses his mother back.
It has been a pleasure to include Jamie into our daily routine. His enthusiasm about learning is contagious, and rubs off onto his classmates. Jamie may be the one child who single-handedly makes learning cool.
This afternoon, after a Health lesson on Fire Safety, Jamie volunteered to share some disturbing news with the class. After hearing his story, I felt a new sense of respect for the Texan child. It began like this…
Jamie politely raised his hand to speak. I called on him, “Yes, Jamie?”
With a serious face, the boy began his lecture. Some kids may think that Fire Safety is stupid. Lots of kids think playing with fire is cool, but not me. I know that fire can be very dangerous because I was caught on fire once. It was not cool.
At first, I didn’t know if I should take Jamie’s claim too seriously. Many times kids have small accidents that they exaggerate to sound worse. Nevertheless, the kid was encouraging Fire Safety, so I asked him to elaborate.
It was very bad. Back in Texas, my dad, he built us a big campfire. Me and all my cousins were sittin’ around that campfire, laughin’ and playin’. One of my cousins, he stuck this big long stick into a can of gasoline and then splashed some gasoline onto my shirt. I didn’t think that was no big deal, and the grown-ups weren’t payin’ no attention. We kept laughin’ and playin’, and then…
Jamie’s face got flushed when he got to this part of the story. He looked sadly around at his classmates, and considered if he should continue his story. All of my students were quiet; they had been hanging on to every word of Jamie’s story. Jamie took a long, deep breath, and then went on.
…then a spark, a little glowin’ piece of wood, popped out of the fire. It jumped out of that fire and landed on my shirt. Well, Jamie nodded gravely, that one, tiny little ember made my shirt explode into flames. They say it must have been the gasoline that made it so bad, but no matter, I caught on fire. I caught on fire quick.
It was scary. People were screamin’ and I was runnin’ around. I didn’t know what to do; all I could see was orange flames all around me. I had to shut my eyes tight. I was burnin’ and it hurt. It hurt badly, all over my body.
My daddy, he jumped on top of me and crashed me to the ground. I remember my daddy using his body to put out the flames. He rolled me and yelled. “Roll, son! Roll!” I couldn’t think, but I tried to do what he said. I tried. My daddy got burned, too.
They took me straightaway to the hospital in Dallas, and I stayed there for weeks. Jamie lifted up his shirt to reveal his stomach and chest, in the place of smooth, white skin were bumpy, red and purple scars. His burned skin looked thin and itchy. The wounds wrapped around his body and covered most of his front and backside.
The hospital had to do a lot of surgeries and stuff. The surgeries all hurt. A lot. I still have to go back for more. There is a special burn hospital in Atlanta, that’s why my family moved here- to be closer to Atlanta. Now I have to wear a special undershirt, see? Jamie pointed to a thin layer of cloth underneath his T-Shirt. This will keep my burns from getting irritated. I also have to put special sunscreen on my burns forever now. The sun could make my skin burn all over again.
Jamie had the entire classroom’s attention. He concluded his story with a single warning. Fire Safety is important; playing with fire is not cool. Just look at me.
Once again, I was left feeling choked up by one of my student’s experiences. I am continually amazed at what they can endure. I feel grateful that Jamie was able to teach his classmates a valuable lesson about Fire Safety.