Grace Baker
Mrs. Monica Wheeler
Comp I
18 September 2018
Not Just Your Average Day at Walmart
August fourteenth, 2016 just started as an average day for my mom and I. We woke up, went to Pine Bluff, and spent our day shopping. We went to Dillards and looked through the “take an extra 60% off” sale racks and then made a trip to Walmart for groceries. Grocery shopping is never fun, but we always made it fun for us. But when we walked out of the store is when the day took a big turn.
As we walked out to our car we saw a little girl, about two or three years old, walking in the middle of the car aisles and screaming. We also saw a panicked mother screaming, “someone please help”. My mother and I frantically made the decision to walk over to see what all the screaming was about. As we walked over to the scene we noticed something wasn’t quite right with the little girl. My mother instantly picked the little girl up as she realized her eye was bleeding and it looked almost as if her eyeball had fell out.
Mom ran her over to her mother and automatically asked what had happened. The woman said “JaNiece was sitting in the truck with her brother and I. I had a flare gun under my seat. My son was playing with it and shot it off.”
My first reaction was to cry, but I knew that saving this little girl’s life was more important. My mom laid JaNiece on the ground as I laid beside her and talked to her about other things to try and keep her as calm as I could. My mom then called “911” and reported the accident. I then took a piece of blanket that my mom grabbed out of our car and held it to her face, to apply pressure to her eye.
The little girl kept going in and out of consciousness as me and my mother tried to keep her awake, as we waited for the ambulance to arrive.
I remember laying beside her, trying to keep her awake, as complete chaos was going on all around us. People were walking over to the area wondering what was happening. My mom was talking to the mom of JaNeice, trying to figure out the situation that almost ended this little girl’s life.
As time progressed, thirty minutes passed and no emergency vehicles had came. Me and mom were getting worried about this little girl surviving, since she was losing a lot of blood. so we quickly made the decision to rush her to the ER. The mom and brother had to stay at the Walmart parking lot since the truck was still considered a “crime scene”. But they said after the emergency people arrived they would be meeting us at the hospital.
I sat in the backseat of the car with JaNeice’s head laying in my lap still holding pressure on her eye. We made it to the ER and mom carried JaNeice in. We ran to the desk and said we needed to be helped as soon as possible.
The lady at the front desk immediately called for help and they loaded her up on a stretcher. We followed down the hallway as they wheeled her down to the room. They what had happened and we gave as much information as we knew. Once we got to a room, we weren’t her family so we could not go any farther with her. But I remember the doctor saying “We need to get her into surgery as soon as possible”.
We stayed for hours until her mom and brother joined us and she was out of surgery. I remember her mom being hysterical and thanking us over and over for the deed we did.
A few years later, JaNeice, a energetic six year old, is missing her right eye. But she does not let that hold her back. She is just like every other little six year old girl she is just blessed with something unique. I am forever thankful for that day, it has led me to many great decisions in life like becoming a nurse after I graduate High School. August fourteenth of 2016 was a day to remember for a lifetime.
