Her fall down the steps alarmed Tracy’s mother, and she demanded that her husband, who was taking a nap in their bedroom, immediately take Tracy to the emergency room to get an x-ray, as she was sure her daughter’s wrist was broken.
“Tracy had been practicing her cartwheels in the upstairs hallway when she made a misjudgment and took a tumble down the stairs,” her father told the ER doctor. “She’s such a gregarious child. We’ve tried to warn her to be more obedient when it comes to running around the house, but you know how kids her age are, right?”
“The x-rays showed that you’re daughter’s wrist is broken in two places, I’m afraid,” the doctor said. “I’m going to put her wrist and arm in a cast. I will need to switch rooms, but you can stay here and I’ll bring her back when I’m finished.”
A few minutes after the doctor left the exam room with Tracy, a woman and a police officer walked into the room. “Mr. Casey,” the woman said, “I’m Anita Wilson from Child Welfare and this is Officer Murphy. We need to talk with you about your daughter. According to the radiologist, the x-rays that were taken tonight indicate numerous breaks in your daughter’s arms spanning multiple years.”
“What are you saying?” Tracy’s father asked.
“We’re talking about child abuse, Mr. Casey,” the officer said. “You’ll have to come with me.”
“I need to call my wife,” Tracy’s father said.
“She’s on her way, Mr. Casey,” the woman from Child Services said. “You need to call your lawyer.”
Written for these daily prompts: The Daily Spur (alarm), Daily Addictions (x-ray), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (gregarious), Word of the Day Challenge (obedient), Ragtag Daily Prompt (switch), and Your Daily Word Prompt (indicate).
My granddaughter was always broken. A foot, an arm, a toe. She was very athletic, but she also had very bad feet (club feet, actually) and he feet broke so easily it was scary. She wasn’t abused. She needed to be leashed, I think. Eventually, some doctor got through to her that she could not continue to maul herself like this because is was becoming hard to repair the damage. It isn’t always abuse. Sometimes, it’s a super energetic kid who just won’t quit.
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Maybe that the case with Mr. Casey’s daughter. If so, he should be cleared.
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Oh, my!
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Oh no!
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Wow… He should have continued with his nap…
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Good one!
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Yikes! Plot twist. Did he do it? I think he did it.
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statistically, women more often abuse their children…especially female children. good story though.
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Is that statistic due to Munchausen syndrome by proxy, which seems to predominantly affect women?
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nope, you’d think so though. It is that women are abused more frequently and abuse breeds abuse.
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Great story Fandango! Rings true too! 🙂
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