“Linkee, Watch out!”
I turned to see what my friend Danny was yelling about – and I saw it. A motorcycle raced right toward me! I’m pretty fast, but before I could move – bam! That motorcycle hit me and I flew high into the air.
Flying was fun, but hitting the ground again wasn’t. It hurt! I hurt so much – all over. My head hurt and my arms and legs hurt and even my tail hurt. Everything whirled around and around and then went dark.
When I opened my eyes next, all my friends were looking down at me.
“Quickly – let’s take him into the house,” Grandma said. My friends picked me up gently – but Yow! It hurt! They brought me inside.
I was so scared, especially when I saw that my stuffing was coming out. I cried and tried to talk. I wanted to say, “Can you fix me? Will I be okay?” But my mouth felt squashed and I couldn’t talk.
Grandma seemed to know what I was trying to say. “Don’t worry, Linkee,” she said. “We will take care of you.”
And they did.
Jay said, “I’m going to be a doctor someday. I can stitch Linkee up.”
Nora said, “I will put his bandages on him so he will get well.”
Soon I was covered in bandages and on my bed.
For a long time I slept and slept. When I woke up, I was ready to get up and play – but my arms and legs hurt too much. I couldn’t make them work.
“Wah!” I said. “I don’t want to stay here. I don’t want to hurt. I want to go outside and play.”
“I’m so sorry, Linkee,” Grandma said. “It takes a while for bad hurts to heal. You will have to be patient.”
“I don’t want to be patient!” I yelled.
My friends said, “We will help you, Linkee.” And they did.
Danny played games with me. That didn’t hurt.
Some days were not happy days, though. My monkey friends came to see me. Watching them climb around and chase each other made me feel sad that I couldn’t run and play, too. They were noisy and hurt my head. And they spilled my juice right on my blanket.
"Goodbye, Linkee,” they said. “We will come and see you again.”
“Don’t hurry,” I grumbled.
Some days were good and some days were not so good. But each day I was a little better. I worried that I would not look the same when the bandages came off.
“It’s okay, Linkee,” Grandma told me. “You will look fine. Anyway, it’s you we love – the Linkee that lives inside your body. We will love you just the same if you look a little different on the outside when your hurts are healed.”
At last the day came that the bandages came off. I looked in the mirror and started crying. “I look funny!” I wailed. “I want my old face back.” My face looked squashed and lots of my fur was scraped off.
“You are okay, Linkee,” Grandpa said. “You aren’t all the way well yet. When you are well you will look better than ever.”
After a while I got used to my funny face. My friends did, too. Nobody even noticed that it was different. We climbed and played and had fun just like we did before.
And finally one day I looked in the mirror and saw that Grandpa was right. I didn’t look just the same, but I looked even better. My new fur grew out thicker and softer. My face looks different, but I think I look even more handsome. And I’m still me. Linkee. I still like to play tricks and I’m always getting into trouble.
But I ALWAYS watch out for motorcycles now!
Your Friend,
Linkee
Kids, Linkee had a hard time after his accident, didn’t he? You all know that Grandma really writes his stories for him. Do you think I was mean to make something bad happen to Linkee? No, I made up this sad story for my friend Ian. He was hurt by a car and I wanted him to know that we understand how he feels and that we are praying he gets better soon.
The Bible tells us that God writes the story of our lives. Do you think He was mean for writing this chapter of Ian’s story full of hurt and fright? No, God had a purpose for the things that happened to him. Maybe someday Ian will tell us what he learned from the “Ian is hurt” chapter. Maybe he will tell us how God was with him and how kind doctors helped him get better. He might be able to tell us that he knows just how to be kind to friends who are hurt because he was hurt, too. Perhaps one day he will be a doctor and will be able to help other boys and girls like the doctors helped him. We will see!
I hope all of you who are reading this will never be hit by a car. I can tell you, though, that you will have sad chapters in your life. That’s because we’re not in Heaven yet! There will be no hurts and no tears there. But now we will have troubles. We can know, though, that God is writing our story. He is good and He doesn’t make mistakes. We can know for sure that everything that happens is an important part of the story He is writing about our lives.
Linkee’s story is over and he is well. Soon Ian’s will be over and he will be well, too. We are praying that this chapter will be a short one and he can soon go on to even better and happier times than before.
Grandma loves and misses all of you kids on the other side of the world. God bless you – and watch out for cars and motorcycles!