"Ummmphhh...." the sound of Mother Monroe's broken and muffled moan whipped throughout the park galvanizing her family into action.

"Mom!!!" cried Johnathon.

"Mother!!!!!" shrieked Justicè.

"Honey!?!?!?!" inquired Father Monroe as they rushed to her side.

"Great Googly Moogly!!!" cried Calvin.

"Not again!!!!" wailed his mother as they too ran to where Mark had taken out Mother Monroe.

Father Monroe was the first to reach her just as Mark was rolling off Mother Monroe. He kneeled by her side his hands hovering over her body wanting to touch her but afraid of causing more pain; "Honey... Honey are you okay?" said Father Monroe fearfully although her eyes were open Mother Monroe was not responding. "Honey... Honey say something? Do you hurt anywhere?" asked Father Monroe.

"Mom..." whispered Johnathon.

"Mommie" whimpered Justicè.

Mother Monroe still didn't respond.

Father Monroe bent his head to her chest in an effort to hear if her heart was beating but was unable to hear anything over the yelling.

"Oyyyyyy!!!! LLLLLAAADDDYYYY You dead!!!!????"

It was at that time that Calvin and Mrs. H'onker slowed from their mad dash to reach them coming to a slow jog and stop by a still yelling loudly and insensitively Mark.

"OOOOOOYYYYYYY LLLLAAAADDDYYYY YO-- "

SMACCK!!!

"OWWW!!! WHATTCHA DO THAT FORRR MRS. H'ONKER!!!" cried Mark.

"STOP YOUR CRYING BOY CAN'T YOU SEE THE WOMAN MIGHT BE HURT AND HER FAMILY IS WORRIED. YOU DON'T ASK INSENSITIVE QUESTIONS LIKE THAT WHATS' WRONG WITH YOU!!!!" yelled Mrs. H'onker.

While Calvin's Mom yelled at Mark for being insensitive Calvin was quietly absorbing his surroundings. The lady was still on her back on the ground. A man who must be her husband had his ear to her chest. Two young kids a boy and a girl on their knees watched her and crying for her to say something... to do something. All Calvin could think of was if she were dead, they were in some deep sh---'

Mrs. H'onker’s hand moved catching Calvin unawares on the back of his head.

SMACK!!!

"Calvin, I taught you better than that" yelled Mrs. H'onker "Did not I!?!?" questioned Mrs. H'onker.

"Yes, mam you did" Calvin responded tearfully on an exhale of breath trying bravely not to cry and resisting the urge to rub the back of his head.

Mark felt no such inclination and rubbed the back of his head vigorously in an attempt to get the stinging from Mrs. H'onker’s slap to go away. The two boys shared a look of mutual understanding of misery.

"Breathe honey breathe" encouraged Father Monroe.

"Please Mom please..." tearfully begged Johnathon and Justicè.

"Ohhhhmmmmm.... watzzz going on...???" came Mother Monroe's voice as she blinked her eyes several times. "Hey, hey, hey what's all this!!!!" cried Mother Monroe while Father Monroe, Johnathon and Justicè crowded around hugging and laughing; ecstatic that she was finally talking and moving again.

Mrs. H'onker stopped yelling and started wringing her hands fidgeting from one foot to another making sounds that to her sounded comforting and to everyone else like a whale dying. "OOOOoooohhhhh you poor thing. OHHHHHHHHmmmmm!!!!!" croaked Mrs. H'onker.

Calvin looked at the ground embarrassment heating up and turning red the back of his neck and ears. 'Why me... dear lord why me....' wailed Calvin silently in his head. At that moment Calvin felt an intense stare directed at him and upon looking up he saw Mark staring at him with an expression similar to pity and with what suspiciously looked like barely contained laughter.

'Dude that’s gotta be embarrassing so glad she's not my mom. Poor Calvin..... heh heh heh heh' thought Mark trying desperately not to show his amusement.

Meanwhile Mother Monroe was remembering the past events with the help of her family.

"Don'tcha remember Mom...." asked Justicè "we were talking about going to Happy Hills when...

"BOOM that kid knocked you out" inserted Johnathon.

"While he was making a wicked Frisbee catch " finished Justicè.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Honey... are you okay now? Do you think you can stand?" asked Father Monroe as he tenderly stroked her back and hair.

"Yes, darling I remember quite clearly now." stated Mother Monroe while glaring at Mark through her family's bodies. "I believe I am capable of standing if you would assist me.... please" Mother Monroe said as she gingerly began the process of standing up. With Father Monroe's assistance and with her children by her side Mother Monroe got to her feet swaying slightly as her body adjusted to its now vertical position.

Throughout Mrs. H'onker never let up with her non-stop chattering "You poor Dear...," "Are you okay?" and "How can I help you?" broken up only by her 'comforting sounds'. "It looks like you are alright, no broken bones, no broken skin. Any aches or pains?... I'll take your silence as a no. He didn't really mean to hit you, you know. He wasn't looking behind him. I always tell them, pay attention to your surroundings especially when playing at Forlorn Fields..... You know it's always busy here. They do alright but sometimes. You know things happen..... But it really wasn't his fault!!!... Everyone else moved out of the way! You ought have kept your eyes on your surroundings. You know how things work at Forlorn Fields dodging is the name of the game eyes on 360 is the way to stay pretty...."

Justicè was the first to finally notice the lament of noise coming from Mrs. H'onker's mouth. "Mom I think she is trying to blame you for the boy running into you" remarked Justicè with such disdain in her tone that the rebuke in her words did not go unnoticed by Mrs. H'onker.

"Well, I never!!!" Huffed Mrs. H'onker "What I am trying to say is..."

"We got what you were trying to say!" remarked Mother Monroe coolly glaring at Mrs. Honker. Who although was taller than her by several inches seemed to shrink before the fury reflected in Mother Monroe's eyes. The combined scorn and contempt that radiated from the rest of the family succeeded in her surrendering several more inches.

"Well, I wasn't implying anything. If you had been paying attention you would've moved out of the way." At this Mother Monroe who had still been supported by Father Monroe and Johnathon stood ramrod straight with narrowed eyes and a look of astonished disdain upon her face stared incredulously at Mrs. H'onker who continued on with her tirade of passing the blame. But gradually to the astonishment of Mark and continued embarrassment of Calvin Mrs. H'onker's voice got softer and softer until it trailed off into nothingness; leaving her speechless with only echoes of the defiance left in her stance. After a couple minutes silence in which the Monroe family continued to glower at Mrs. H'onker it was Father Monroe who spoke first.

"We understand that children will be children and we understand that the young man did not see my wife. However, for a grown adult to try to push the blame of a child's error onto another adult and to be so very belligerently loud about it and so very, very wrong is what we" gesturing to his family with an elegant sweep of his hands "have a problem with. Now had you come to us with a different attitude we would not be continuing to discuss this matter. As it is, Honey are you okay?"

"Yes, I am fine Dear."

"Would you like to say anything or would you prefer I continue to handle it."

"Do your thing."

With a nod of affirmation Father Monroe continued "Since my wife is not physically hurt, we only need an apology from the young man as well as an acknowledgement that while people generally get out of the way when someone is running at them it is your job as the person running full tilt in a populated area to be aware of your surroundings."

"BBBut'' sputtered Mrs. H'onker.

"Unh unh, unh," holding up his hand in the universal stop sign "I'm talking".

If it was possible Calvin who had been avidly working to sink into the ground finally made some progress slipping a barely visible inch.

Meanwhile Mark avidly followed the conflict thoroughly wishing he had some popcorn, his head swiveling back and forth as he watched the drama unfold occasionally shooting pitying/mocking glances at Calvin. However, as Father Monroe's request for an apology registered Mark felt the humor of the situation drain from him as all eyes on the park landed on him. "Gulp! Ummm I'mmm sssorry for knocking over your wife and, and, and"

"psst, watching where you go" whispered Calvin to him.

In that instant Mark remembered why Calvin was his bestest friend. "I will watch where I'm going from now on especially if I am running really fast. I'm really sorry mam I didn’t mean to run into you and I am glad that you are okay."

Throughout the apology Mrs. H'onker silently steamed "Well I never it's not like-"

"Apology accepted" interrupted Mother Monroe "Thank you for being mature enough to do so." With that statement and one last glare at Mrs. H'onker, Mother Monroe turned to her family's designated picnic location for the day and began packing. Silently without asking the usual slew of questions the children began helping her pausing every once and a while to brush off the ants trying to make off with their food.

While his family packed Father Monroe looked first Mark and then Calvin in the eye making sure that they got the message across that he was not at all happy with the physical harm that had come to his wife and the panic that had followed. They were only able to hold his gaze for several seconds before finding the grass to be very interesting. Finally, Father Monroe turned his gaze to Mrs. H'onker whose bluster had returned; glared at first but soon found herself no longer able to hold his eyes; as his eyes conveyed more poignantly than words ever could the anger and simple disappointment for another human being.

Mrs. H'onker for the first time felt an emotion that she often heard others speak about but had never experienced herself: Shame.

Once Mrs. H'onker dropped her gaze Father Monroe gave a short nod and turned to his family. "Ready Mother Monroe, kids," with their nods of assent Father Monroe gathered up the picnic basket from Mother Monroe who although maintained that she was fine, seemed to him at least, to still be a little shaky from her ordeal. Placing her hand in the crock of his arm with the basket on the other, and the children on either side of them, began the journey to Happy Hills.

Mrs. H'onker, Calvin and Mark looked at each other in a sort of frozen horror. They could only watch as the family traveled through the rest of the park's patrons.

By this time many of the park patrons had gone back to their various activities only pausing now and then to check in on the drama that was playing out between the two groups. They paused once more watching the family proceed to Happy Hills, their faces and bodies frozen with the warring desire to warn them versus their politeness factor of not getting into other people's business.

The Monroe family was acutely conscious of the attention but resolved to ignore it and not provide more of a show. So, with heads held high and a slowed pace to match Mother Monroe's slight they proceeded to Happy Hills. They needed not veer from their path as the park patrons moved aside like the two halves of the Red Sea. The rapidly spreading whisper of "Look they’re heading to Happy Hills" and the head nod and raised eyebrows proved more than effective in clearing their path.