Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Protector (05/16/24)
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TITLE: MY KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR | Previous Challenge Entry
By Evelyn Alexander
05/23/24 -
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Yet those same brothers can also be wonderful heroes. I know that from personal experience too. I have always looked back on the memory with special gratefulness for my big brother, who surprisingly had become my protector one day. Years later while sharing the story with him from my perspective, I called him, “My Knight in Shining Armor.”
Earl became my Knight while we were several years younger than what we were the day of our memorable jaw escapade. If I remember correctly, I was about 6 or 7 when it happened, which would have made him around 12 or 13. He had been to a Scout meeting, and was showing my older sister how they had been doing push-ups. It looked to me like fun, and you know how little sisters can be. They don’t ever want to be left out! And I was no different. I was determined to join the show and keep up with them too.
Ignoring the fact I literally had no muscle in my right shoulder (the result of having polio when I was 4) my little heart was determined to show them how I could do those wonderful pushups too. I positioned my arms the best I could, like Earl showed our sister, and gave it my all.
As soon as I pushed up, I immediately felt something give way in my neck, then felt an unexpected warmth moving down my spine like a shock wave. Growing quiet, I slowly got up and moved to huddle over our floor radiator, as I began shivering with chills. My mom asked what was wrong, and all I could tell her was I didn’t feel good, as I started getting a bad headache too.
Tucking me in bed, my mother was noticeably worried as she gave me an aspirin. She was justifiably puzzled too, for I had no fever yet continued to shiver with cold, and was soon writhing and sobbing in pain. The voices of children playing in the street outside sounded like they were in the room with me … yelling in my ears … piercing my head with unbelievable pain.
My big brother came into the room to see if I was alright. Through tears and sobs all I could manage to get out was how much the voices from the kids outside made my head hurt. The next thing I knew, I could hear him at the front of the house, yelling at the neighborhood kids to go away … that his little sister was sick and they were hurting her head! He kept it up too until every last piercing voice was gone.
I was finally able to sleep and soon recovered. But from then on, I saw my big brother as my protector … my hero. Someone I felt lucky to have in my life.
For those curious, as a young adult I learned from a specialist what had happened that unforgettable day. Since I essentially had no muscle on one side, I had seriously pulled my atlas and upper vertebrae out of place, which immediately triggered my first full-blown migraine.
As a young adult I became a chronic migraine sufferer, and prayed much for relief. I still thank God too for sending just the right people into my life who directed me to that specialist, for under his unique care, I became almost 100% migraine free. But Earl will always be the one I think of as my rescuer.
Some time ago my big brother said his goodbyes to this life and moved on to the next, but I will always carry him in my little-girl heart as my protector, my forever Knight in Shining Armor.
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