Member-only story
One of my sisters has 6 children. One of her daughters, who lives in Northeastern USA, has 3 children, including one set of twin girls, Ruth and Kathleen, age 6.
They live in a 2-story house.
It was a nondescript cloudy bright day.
A few leaves had fallen from adjacent deciduous trees onto the rear wood deck, where they lay awaiting collection or the arrival of more companions which had also turned from green to brown in the cycle of life, marking the seasons I was privileged to enjoy during my formative years.
My niece’s husband had gone to pick up their son from school. My niece was working from home, as she has done during the pandemic.
Ruth was playing in the back yard.
Kathleen, to gain a better vantage point, ran into the house to her parents’ upstairs bedroom (above the girls in the photo). To get her sister’s attention, she climbed into the open window frame. The curtains were already pulled back.
As she leaned into the window screen, it gave way and she tumbled to the wooden deck, perhaps 12 feet below. She gave a spontaneous scream as she fell.
