Lesson learned the hard way

This morning, 5 minutes after saying goodbye (and take care!) to Son 2 as he headed off on his bike to a friend's house my phone rang. The screen told me it was Son 2 calling but a very different voice introduced itself to tell me there had been an accident, Son 2's head had taken a big knock and that an ambulance was on its way. Cue panic, car key grabbing and fearing the worst (he doesn't like wearing a helmet). I arrived at the scene to find him covered in blood with a massive, gaping hole in his forehead but lucid and conscious and being attended to by the paramedics. Also there was a traumatised looking elderly couple standing next to a car with a gaping hole where its rear windscreen should have been. They'd stopped and Son 2, right behind them, hadn't. So, it was off to hospital for a long series of assessments, x-rays and treatment. Apart from the big gash in his forehead, he also has a likely broken thumb and wrist and a small but impressive gash in his other wrist. The doctor took painstaking care to remove the many tiny bits of windscreen which had embedded themselves in his head and then to stitch up the wound as best she could. Then we could go home, all of us feeling completely drained. His bike was OK though - typical!