I babysitting for my sister while she was at work, it was just getting dark, and my niece, she was 6 or 7 yrs, and I headed for a convenience store about two blocks from their home. My sister and her daughter did it often, so it seemed no big deal.
While crossing a street at the corner in beach town, I looked up, saw a car with its lights out stopped mid block. We'd already stepped into the roadway.
The driver put on his lights, I yelled to my niece to run, and the car accelerated, hitting me. After stepping out of the car, the driver got back in and drove off.
I suffered a concussion, leg and knee injuries.
When the ambulance arrived, they were caring for me, and thought when I was saying my niece---I meant knees. I repeated it en route to the hospital, and one of the attendants actually laughed.
Concussion, injuries, I told the screening nurse no one was touching me until I knew where my niece was. She asked the ambulance attendants, and they didn't know, and officers on scene didn't know I'd been with someone. They canvassed the area and learned my niece was in the care of one of my sister's neighbors and she'd left a note on the door of my sister's place.
The nurse advised me my niece had been found, and then, injuries were treated. My sister, a nurse at another hospital, was allowed off shift, came over to the hospital where I was and I was just relieved I could tell her where her daughter was.
Concussion: My sister woke me several times during the night, checking on me.
The driver: never found
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