When I was 9 years old, the neighborhood kids and I were all gathered at the end of a dead-end street in a vacant lot playing basketball on the hard-packed dirt. I was hanging around waiting for one of the older guys to let me in the game...to no avail.

My friend, Billy, and neighborhood bully, Pat, wandered off to the adjacent field to explore the ruins of the old farmhouse. We all used to go there to hang out from time to time. The house was nothing but rubble, except for the two standing chimney's, but it was fun to just go through the mess. The 1850's ruin also had an old spring that was framed by concrete just below the house. We'd go there to catch crawdads so that we could extract (in most inhumane fashion) pearls from inside their heads.

Back at the court a few minutes after Billy and Pat left, the ground shook and a cloud of dust rose from the old ruins. Moments later, we heard Billy running through the field screaming, "PAT'S DEAD!! PAT'S DEAD!!"

Breathless, Billy-the fastest kid in the neighborhood, said that they had been picking through rocks in the house when Pat plucked one out of one of the chimneys. The whole thing crumbled and collapsed on Pat.

My older brother (14) took charge immediately and directed me to go to the nearest house and call for an ambulance. Meanwhile, he and the rest of the boys sprinted through the field to the ruins and began tossing stones. I got to the site just as they uncovered Pat's bloody arm. Moments later, they were able to free his unrecognizable head, a mass of blood, bone and brain. Somehow, however, Pat was breathing. By the time the fire truck, police and ambulance arrived, Pat was mostly uncovered and the lifesavers took over. We were all relegated to observer status as we watched the remainder of the rescue, wondering if Pat were alive or dead.

Pat was extracted from the rubble and taken to hospital. He spent much of the next year in and out of a coma, but eventually "recovered". The rocks had crushed his skull and left him with permanent brain damage. Both of his legs were shattered, as was one arm, pelvis, and I'm sure other body parts as well.

I can't recall ever seeing Pat again. That's sort of the way things were back then.