I Stabbed Myself In The Back

I had just stabbed myself in the back with a knitting needle while I was on a school bus riding to get my students from school with little time to turn around and get help.

I should probably start before I did the impossible and stabbed myself in the back. At the time of the incident, I worked at a daycare, and I was the afterschool teacher. Every day I was at work, I would ride a bus to pick up the students from school.

During this time, my co-teacher for afterschool was still in college and would be running late to work a few days out of the week. Also, during that time, my mom asked me if she could work part-time with me. She would work in the afterschool pre-kindergarten class.

On the day of the accident, I realized that we were running late leaving the daycare, but I could not go anywhere unless someone else besides the bus driver and I were on the bus.

I waited until I could not wait anymore. I always carried a bag with me that held my knitting needles and yarn in an orange polyester drawstring backpack. Finally, I put my arm back in the shoulder straps and got off the bus.

On my way to the front door of the building, I saw my Mama coming out.

“Mama, what was taking you so long?” I asked as I stood there waiting for her to walk my way.

“I had to wait for someone to relieve me.” Then, finally, we walked together to the bus and got on.

As soon as we got on the bus, it started moving. After my mama sat down, I sat down too. As I did, the end of the knitting needle in the thin orange polyester bag hit the wall of the bus. The pressure of me sitting down and the needle being in between me and the bus wall was enough to push the needle through my shirt into my back.

I froze with the realization and looked to my Mama.

“Mama, I think that I just stabbed myself in the back.” I was pretty limber at the time, so I reached back and felt where the knitting needle was in my back.

My Mama looked at me in shock, speechless. I pulled the knitting needle out and took the backpack off. I reached to feel the hole left in my back. I didn’t know how I expected it to feel, but it was not as big as I thought it would be. A part of me realized that it was an emergency and we needed to turn back, but I figured we would be fine until we got back to the daycare.

“Are you sure you got it?” My Mama asked, still looking at me in shock.

“Yeah, I got it.” I got up and walked to the front of the bus and got the first aid kit, and returned to my seat. Reaching into the box, I pulled out rubbing alcohol pads, gauze, and band-aids. I disinfected the area by twisting my arm behind me, the same way I would scratch my back.

I noticed my Mama still looking at me in shock.

“Mama, do you want to put the band-aid on for me?” The only reason I asked was that she was still looking at me in shock.

“Yeah, I got it.” I turned around and let her put the gauze on and the bandaid. My back was sore, but I still needed to pick the students up from school, and we did not have the time to turn back around.

Once we arrived at the school, the students got on the bus. Once we left that school, we went to another school to pick up another set of students. The entire time the muscles in my back were tight. At this time, I knew the band-aid was leaking, and there was a risk of infection, but we were close to the daycare at this time.

Arriving at the daycare, I got the students to settle down.

“Cassie, you okay?” My mom was trying to make sure I was okay before she got off the bus.

“Yeah.” She exited the bus, and I proceeded to call the roll and ensure there were no students left on the bus. Exiting the bus, I entered the building and walked up to my bosses.

“I stabbed myself in the back.” As the words left my mouth, they both just looked at me.

“You did what?” The director asked.

“See, look.” I pulled up the back of my shirt and showed them.

“Cassie Mae,” the financial director, started, “how did you do this?”

“The end of my knitting needle pressed against the wall of the bus as I was sitting down, and the pointy end went into my back. And that Mama of mine didn’t help me.”

Luckily it wasn’t bleeding, but there was some leakage. So the financial director cleaned it up again and put some more gauze on it.

“Girl, I don’t know what we are going to do with you.” The financial director stepped away so I could pull my shirt down.

“Well, now you know next time not to put something sharp in a bag on your back.” The director was shaking her head as she said this. “Well, now you can get back to work.”

I wasn’t offended, and we were terribly informal at my job. That’s how we all talked to each other. But if something was wrong, I knew that they would send me to the hospital. At that time, my biggest concern was an infection. Likely I didn’t get an infection.

I finished my workday with a sore back. To this day, I still have a scar.

Also, how many other people get a chance to say they stabbed themselves in the back. I still continue to knit and create pieces that people love, just with a reminder to be careful with my knitting needles.