THE WORTH OF ONE - A CHRISTMAS STORY 

By Tessa Harvey

    Sirens were heard approaching and the waiting principal sighed with relief. She had had only four students to care for and felt keenly aware this accident should have been avoided. Augustus was lying where the bus had thrown him. The staff and students were relieved the boy did not appear severely injured, but he was unconscious and his arm looked broken. A shelter had been erected around the child from waterproof tents in the school equipment shed. A brazier was burning nearby to keep him warm in the still raging storm. Two senior students approached and asked to be allowed to go to the hospital with Augustus.
    "We rang our parents," Nicola Fleming said, "and they would like us to be with him." She handed her phone to Mrs. O'Leary and the adults explained the children were cousins.
    Simon and Nicola were known to the principal and she agreed, somewhat reluctantly. She really was needed here. "I will send a staff member also." She had a duty of care.
    The flashing lights of the ambulance cast a lurid glow over the inert body of the boy.
"Broken arm, bad blow to the head. We need to carefully move him in case of internal injuries."
    Maureen gave the paramedics relevant details.
    Augustus would not wake up to see his parents. Apparently they were not able to come at this time.
    Maureen looked down at the bruised face and the old handball still in the boy's hand. The Spiderman tee-shirt was a little blood-stained. "I will buy him another," thought the principal, holding back tears. "And pray," she added, to herself.

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