HE-MAN TOOK MY EYE

Picture it … 1983 in Chesapeake, Virginia. I was in the sixth grade and anyone who knew me knew I loved my after school cartoons, especially boyish cartoons. After all, I was one of the biggest tom boys on the block. A new cartoon had just come out and I was anxious to see what it was about. After the first episode, I have to admit, it had me glued to the television everyday between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. What cartoon was this? Well I am glad you asked. It was "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" and it was a great addition to my after school cartoon line up. I was the oldest of two younger sisters and they knew during this time to leave me alone, no exceptions.

On this one fine day, I believe it was a Friday because I did not have school the next day, a few of the neighborhood boys decided they wanted to harass my sisters. This, in turn, caused them to harass me and this made me very unhappy. Now usually being pulled into conflict was ok, I loved to pummel the neighborhood boys. Did that make me a bully too or a hero? Who knows and who cared because this was not the time for heroics, conflicts or anything else as He-Man was on. That is the only thing that was on my mind.

I sat in my usual spot, reclined, drink and snacks in hand watching He-Man and enjoying my after school moment when in runs my two younger sisters and a friend screaming that three neighborhood boys would not leave them alone. I ignored them until the commercial break and politely instructed them to tell those boys to leave them alone because I said so. That usually worked on so many levels but for some reason it did not work today. A few minutes later in comes the three amigos with another plea to come outside and tell the little boys to leave them alone. Since there was no commercial break coming soon as one had just gone off I had to divert my attention from one of my favorite shows to these three screaming little girls just to say what I had already said: tell them to leave you alone because I said so. They left to tell the boys what I had said, once again, and back to my show I went. We had a full hour of He-Man so that meant two episodes during that time. This was their only saving grace because I knew I had another episode to catch.

To step aside from the sibling/bully madness for a moment, let me explain what was going on inside the house at this time. This was the home belonging to my great-grandparents and my great-grandfather decided on this day to work on home improvements. The one that was a problem for me was the screen door. This screen door had been broken for months. It did not close all the way and the latch did not work. When going out of the house you simply had to push the door open since the latch was broken. It swung open like the doors of an old western saloon. Just push and out you go. Have the visual now? Good so moving on.

The harassment by my younger sisters and their friend continued with each time aggravating me more and more. By the time I was half way through the second episode I was completely livid. My grandfather had already been fussing because my sisters had been running in and out of the door while he was attempting to fix it. That did not help either because it had gotten to the point where he was even yelling at me to go outside and help my sisters. That was the breaking point for me. Here I was trying to enjoy my cartoons, minding my business, staying out of trouble yet getting in trouble at the same time. Who does this? So at the next commercial break I am heading outside. I slam the recliner back down, throw the remote in the chair and storm outside behind my sisters completely in a rage. Yeah, I had anger issues when provoked.

Now let me set the scene, by this time my grandfather had completed the door project and was sitting at the dinner table drinking coffee at almost 5 o’clock in the evening. The door now had to be opened by using the handle, no more swinging door. This scene, as I remember it, makes me think of something out of a movie. So think of an extremely slowed down scene where all voices were deep and dragging. I am running out of the den area, through the kitchen past my grandfather headed down the hallway to go outside. I was completely angered so I did not even notice my sisters used the handle. I am in mid-fuss, running about 5 miles per hour seriously with my arms extended straight out to push the screen door open. Here comes the dream moment. As I am running, I run through the door. I look up to see a big piece of glass drop and immediately drop my head.

When I get outside I look back and think to myself how crazy that would have been if that had happened for real. I pick up speed yelling because I want to get back inside to finish the last half of the second episode of He-Man when I hear screams. These were screams like someone was being tortured and now I am really mad because I thought the boys were really hurting my sisters, that was until I heard them screaming too. I heard one of them yell look at her eye and they all took off. My sisters were screaming and crying as their friend ran home. I am standing next to my great-grandparents car as all of this is going on and looked in the window. I noticed the front of my shirt and face were covered in something red. I bend down to look in the mirror and it is there that I see my eye hanging completely out of the socket. It was just dangling through the huge gash in my face. My grandfather had begun fussing until I turned around and he saw my eye. He then begins to scream, calling for my grandmother to call an ambulance. As I stood in the hallway listening to everyone around me it still did not seem real. I looked in the hallway mirror at my disfigured face with an eyeball hanging out of it and begin to poke at my eye. Why did I do that? My grandmother smacked the crap out of my hand and yelled at me to leave it alone.

The rest of family reached the hospital around the same time and I could hear them being rushed to the back. I am covered by a sheet so I can’t see anyone but I hear the doctor tell my mother and grandmother had the glass hit me one centimeter to the left I would have lost my eye. I remember being given a numbing medicine in my face via two needles, it hurt like hell. I was ready to fight the doctors and nurses until my mother smacked my arm and put me back in my right mind. After it was all said and done, I left with 27 stitches under my right eye and 10 steri-strips on my right wrist. There was a gash there as well but not deep enough to warrant stitches. Needless to say I was the coolest graduating sixth grader that year as I crossed the stage in my cap and gown with sun shades to get my certificate of completion. The first of my facial ruins.