Matt, like his brothers before him, had a paper route when he was an adolescent. One Friday, March 1, 1996, he came home from school, hopped on his bike and was on the way home to start his route; but while crossing Center Street on his bike, he had an accident. An elderly lady, Charlotte MacDonald, was turning into the Jubilee parking lot, and Matt rode his bike into the side of her car. It chills me to think how much worse this could have been. He wasn't wearing a helmet, and suffered a compound fracture of his leg.
A neighbor kid saw Matt lying in the street after the accident, and ran down to our house to tell John. He rushed down there, told the police to let him through, it was his son, and rode with Matt to the hospital. They transferred him to Strong. After making arrangements for the kids, John picked me up in Rochester, where they performed surgery, and put an external fixator on his leg.
His brothers did his paper route that day, but that was pretty much the end of Matthew and the paper route. Come to think of it, it was probably the last time Matt ever rode a bike, as well.
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