Tragedy and Drama in my Classroom

This beautiful young lady, Karina, accidentally got her finger severed in my classroom door.
It was a terrible situation. Just before class started, I heard a slam and a scream, then I saw Karina with her hand bleeding. She was in shock already. There was SO MUCH BLOOD on the door, on the floor, and on the walls.....all I could do was to put pressure on her finger to stave off the bleeding and holler in to the math teacher, Mr. Rippon, to tell him I had an emergency and to call ahead to warn the office, then to get someone to cover my class.... and HURRY! I told Karina.... "LET'S RUN!!"
We ran together from one end of the school upstairs, then down the stairs and to the office trailing blood everywhere. When we got to the office, the personnel cleaned up both of us (my hand was soaked from my fingertips to my elbow, and covered my white blouse). It was hard to tell who was injured.

I returned to the classroom and found that the students in my room were traumatized and some had gotten sick; because, among other things, the finger was still on the floor. (It was a beautiful finger..with a fake fingernail, nicely polished)

I picked it up and put it in an envelope and handed it over to the principal, Mr. Wilson. She was hurried into Officer Hunt's squad car with Mr. Wilson and driven to McKay-Dee Hospital 2 miles away.

I called her that night and talked to her. She was in good spirits. I told her I was impressed at how composed and brave she was, that she didn't even cry. She told me that she only cried when the ER doctor told her had to give her shots so he could shave off the bone because it was sticking out. Her mother had arrived by then.

I told her that in the future, when she has manicures, she is to tell the lady to only charge her for nine fingers, not ten.......10% off every time! I bought her a special balloon for when she returned five days later. She's really been a sweetheart about the whole situation.