It was a beautiful afternoon. I was riding my bicycle by the river, thinking about yesterday’s baseball game. I guess I rode over a hole in the road. All of a sudden, WHAM! I went down hard on my right side. It really hurt!

My head hit the ground. I lay there for a few minutes. I tried to get up, but I couldn’t! “There’s something wrong with me,” I thought. I felt so terrible that I lay down again. Then I saw blood on my shoe. My hand and leg were bleeding. There was an ugly cut on my knee. I was in a lot of pain.

As I lay there, I took off my helmet. There was a sharp rock sticking out of it. It was pretty scary to look at. Thank goodness I wore my helmet! I shouted for help. A driver stopped his truck and came to help me. He put my bike in the back of his truck and drove me to the hospital.        

When my mother got to the hospital, she gave me a big hug and kiss. “You were wearing your helmet this time. How lucky you were!” she said. She knew I was careless and did not always wear my helmet.

But I’ll never be careless again… My bicycle helmet saved my life!