Forklift Mishap

Kurt blurted into the phone. “I’ve got David here with me. He’s pretty banged up. I walked him to the dentist’s office across the street. Thank God the dentist could see him right away.”

“What’s going on?” Jo gasped. She pulled the black telephone closer to her ear so the other two secretaries couldn’t hear Kurt’s loud voice. As the newest secretary in the small office of licensed social workers, she didn’t want to cause a stir. She’d started her job there last month when the three older kids began the school year at Chico High. It was yet another new start for the whole family after Kurt took a job at Gridley Farm Equipment Rentals. 

She flashed across all the things they’d been through since leaving Kurt’s parents’ ranch in eastern Oregon for Wyoming in ’54, their three young children in tow. That was only seven years ago. She’d been optimistic they could start fresh on the Wyoming ranch. But two years later, calamity struck. Losing most of their prized cattle to unfermented silage that winter had jettisoned them off the ranch to temporary housing in an abandoned gas field nearby called Badger Basin. 

That was it. She decided to take charge. Their move to central California offered new hope: a place they could prosper and salvage their faltering marriage. But their move to Chico represented their twentieth move since arriving in the Central Valley. Now, this accident. She listened again to Kurt’s strained voice.

“He fell off the forklift. Hit the pavement hard. Knocked him out for a minute or two, but he’s coming ’round...He’s got a bloody mouth.”

“Oh, my God, Kurt!” Kurt never wanted to scare her, especially if one of the kids was hurt, so she concluded it was probably worse. She glanced sideways at the two young women, their hands hovering over their IBM Selectrics. They must have heard Kurt’s phone voice or her shocked reply.

“You listening, Jo?”

“Yes,” she said, twisting the cord into a tight spiral. 

“You need to come right away.”

“Where are you?”

“The dentist’s office across from work. On Highway 99. You can’t miss it.”

“I’ll be there.” It was a thirty-minute drive, depending on traffic.

Jo grabbed her purse from the file cabinet and headed to her boss’s office. She didn’t want to divulge too much about the accident. Just enough to convince her it was an emergency and she’d be back as soon as David was treated by a doctor. She smoothed her skirt and took a deep breath before peering into the private office.

“Excuse me, Eleanor.” Jo’s voice wavered. Her palms felt sweaty. “I’ve got to talk with you.”

Her tall boss, prim in a navy button-down dress with a starched white collar, pushed aside a stack of papers on her orderly desk and nodded an okay. She seemed unperturbed by Jo’s unexpected entry.

“My husband just called. He said our son David was hurt pretty badly when he fell off a forklift at the farm equipment rental in Gridley. The one on Highway 99. I need to help him with David.”

“Oh, my,” Eleanor said, brushing loose strands of her coiffed auburn hair away from her face. She stood up and rounded her desk to get closer to Jo. “You go. Do what you need to do.”

Jo heaved a sigh of relief, thankful Eleanor didn’t interrogate her about the situation. But why did Kurt take David to a dentist? That made no sense. If David hit the ground so hard he bloodied his face and fell unconscious, why didn’t Kurt take him to a hospital emergency room instead?

As she strode to her car, Jo pictured David lying on the pavement, dazed, his face smeared with dirt and blood, surrounded by rows of big farm equipment for rent. Her stomach suddenly turned roily. Don’t you dare throw up, she scolded herself as she slipped onto the front seat of their Ford sedan.

On her drive, Jo flashed on how keyed up David was earlier that morning, jumping up-and-down before leaving with Kurt to check out his dad’s workplace. Even though David was driving now, it had been a long time since he had operated farm equipment on their Wyoming ranch.

When she parked in front of the dental office, a careworn one-story frame building fronting the busy highway, she spotted Kurt waiting for her. “How’s he doing?” she asked.

“He’s in pain, but not too bad considering his four front teeth got knocked loose. The doc’s not sure he can keep them.”

She didn’t want to talk about that horrible finality. “You mean the dentist, don’t you?”

He grimaced. “Yes, the dentist. Right.”

He grabbed her clammy hand and led her inside. “He’s sure gonna be glad to see you, honey. The dentist has to wire the loose teeth right away. Gotta hold them in place.”

Jo groaned. “He has to wire his teeth together?” she asked in disbelief.

“They were nearly ripped out. You’ll see.”

“That’s horrible, Kurt. Sickening!”

Kurt gripped her hand tighter. “He’s going to be okay, honey. You know he’s a fighter!”

Jo pulled her hand away and braced herself to enter David’s room. As she approached his dental chair, David turned toward her with a glazed look and muttered a garbled greeting. His four front teeth dangled from his gums. His face was swollen, purple and red, saliva still dripping from his mouth across his scraped chin. A gloppy mix of blood and saliva had dried on the front of his dirty jeans.

Jo pushed past the knot in her throat. “David!” She clasped his hand, fighting back tears. “You’re going to be okay, Son. The dentist knows what to do.” She tucked his hand onto the pillow again and brushed a kiss on his forehead before rushing to the bathroom, barely reaching the toilet before she upchucked her lunch.

When she returned to the waiting room in search of Kurt, anger burned inside her. How could Kurt do something like this? How could he let David sit on the forklift tongs? She flashed on how Kurt had let David drive tractors, even pickups, on the ranches in Oregon and Wyoming when he was still a young boy. He’d emerged mostly unscathed by those risky activities, but why had Kurt tempted fate when the family was once again transplanted? Until Kurt got his first paycheck, Jo was still the family breadwinner. But David’s accident threw a new wrench into their lives. How would she cover his dental bills when neither she nor Kurt had any insurance? How could she get her family out of this spiral? She’d given up the best paying job she’d ever had at Aerojet General to accommodate Kurt. His excitement about finally landing a full-time job had convinced her to make the move to Chico. But what about the kids?

She thought about David, a senior this fall at Chico High, starstruck by Beatriz, a lovely foreign exchange student from Argentina. When he’d introduced her to the family a couple of weeks ago after asking her to the Senior Prom, Jo could see why he was enthralled: her Spanish accent; her charm; her Latin beauty. But now this catastrophe! David looked like he’d been bludgeoned. His recovery was sure to take weeks.

She spotted Kurt striding toward her. 

“Let’s talk, honey. Got to tell you what happened.”

“I’m waiting,” she said.

“Well…I was driving the forklift with David sitting on the tongs. You know David. Always curious about how machines work. A huge grin on his face every time I lifted and dropped the tongs. But then the damn thing plunged. I didn’t expect it. He hit the pavement face-first. His four front teeth stuck straight out. His mouth bloodied.” 

Kurt grimaced, kicking the floor with his feet. He heaved a sigh. “Damn lucky he didn’t hit his head. Could’ve been worse. I shouldn’t have let him get on the tongs in the first place. ’Course, I never imagined it’d drop like that!” 

Kurt’s narrow face was drawn, unusually somber. He was searching for a way to calm her. “I feel terrible about this, Jo. David will heal quicker than you think.”

“You’re way too optimistic, Kurt. No more mishaps. I’ve had enough!”

“It won’t happen again. Promise.”

Jo shifted around to face him. “I believe you, Kurt. But there’s more than this accident that riles me. I gave up the best paying job I’d ever had when I left Aerojet. Our three teenagers uprooted from their high school friends and teachers to start over at Chico High this fall. It’s amazing how they haven’t complained, even after moving like grasshoppers from rental house to rental house in Sacramento because we couldn’t pay the rent.”

Kurt jerked his head around, ruffling his thick black hair. She could tell he wanted to change the subject, but she refused.

“I know you’ve got a job here at the rental equipment company, and I know you’re excited about it because it’s farm equipment. But it’s commission-only and no sales so far. We’re barely squeaking by as it is, and now we’re facing new bills for David’s accident with no savings and no medical insurance.”

He grimaced.

“I can tell you one thing, Kurt. We’ve got to get out of this endless spiral of moving from city-to-city and house-to-house. Meanwhile, our kids are growing up. They’re starting to think about education beyond high school. David’s even mentioned going into the Air Force after he graduates next year.”

Kurt started pacing the floor. “So, what are you saying? We’re getting settled here. Both of us are working now.” He shoved his hands into his pockets.

“That’s true,” she sputtered. “But we can’t continue this direction. My take-home pay is much lower than it was at Aerojet—even lower than my previous job with the law firm in Modesto. I see no future for myself here.”

“Come on, Jo. The world hasn’t fallen in. I understand why you’re upset. So am I, for God’s sake!” He shrank away from her, stricken by her verbal lashing.

“You’re missing my point, Kurt.” 

“What is your point? What do you want?”

 “I’ll get back to you on that.” She threw her hands into the air and walked away. 

Jo was still shaken by the episode. It would take weeks for David to heal. Meanwhile, his four front teeth were wired together until the gums healed. She knew it would take months before they could afford a bridge. She felt his restless energy.

“I hope my face heals soon,” he said a few days later. “I’ve got to get back to school, you know. I’m taking Beatriz to the prom next weekend.” He looked up at her, as if hoping she could perform a miracle.

“It’s going to take a while to heal, but we’ll find a way to get you back to school as soon as possible and to the prom.”

He tried to smile, but his lips wouldn’t move. He turned away. It wasn’t like him to be dejected, but she shared his misery.

The darkening twilight suited Jo’s mood. While the kids were busy inside doing their homework, she could finish her conversation with Kurt. The same conversation she’d started earlier that afternoon.

“Here’s my thought,” Jo said, staring at him across the outdoor folding table. “We can’t afford to stay in Chico. We’re only going to dig a deeper hole for ourselves, even with our jobs. It’s going to take a while before your commissions come through, and now we’ve added a steep expense with David’s accident.”

“But Jo. I’ve finally landed this job. Let’s see how it goes.”

Jo looked at him. Where was the man she’d married? The cheerful, charming optimist eager to pursue his dream of living the ranch life with his family. The man who’d worked so hard to make ends meet when things fell apart. That dream had fallen by the wayside in Wyoming. Nowhere to be found in California.

“No, Kurt. We’re not going to see where it goes. Yes, you’ll make some commissions, but I can’t see you having a real future at the equipment rental company. It’s a small place. Caters to local farms in the Chico area. It won’t lead to your having a ranch someday, or even managing a ranch, will it?”  

Kurt winced as if struck by the truth of her words. But he didn’t say anything, so she continued.

“I’m willing to stay in Chico until the kids’ Christmas break. That’s it. And I don’t want to return to the craziness of Sacramento, even if my former boss at Aerojet would take me back at the same pay grade.”

“So, you’re willing to make another move? Where, for God’s sake?”

Jo didn't flinch. “The Rogue Valley. Close to where I was born. Close to Butte Falls where my grandparents and my great grandparents homesteaded. That feels right to me. There’s also Southern Oregon College, an affordable state college in the valley. I’m pretty sure I could get an administrative job there too, and you could look into farming opportunities in the valley.”

Kurt wrung his hands. “Do you expect me to just drop my job at the equipment rental place after all my looking?”

 “Not necessarily.” She locked into his eyes. “It might make sense for me to take the big kids with me on a trip to Ashland over the Christmas holiday. We’ll have plenty of time to check things out. I can look for administrative jobs for me, rental housing in town, and visit the college. Our kids can easily attend the high school now and the college after they’ve graduated. During our trip, you can keep working here. When I get back, we can figure out whether a move makes sense or not. With each move, things have gotten worse instead of better. I want to take a different path for our family.” 

She paused, trying hard to pull her thoughts together. She didn’t want to lose Kurt. Not after all these years. But she didn’t want her or her family’s future to dead-end either.

“And, Kurt,” she added in a hushed breath. “You’ll have to decide if you want to come along. It’s up to you.”