Most often people talk about being in the right place at the right time. Maybe they achieved a beautiful photo of a sunrise, or the antics of children or animals. Maybe they found something someone lost and received a big reward when it was returned. But how often do they talk about being in the wrong place at the right time? If they do, it’s often about the death of someone or maybe witnessing a crime. And if this is the case, they are sad or horrified. Walter Williams often is in the wrong place at the right time, though his reaction to the incidents he encounters is much different than anyone would expect. And, life changing.

Walter’s third day of high school started as the other days had started. He slapped the alarm clock quiet at 6:30 a.m., got out of bed and shuffled to the bathroom to do all he needed to do before getting dressed, making his bed, and after grabbing his backpack, heading to the kitchen for breakfast. At 7:15 a.m. he was standing at the pick up point for the school bus, along with about fifteen other students. If the other students looked a bit nervous being around Walter, they had good reason. They’d all seen what could happen to Walter and didn’t want to be near him if/when it happened. But their fears were premature, as the school bus arrived, they and Walter were still in one piece, and when everyone was aboard the school bus, the school bus driver guided the school bus nicely down all the streets until they arrived safe and sound at school. It was rather interesting, though, right after the bus stopped in front of the high school and the bus driver opened the door, a race began to see how fast everyone could get away from where Walter was sitting on the bus. Or where they knew he’d go right after Walter got off the bus. They were not taking any chances.

When most of the students arrived at school they’d head to their hall lockers to swap out books and grab whatever other things they’d need for the classes they’d have up to their lunch period. Some would wait until the first bell rang before doing this, causing some upset feelings as they’d rush by and bump into others going to class. Walter had always been of the former group, often to be found afterwards either standing by his first period class or already sitting in the classroom. When Mrs. Stokes arrived at her classroom, she found Walte leaning up against the wall reading his science textbook.

“Ah Walter, good morning. How are you doing today after you and that door met?” Brigette could still see the knot on Walter’s forehead, though it wasn’t as pronounced as it had been yesterday. Walter chuckled, rubbed the knot and told Brigette, “Well, better than I was yesterday, though it’s still sore where the door and I met. And I don’t have a headache today.” And then to lighten the mood a bit he said, “Yeah know, I don’t mind meeting a door, but I’d wish they wooden be so quick to make my acquaintance.” It took Brigette a few moments to realize Walter had said ‘wooden’ instead of ‘wouldn’t.’ She rolled her eyes, shook her head and told Walter, “Walter, that was really terrible.” They both laughed, then Walter followed Mrs. Stokes into his first period science class. Just as the first bell rang.

A couple of students came rushing into Brigette’s science class just as the second bell began to ring. She waited until they were seated before taking roll. What had surprised everyone as they had taken their seats, were the few pieces of hard candy sitting on the desk tops. Brigette had even provided sugar free candy for those who had to watch their sugar intake, she didn’t want anyone left out. “Alright everyone, before you spoil your breakfast with what you found on your desk tops, don’t. Put those candies away for another time. Now, today we’re going to do our first hands on experiment, and you’ll need to have your thinking caps with you for this one.” Brigette had seen several start to unwrap the candies she’d given them, and watched several rewrap the pieces they’d almost put into their mouths. Once everyone had put the candy into their pockets or purses, Brigette continued with, “Remember we talked about molecules and atoms yesterday? And that when you combine two chemicals there is a specific result? Well, today, you’re going to be combining H₂O and C₂H₆O. Not yet Danny,” Brigette told him as he had anticipated her next question and started to raise his hand. “Does anyone besides Danny know what H₂O and C₂H₆O are called in common terms?” This time several hands were raised, Walter’s included. “Okday, Walter, you’ve been quiet these past two days. Let’s see if your meeting with that door caused any lasting effects.” Brigette had seen some kids go red in the face when she’d bring up something that happened to them. But after she saw how Walter reacted yesterday she felt she could tease him a bit. Walter did laugh before telling Mrs. Stokes, “Well, Mrs. Stokes, that door didn’t grain any knowledge from me so the answer to your question is Water and Alcohol.” The class was silent, digesting what Walter just said. When his play on words caught on there were groans and candy flying in Walter’s direction. Even Brigette had rolled her eyes and shook her head before telling him in a deadpan voice, “Walter, that one was worse than your first one.”

Once Brigette had settled everyone back down, she had them turn to a page in their textbooks. She had them look at a small experiment on that page, one that told what glass equipment they’d need and the amount of water and alcohol they’d need. She also directed their attention to the question that followed the instructions for the experiment, telling them, “I don’t want you to speculate at the results now, but write down your thoughts just before you pour the alcohol into the water. Remember to put on your safety glasses or goggles, and you’ll find everything you need in the supply room already marked for this experiment. Remember what I said about clowning around. Okay, let’s go do some chemistry, shall we?” And with Brigette’s last question, everyone walked over to their assigned bin, took out their own eye protection then lined up to get what they needed from the supply room. Walter, of course, found something fascinating in the material he’d been reading, and was reading it now when he heard Brigette say, “Walter, you going to join us today?” Walter’s head snapped up, and looking around him, found the seats vacant and everyone lined up for the supply room. He chuckled then told Brigette, “Sorry, Mrs. Stokes, just reading something I found interesting in our textbook.” He got up from his seat, grabbed his eye protection from his assigned bin, and became tail end Charlie in the line for the supply room.

Brigette had told everyone which shelf the stoppered bottles of alcohol were on and there was enough for each person to have one bottle. Finding the milliliter beakers they would use didn’t require her instructions. Brigette had divided her attention to what each student took out of the supply room and having them take any lab table space that was vacant. As the students started filling their beakers with the required amount of water, Brigette lost track of the one student still in the supply room, Walter, as she made sure each student put on a pair of disposable gloves before removing the stopper from the bottle with the alcohol in it.

Walter had picked up the correct size beaker but when he looked on the shelf for the bottle of alcohol, he found it empty. He started looking at the other shelves and saw one bottle on the top shelf of the cabinet that should have been for inert chemicals only. Walter had always been self reliant, so the thought of talking to Mrs. Stokes never crossed his mind. He sat the beaker back down on the shelf it came from and stood back to determine how he could get to that one bottle of alcohol. He tested the height of the second shelf by lifting his leg and placing it on that shelf. “That will work,” he muttered to himself, as he grabbed the sides of the cabinet carcass with both hands, stepped up onto the second shelf and pulling himself up against all of the shelves, let go with his right hand and reached up and took the bottle off the top shelf.

Brigette had been helping one student who was having trouble removing the glass stopper from the bottle, when she heard a terrible crash coming from the supply room. A sudden thought struck Brigette and she quickly scanned the students at the various lab tables. Walter was missing. Some of the students closest to the supply room had started walking toward the room when they heard Brigette yell, “EVERYONE! STAY WHERE YOU ARE. PUT EVERYTHING DOWN, PUT THE STOPPERS BACK IN THE BOTTLE OF ALCOHOL, AND GO BACK TO YOUR SEATS!” When some stood where they were she hollered, “NOW!” After her last order, and seeing the look on her face, no one stayed where they were any longer than it took for the student in front of them to move.

When Brigette saw everyone, except Walter, had returned to their seats, she quickly made her way to the supply room, hoping it wasn’t as bad as it sounded. When she reached the door to the supply room she froze, as she saw Walter lying at the bottom of the cabinet carcass on his right side. As she surveyed the scene, she heard Walter moan, but also saw him covered in broken glass, broken shelving, and a mixture of all the inert chemicals that were stored on the shelves of that cabinet. She turned to the wall on her left, lifted the receiver of the phone on the wall and dialed the nurse, telling her when she answered, “Code RED in Science Classroom 1, Code RED in Science Classroom 1.” There was no need for her to hear what the nurse replied because it was a well rehearsed action plan for any accidents in any of the science classes. The teacher called the nurse, the nurse immediately called the office and repeated the Code. The office then called the paramedics who would bring the ambulance and make their way to the appropriate classroom; the rescue services had been given the school layout, with every classroom listed.

Part of the emergency plan called for getting the students out of the classroom, so Brigette went back out to the classroom portion of the room and told everyone, “I want you all to pick up your things and go out into the hall. Quickly now, I need all of you to hurry.” She waved off questions and almost screamed at a few who thought they had a right to know what happened. Eventually all of her students were out in the hallway when she told them, “Follow me, quickly.” She led them to the next door Science Classroom, and not bothering to knock, opened the door and told Bobbi Abbernathy, “Code RED!” Bobbi then turned to her class and told them, “Alright everyone, listen closely. There’s been an emergency in Mrs. Stokes class, so her students will be in with us until the first bell rings. I want everyone to behave themselves while they are here. All of you have reading to do so you can get busy reading. Mrs. Stokes, have your students sit at the lab stations in the back of the class. And if there aren’t enough seats they can sit on the tables.” Bobbi took over the responsibility for Brigette’s students, as Brigette ran from the classroom and back to hers. Once in her classroom she grabbed a rubber apron and chemical resistant gloves before going back into the supply room. Just as she stepped into the supply room, the nurse came running into the classroom, carrying an emergency kit doctors and emergency personnel suggested they have on hand. She too put on a rubber apron and chemical resistant gloves before following Brigette into the supply room.

Walter was moaning louder than when Brigette first saw him, which was good, but there was still the problem of the broken glass, shelving, and all the chemicals. The nurse went over to where Walter lay, got down on the floor, mindful of all the glass, and checked to make sure Walter didn’t have any broken bones. “Poor kid,” she said aloud, as she saw the lump on his forehead that had gone down. “Brigette, get a broom so we can get this broken glass on the floor out our way, so neither of us gets cut while getting him out of here.” Brigette didn’t move an inch, just reached around the door frame of the supply room door and pulled the broom back into the room. She handed it to the nurse who quickly swept everything she saw aside. Then the ladies went to work carefully pulling out the broken shelving laying next to and on Walter. Once the broken shelving was out of the way they worked on getting the bigger pieces of broken glass off him. Once those two steps were done, both women carefully lifted a dazed Walter to his feet and hurriedly took him to the emergency shower in the corner of the lab area. The two women had just got Walter, clothes and all, under the water when two paramedics came into the classroom. Since no one had said why the Code Red, and the two paramedics weren’t dressed for chemical problems, it was decided by the four to let the women continue holding Walter under the shower to make sure he was well rinsed off. Walter had started coming around as he was held under the spray of the shower, and bit by bit felt his clothing being taken off. For modesty they left his underwear on but handed over his clothing to the paramedics to be bagged and tagged.

As they took each piece of clothing off Walter, they could better see where he’d been cut by the glass. Some of the cuts were superficial, while others were quite deep and would need stitches. Even though those deep cuts were bleeding, they had to wait to be treated until they were sure all the chemicals were rinsed off Walter’s body. When the nurse said, “That’s enough time,” one of the paramedics turned off the water, while her partner found the towels used for emergency showers. The two paramedics had gloved up and while Brigette and the nurse held Walter up, the paramedics dried Walter enough to get him out of the shower and down on the floor, on more towels, so he could be treated.

The Principal had arrived by then, and Brigette and the nurse went over to talk with him while the paramedics worked on Walter. One of the paramedics got on his two-way and within a few minutes a fireman had brought in a gurney that would be used to take Walter out to the waiting ambulance.

.

Peter Stepel, the high school’s Principal, was as cool as a cucumber when it came to a crisis. He’d put in his time in some of the worst places people would ever see, and saw things he’d just as soon not talk about. “Brigette, what happened? How did Walter get hurt this time?” His eyes bored into Brigette’s eyes with more love and concern than anger and hate. “Peter...I...I really don’t know to be honest with you. I was helping a student with a problem she was having with a bottle of alcohol when I heard a loud crash. When I went into the supply room Walter was laying on his right side at the bottom of the cabinet carcass. It was the cabinet that held the inert chemicals. I immediately phoned nurse Bailey with a Code RED, got the other students out of the room, Dorothy checked Walter for broken bones before we moved him into the emergency shower and the paramedics arrived.”

Peter looked over where the paramedics were still working on Walter, covering the deeper cuts to stop the bleeding and stifle further contamination. He also noticed they had started Walter on an IV, likely a saline solution, if his memory served. “Let’s go see if we can’t figure out what happened. I guess we won’t know for sure until we can talk to Walter.” The three walked into the supply room and began looking closely at the shelving to see if they might give up a clue as to why they broke. There was going to be a thorough investigation because of the accident, and if they didn’t find anything then maybe the investigators would. As Brigette and Peter were looking at the broken shelving, Dorothy found something that struck her as funny. “Um, Brigette, why is there an unbroken bottle of alcohol there amongst everything else?” Brigette and Peter stopped looking at the broken shelving to look where Dorothy was pointing. There on the bottom left hand side of the cabinet carcass was one of the bottles of alcohol her students were to use for today’s experiment. Brigette looked at the shelf where that alcohol should have been, then back at that bottle of alcohol, then up and down that cabinet carcass, before saying, “I think someone put that bottle up on the top shelf of this cabinet. There couldn’t have been any way it went from that shelf,” and she pointed to the shelf where it should have been, “and end up there. Unbroken. I’m thinking Walter thought he could stand on one of those shelves and reach that bottle.” And Brigette was exactly right, Walter had stood on a shelf, thinking he could get the bottle of alcohol himself. When the shelves started collapsing, Walter had been pulling his body towards the shelves at his chest, thighs, and knees. As the shelves collapsed, his body weight was forward, and without the pressure from the three shelves, as those three shelves dropped, he went forward, hitting his head against the back of the cabinet carcass and falling to the bottom of that cabinet.

Peter frowned at Brigette’s idea, as he again looked at the broken shelving. “Maybe, Brigette. But look how thick those shelves are, they must be at least three fourths to an inch thick. Walter weighs what, maybe 130, 135 pounds? His weight shouldn’t have been enough to cause those shelves to break. Not the ones he wasn’t standing on. No, something else caused all this, something else caused those upper shelves to break and fall down to the lower shelves, which broke and fell until everything gave way and Walter fell. Well,” Peter said, walking over to the doorway to the supply room, “we can’t do any more now, we’ll have to let an investigators look into it. For now, let’s seal off this room, and we’ll look into getting you more supplies, Brigette; the room will also have to be decontaminated before it can be used again. When I find out where Walter’s being taken I’ve got another phone call to make. One that I dread.” First bell rang just as the paramedics had placed Walter on a backboard, placed a neck brace, secured him to the board, then lifted him and the board onto the gurney. As they were securing Walter to the gurney, Peter asked that they wait a few moments until the second bell rang so the hallway would be clear. He also asked where they’d be taking Walter and once he had that information, went to make a call he was going to hate making. A call he’d made once before. He just hoped he could sleep that night.

Once the second bell rang, the paramedics wheeled the gurney out to the waiting ambulance, with Peter following. Once the ambulance left, Peter started walking to the school office, thinking as he walked. ’Terry was going to be a mess when I tell her about Walter. She’ll want to speed to the hospital and maybe speed herself into an accident. With Shelby out of town, no one will be able to get her there and home again. To HELL with a phone call. I’ll help her myself.’ Peter’s mind made up, once in the office he went to Tina Strapworthy’s office, the school’s assistant Principal. He knocked on her office door, heard a, “Come in,” before opening the door, stepping into her office and closing the door behind him. “Um...Tina, we’ve had a bit of a situation in Science Room 1, Walter Williams was hurt and is right now being taken to the hospital. I’m going to his home to tell his mom, Terry, and then take her to the hospital. I may be gone the rest of the day, so I’d like it if you’ll take over for me. Make whatever decisions necessary when necessary, and knowing you, I’ll back whatever you decide. I’ll have to tell Margot about leaving, you know how she is,” and they both chuckled at Peter’s reference to Margot, “so, get with her and find out everything she has on schedule. Hopefully I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” Tina was a no nonsense person, but had a heart wider than the Grand Canyon. She had a way with the students that made them respect her as she confronted them about what they’d done. She never put that student down, only made him or her see how wrong they were to do what they did. Of course, that student got detention, or worse, but that was to be expected. Tina followed Peter out of her office, she didn’t want to miss Peter’s experience with Margot, his secretary.

Margot Dwater had been the Principal’s secretary ever since the Earth cooled and life began on its surface. She took no prisoners and would scare King Kong in returning to his island, but she was as fair a person as could be found. Peter walked to Margot’s desk, sat down in the chair in front of it and said, “Margot…” but never got the rest of his words out. “Yes, I heard. Walter Williams met another of his famous encounters. Damn, why him all the time?” She looked up at Peter, studied his face then told him, “And you can’t just make a phone call. You’re going to Walter’s house and tell his mom. And likely take her to the hospital and stay with her, so won’t be around the rest of the day.” And she looked around Peter to look at Tina. “And Tina will take over for you until you return, right?” Margot chuckled as she saw Peter’s expression, and said, “Peter, close your mouth, you’ll attract flies that way.” Peter closed his mouth as Tina chuckled behind him. All Peter could say in reply was, “Um...right. I’ve got to go.” And with that said, the two women watched as Peter grabbed some things out of his office before he all but ran out of the office and to the parking lot.

Margot looked at Tina before telling her, “Ya know, Tina, of all the Principals I’ve mothered at this school, that man is by far the best son I ever had. You make sure to take good care of him, RIGHT.” It was Tina’s turn to blush, since she thought no one knew about her and Peter, that they had been dating for several months and had fallen in love with each other. And that Tina felt Peter would ask her to marry her sometime soon. At least she hoped. “I will Margot, I most certainly will.” Margot hardly ever smiled, getting a pet name from the students. But this time she did, just after what Tina said. Peter had found himself a keeper, she thought to herself before going back to the task at hand.

Peter had sat in his car for a few moments in order to calm himself before he started the car and drove to Walter’s house. It wouldn’t do any good if he was involved in an accident on the way. Twenty minutes later he was pulling into the driveway for Walter’s house, again sitting for a few minutes before getting out of his car. Terry had seen a car pull up into the driveway and stood by the front window trying to see who it might be. Her stomach fell to her knees when she saw Peter Stepel get out of the car and walk up to the front door. He never got a chance to know of ring the doorbell, as Terry ripped the door open and in a hysterical voice asked, “How bad is he hurt?” Terry was shaking as Peter walked up to her, took her arm and walked her back into her house, closing the front door behind him. He guided her to the sofa, sat her down, found the kitchen and a glass, and brought her a glass of water before sitting down beside her.

With shaking hands, Terry accepted the glass of water, took a sip, and calmer this time asked, “How bad is Walter hurt?” Peter cleared his throat a couple of times before he told Terry, “Walter was in his first period Science class. The class was going to do an experiment that had them pouring alcohol into water and taking the resultant measurement. Each student was to have their own bottle of alcohol to use. Walter was the last student who went into the supply room to get his supplies. We believe the bottle of alcohol he would have gotten was put on the wrong shelf, and he tried to get it himself by standing on one shelf and reaching up to get the bottle. We don’t know why, but all the shelves picked that moment to collapse, and Walter fell into the cabinet and to the bottom as the shelves collapsed.” Peter let Terry take another drink of water before he continued explaining what they knew.

When Peter hesitated, Terry prodded him by saying, “Okay, but how badly was he hurt?” Peter looked down a moment, then looked up at Terry and replied, “The shelves in that cabinet contained inert chemicals in glass bottles.” And he held up his hand to forestall Terry from asking a question. “When those shelves collapsed, they fell down to the next shelf, which broke the bottles before that shelf fell, and so on. Walter was found at the bottom of the cabinet, covered with broken glass and a mixture of all those chemicals in that cabinet. His science teacher and the nurse got him as quickly as they could under the emergency shower in that room, after they removed as much glass as they could before they moved him. Walter has both superficial and deep cuts, those will need stitches. What we don’t know is how much of all those chemicals got into Walter’s bloodstream, or if any did, what effect they’ll have on him. A complete list of everything in that particular cabinet was sent with the paramedics for the doctors.” He held up his hand again and told Terry, “That’s all I know at this point. I’m going to take you to the hospital and stay with you as long as needed. Why don’t you get your purse, and whatever else you need and let’s get you up there.”

Terry reflected back to the day when she wondered when Walter was going to get badly hurt and need a hospital. Looks like that day has arrived, she thought to herself. “I have to call Shelby, he’ll need to know.” As she started to get up off the sofa, Peter gently laid his hand on her arm and reminded her, “Terry. Right now you only know Walter is in the hospital. You don’t know his condition at the moment. Why not wait to call Shelby after speaking with the doctors so you can give him that information at the same time?” Terry was quiet a moment, before nodding her head, setting down the glass of water on the end table, getting up off the sofa, grabbing her purse of the kitchen table, and taking a coat from the closet by the front door. She said no more as she opened the front, locked it, and started for Peter’s car. Peter followed her out the front door, closing it behind him. He then caught up with Terry, opening the front passenger door for her. She quietly got in, Peter walked to the driver’s side and got in the car, started the engine, backed out of the driveway and as calmly as he could, drove them to the hospital. His insides were doing flip flops at this point. He hoped he wasn’t taking Terry to see her dead son.