Did I Ever Tell You About the Time .... ?

That I ran over a guy’s leg? No joke.
But its not like you imagine, at least I don’t think so.
Heres how the story goes:
In Halifax about 6 years my boyfriend at the time whom we’ll call … hmmm whats a good name for a “jerk of all trades?’

Lets call him Marc.

So, Marc and I were returning peacefully home from a shopping excursion, his at Home Depot, mine at Winners. We were driving from BLIP (Bayers Lake Industrial Park) with Pink stryofoam on the top of the truck, and him driving like an old man, (which I actually thought was a little bit cute most of the time) noticing everything that was happening around him, me with head down as we exit onto the Bedford highway, searching through my bag of bargains. I didn’t like him anymore at this point, I was just happy for the ride to Winners. Heehee .
As we merge into traffic already going at speeds exceeding the posted 100km/h, he says in alarm “That’s a leg we just ran over”. It was just getting dark at this time and I said in my sweetest (is there a sarcasm font I can insert here?) voice ever as I’m turning around to humor him and his outrageous statement “Don’t be such a weirdo, Marc, you didn’t just run over a leg, you’re such adrama que ---- OHMYGOD! That s a LEG you just ran over.
There was the bottom part of a human leg getting knocked around cars undercarriages at said excessive speeds.
“What should I do?”, he asked. ‘should I stop’?
YES I screamed – that a freaking LEG – ON THE HIGWAY!
So we pull over, back up and see a guy sitting against the concrete median that has no additional shoulder with traffic screaming by him. I Call 911.

Listen to how this conversation went: (or at least its loosely based on actual events)

911: 911 What is your emergency?
Me: Hey, I’m on the Bedford Hwy just before the Peggy’s Cove exit heading into the city from Bayers Lake and theres a guy who’s been hit by a car and his leg is severed. ('cept that I wasn’t exactly that articulate, I was f-r-e-a-k-i-n-g out.)
911: ma’am, is he conherent.? Whats your name, phone number etc etc ?
Me: Yes, we’re conversing with him. He’s alive with no other visible injuries. But he’s going to be hit again if traffic isn’t stopped soon.(there was no shoulder, just room enough for him to sit with his remaining leg tucked under him, very very scary to watch this unfolding) As I’m giving my name, phone number, age, blood type …
911: Ma’am, can you go across to make sure he’s ok?
Me: No. I can talk to him from here. There are more cars stopping, now
911: Yes, we’re getting more calls. Can you please go across the road to comfort him?
Me: No ma’am I can’t. That’s how he got hurt in the first place.
911: more questions .. blah blah Will you go across the road to be with him?
Me: Ma’am with all due respect, I’m wearing a short jean skirt, its almost dark and cars are driving past me at about 120km/h. I’m not going to risk my life. Are you sending emergency vehicles here or whats happening?
Soooo … by then, other cars had stopped and some guy went across the road to be with the victim.
Turns out – as I’d gone to visit him in the hospital – that he’d had depression problems and was off his medication. He told the police that he and his friend were crossing the road (no crosswalk and thick woods on the other side) and his friend took off to get help and never came back. Nor did the person that hit him.
His story was always fishy to me – and I said to Marc one day in conversation, as we had many deep conversations about the horrendous shock of the whole situation, that I thought he was trying to commit suicide.
His leg was too damaged to reattach and he had to have it amputated above the knee and told me one time in the hospital that he was going to sue. I asked him who he could possibly sue, he was unfortunately the one at fault in this case. He was crossing a highway in the dark, and even though it was a hit and run, he didn’t have any grounds to sue (you just said in your head that he didn’t have a leg to stand on …. Didn’t you? Cuz I did but decided not to write it, but let you say it first, so you won’t be hatin’.
After about 3 weeks of visiting him, bringing him Pete’s salad’s and healthy food, etc, I started to distrust him and thought he was getting too close to us, so I did what I do best – and ignored phone calls and he eventually stopped. Totally the wrong way to deal with it, but at the time, the only option I saw … so don’t know anything else about him ….
The end of the story as I know it is that the year before, he’d gotten hit by a car and had received a sizable settlement and he was hoping that this would be the case the second time around.
Turns out, I wasn’t entirely wrong about him. I can’t say that very often, so I’ll take this opportunity to point that out :-)
Crazy, hey?