On June 9, 1994, I was in my first year of Junior High. The whole junior high was going on a field trip to the Jamestown beach in Rhode Island. We plan to spend a whole day there so the excitement was buzzing. The whole junior high was actually only 4 classes. That is how small our junior high were. That day was beautiful with soft blue sky with some clouds but the sun was shining bright. The temperature was just perfect for beaching day. The waves had some small ocean foams. There was some boats docking while others were moving around.

By the teachers’ order, each students were grouped in 3 or 4 to keep each other safe and accountable. I remember I was having a blast and I could stay in the water all day if I could. I kept sinking my head under the water and swim like I was a mermaid and/or I was just chatting away with my friends like teens would do.

I remember I was probably 15 inches deep into the green and blue colored ocean when I saw a good friend of mine was holding her bleeding elbow. She explained to me that there was something in the general area that have cut her and she has no idea what it was. Even though, it was only 15 inches deep into the water, we were unable to see the ocean floor so we had to rely on our feet to feel our way around. I remember asking her if she was okay which she told me she was. I do remember taking one step forward in front of that friend who was standing on the right side of me watched me launch forward into the water. As the water was hitting my face and going deeper into the water, I felt something spiky like there was a porcupine was in the water like they were burrow in the ocean sand. I immediately thought this was very odd because I didn’t think porcupine go into the water, and I don’t seem to remember seeing one out in the wild in the state of Rhode Island but that is exactly how it felt as it slash across my foot. I also felt my right hand was stabbed by something and I decided to get out of the water without telling my group to see what was happening. I wanted to check myself to make sure I was okay.

As I was walking out of the water, I saw a car was pulling in the parking lot and I recognize couple staff that exited out of the car from the school. They were walking toward to other teachers. I was nearly out of the water when I heard tons of screaming behind me yelling either at me or at the teachers. I cannot tell you because I was looking ahead. I’m legally hard of hearing which thankfully wasn’t wearing hearing aids at the time. Next thing I know, the teachers and staff change their direction and start sprinting toward me. They looked me over to make sure I was okay and that when they found my right foot was bleeding heavily. They helped me walk over to the shower to clean as much as we could. After inspecting my cut, they decide it was best that I was taken to the school so they could contact my mother at work. So while I was in the staff backseat of the car, I became instant popular because they wanted to see my bloody cut that was displaying openly at the side window. They claim they saw blood gushing out and they could see my bones. I had to tell them to stop telling me that because it was making me feeling nausea.

At the walk in clinic with my mother, I had to get my cut cleaned out several times because there was some beach sands got in pretty good by using the x-ray of some kind to detect sands. After the sands were completely gone, I was being sew together. I was not permitted to take shower for 2 weeks but I had to go back to the doctor office to make sure I was healing nicely.

At a week and half later appointment, the doctor was in shock and disbelief at how fast I was healing and there was a string that the doctor couldn’t get it off so it is still there today. My skin healed over it and it have become part of me now. With the doctor’s permission, I was able to go back to school with ugly grey boot while my other foot had sneaker on and the shower were thumb up.

When I went back to school, the friends and the teachers were relieve to see that I was okay. I was told by several people, there was a teacher’s son and a different student who also got cut after I left. I was only one that got severely injured but for the others, they were very minor. My homeroom teacher who recommended this beach went after the town and took them to the court. I do not know the result of the case but I somehow remember that the beach did get cleaned up in the end.

Happy 30 year anniversary, Jamestown Scar.