The Unexpected Helping Hand

Jerry Mackey was the oldest of six children. Jerry and his family lived in a small house at the end of a very long dirt driveway in rural Pa. Being the oldest and the only son in the family the task of watching out for his younger sisters was a normal part of his growing up.

Jerry did not always cherish this task and there came a day when his attention slipped a little. He and the youngest girl where out along a fence row picking berries as they had been instructed, frustrated with his sister's lack of attention to the task at hand Jerry moved down the row a piece and did not notice that Mary had crossed through the fence to the other side where the creek swollen from heavy rains was near the point of flowing over it's muddy banks.

Mary was curious as many children are and made her way to the edge of the creek bank. In an instant the slippery bank gave way under her feet and she was in the water. Screaming as she fell, Jerry heard her cries and raced back to where she should have been only to discover the hole in the brush where she had pushed her way through the fence. He knew in an instant what had happened and went through after her. When he got to the creek the only thing he saw was the light blue balloon of Mary's skirt rushing away from him. Without hesitation he went in after her. He reached out and grabbed the fabric of her skirt as soon as he was able and fighting the swift current drug her back to the bank. He knew as soon as he had hear on dry land that he was to late. Mary bleeding from a large gash on her head had succumbed to the flooding waters.

Scooping the lifeless body of his sister into his arms he ran nearly a half a mile back to their home.

Tormented and unable to forgive himself for failing to save his sister Jerry stopped eating and prowled the house all hours of the night and day after the incident. In a few short days Jerry fell ill. His fever raged and he lingered in delerium for almost a week before his weakened body and soul gave up the fight to stay alive. It was always assumed that he had contracted some type of infection from the flood water. Jerry passed away one week to the day after his sister's accident.

That was in 1941.

Without knowing the story of the Mackey family's loss my husband's parents bought the Mackey family home in 1950. They happily moved into the house when my husband was four years old. He and 2 of his sisters grew up together in this home.

Much to my mother in laws dismay she learned in 1975 that she was pregnant and would give birth to her youngest child in June of 1976. As it turned out her youngest was a little girl that they named Mary.

As most children Mary had her share of scrapes and bruises but it was not until 1984 that she found herself in much the same predicament that had led up to Mary Mackey's death. She had been playing at the creek with a friend when she also fell into the water hitting her head as she fell. Her friend grabbed for her but missed. Mary was in the water in an instant. Her father who was fishing nearby managed to pull Mary out in time to prevent her from drowning, But from that day to this Mary insists that Jerry saved her. She claims that Jerry pushed her up in the water keeping her head above the current until her father could get to her.

My curiosity got the best of me and I started asking around if anyone might know who Jerry was. I found one of Jerry's sisters still living in the area and she told me the story of Jerry and Mary Mackey.

I was not entirely convinced that Jerry had indeed been on hand to save our Mary, but I also knew that our Mary would not have had any reason to know of Jerry at the time.

As these things go the incident was soon pushed to the back of our memories and I did not have cause to think of it again until many years later when our Mary newly married and pregnant moved into the apartment next door to ours.

Young and broke as most newlywed are she did not have a telephone connected in her apartment and so we developed a system where if she needed me or I needed her we would bang on the adjoining wall and then go to our respective fire escapes to chat.

There came a day when she was just shy of being full term in her pregnancy I heard an urgent pounding on the wall from her apartment. I rushed out to the fire escape expecting to be told that she had gone into labor but when I got there she was not on her fire escape. I rushed down my stair and up hers in her back door and found her lying unconscious on the living room floor. I could tell that she was not breathing and immediately checked for an obstruction in her throat. I found a bit of pretzel lodged in the back of her throat and was able to remove it after a bit of struggle. My son who had followed me across rushed back to our side and called 911.

By the time the ambulance arrived she was breathing on her own again and sort of awake. Later that evening in the hospital she asked why I had come over just at that time and when I told her it was because of the pounding on the wall she said she never did. She started choking and that was the last she knew.

Mind you I have no way of being certain that it was Jerry that had interceded once again to save our Mary's life but I also have no reason to think that it was not.