This was back in early spring of 1989.

One day I was riding my bike on the streets of Manhattan, when a huge storm started to approach. I decided to pick-up the pace in order to get home before the rain hit, even though my little BMX bike was never intended for speed, with those little wheels, and wide handlebars.

Everything was going fine, until I made the turn onto 25^th street from 1^st avenue, heading towards the river. A ridiculous bust of wind hit me on the chest, which works pretty much like a sail with those wide handlebars. I was lifted way high into the air at full speed, and landed by the curb between two cars. As I came back to my senses sometime later (I'm not sure if I fainted), I noticed some blood running down my face, and I couldn't help but notice that my left leg was pointing in a direction towards which it was never intended to point. The knee was bent forwards, and the foot was pointing outwards. Not a pleasant sight.

What was a pleasant sight, or at least it appeared to be at first, was the fact that I was just a few yards away from the emergency entrance of the Veterans Administration Hospital. What a coincidence, I thought. I managed lift my bike, lay my chest on the seat, and roll over into the emergency room. As I got there, dripping wet, with blood all over my face, and an obviously broken leg, this rather unfriendly woman at the reception desk told me: "fill out these forms, and let me see your veteran I.D." . When I told her that I wasn't a veteran, her response was "Well. I'm sorry then. There is nothing we can do for you.". "Isn't this a hospital?" I asked. "Aren't those guys standing there by the coffee machine doctors?". She kept on arguing that if I was not a veteran, they weren't allowed to help me. By this time both me and MegaBitch started to get very upset at each other. She then got on the intercom and started to call for security to come to the E.R. admission desk. All of this while a group of doctors were just standing there, watching everything during their lunch break!

I got back onto the bike, and rolled down the block. When I got in front of the gates of the Hunter College dorms, one of their security guards called Bellevue Hospital, just two blocks away from the V.A. Hospital, and asked them to send an ambulance to come get me.