a summary of the drinks I've had today

- iced Carmel craze latte

- pineapple and passion fruit lemonade refresher

- 1 1/2 lemonade and raspberry vodka

- regular lemonade

- 2 mikes hard lemonade

- a shot of apple schnapps

Personal Narrative

It was Wednesday, that meant wings at Sunset Bar and Grill.  Nik, Alex, Ben, Francis, and myself were going for Wednesday night wings after work.  We all got off work around 5:30 PM.  We met at Nik's family farm at 6:30, except for Francis.  He was running late, a week and a half earlier he had started a new job as a steamfitting apprentice in Madison, a 30-minute drive.  He had gotten caught in rush hour traffic, and he still had to change out of work clothes and shower.  He told us leave at 7:00 without him, he'd meet us at Sunset as fast as he could.  We were planning on all piling into either Alex or I's truck and getting wings at 7.  We never leave for anywhere on time though, had to complain about work, girlfriends, and car troubles first.  Nik's Ford Ranger had a cracked radiator, Alex had no idea why his girlfriend was mad at him, my Silverado needed breaks badly, and to top it off Ben crashed his Mustang the night before, totaling the car, and taking a telephone pole with it.  Eventually after making enough jokes about Ben's driving we piled into Alex's F-150 and tore out the field lane headed for Sunset.

We made it to sunset around 7:30 and didn't have to wait long for Francis to show up; ridding his baby, a 2006 Honda CBR600 motorcycle.  We ate our wings in the back of the bar, after I tried buying a beer.  I figured since the bar tender was a friend, only a few years older, I had a chance.  "Don't even pull this shit Matt, you barley look 16" shouted Davis as he took our orders of wings.  We made fun of Ben's driving some more, offered Alex poor advice about his girlfriend, and even came up with an idea for a television show, starring us of course.  At quarter after 8:00 headed for the parking lot and decided the night was still young.  We were going to do what everyone in Sauk Prairie did for fun, cruise around and raise hell.  We had a target in mind, the road sign for Stoney Ridge Road.  It was spelled wrong, ridge was spelled "R-I-G-D-E".  We all believed it was our moral obligation as citizens of Sauk County to remove that miss-spelled road sign, so nobody got lost because of it.  We had our target and our plan.  We were going to drive to town, so Alex could get gas and Francis could leave his motorcycle in the gas station parking lot, that way we could all ride together in the truck.

We headed towards town and split off at the intersection of Highway 188 and Highway J.  We took J in Alex's truck, so he could point out where he had put a new tree stand for deer season and Francis stayed on 188.  Highway J was being re-surfaced at the time and had loose gravel on the surface, not a good road for motorcycles, hence Francis's decision to stay on 188.  After seeing Alex's new deer stand we were in town gassing up and wondering what was taking Francis so long to get to town.  Highway 188 was a faster route, he was on a motorcycle, and we spent time looking at Alex's deer stand.  On Monday of that week he called me and needed a ride, his motorcycle battery kept dying on him and he needed to get to his second job, milking cows.  Figuring he was having the same electrical issue and was now stranded we left the gas station and headed back down 188 to find him.  He didn't answer his phone, but Francis's phone always seems to be low on battery.  We made it all the way to the intersection of 188 and J where we split up and he was nowhere to be seen.  While we paused for a second to come up with a new plan I hopped in the bed of Alex's truck and shinnied the corn fields along the road with a flashlight Alex had in his truck.  Now we were worried he might have crashed his bike.  We started to drive down 188 towards town again as I shinned the fields, looking for signs of a motorcycle entering the field.  When we reached the first corner after the 188 intersection with J Nik shouted that he saw a small skid mark on the road.  I hopped out of the truck to look and everyone else stayed in the truck as they went a few hundred yards around the corner to park the truck on a side road.  I could not see the skid mark and at first though the small mark at the entrance to the ditch was nothing, Nik was being paranoid.  As I shinned the flashlight up towards the woods I saw a clear path through the brush and my heart instantly dropped into my stomach, I knew my best friend was in the woods.  I took off running through the ditch down the trail through the brush yelling Francis's name, hoping I would get no response and find nothing in the woods.  I didn't get what I was so desperately hoping for.

"Matt, thank you, yes!" I could hear Francis moaning as I got past the brush and saw him.  His bike was on its side up against a tree.  He was laying on his side a few feet from his bike.  He was on the on the phone with 9-1-1 already, Francis is not someone to call 9-1-1 “Matt, talk to 9-1-1 for me" Francis said as he handed me his phone.  Just as I began speaking to the emergency dispatcher Francis said something that scared the living shit out of me.  He said "Matt, hold my hand."  None of us are the type of guy to hold hands, get emotional, or show any fear at all; Francis especially.  Just after I grabbed Francis's hand Nik comes running through the brush.  He just yelled "Jesus Christ" and stood there for a second.  At the same time the 9-1-1 dispatched told me the ambulance was only four miles away and to park our truck right next to the crash site, so the ambulance could find us as quickly as possible.  I instructed to Nik to run and tell Alex to pull his truck onto the shoulder at the by us.  Nik just said "OK" and ran faster than I've ever seen him run before.  Ben made his way into the woods and asked what to do.  I told him I think everything is under control, the ambulance was just a few miles away.  Then Francis asked me "Matt, how's my bike?"  I hadn't even looked yet but I told him just a few scratches, maybe a new headlight and she'll be good as new.  "Don't fuck with me Matt, how bad is it?"  I told him it wasn't bad at all.  Ben ran through the ditch to help Alex park his truck on the shoulder in the dark.  "I have to piss, so bad." said Francis.  "I don't know what you want me to do their buddy, I'm not helping you with that." I replied.  Alex, Ben, and Nik came running back into the woods.  "Where does it hurt?" asks Ben.  "It don't hurt too bad." said Francis.  "It's going to be OK, your fine." said Nik.  “I knew you guys would come back for me, I knew it.” responded Francis.  We could hear sirens and see lights as a Columbia County squad car pulls up.

Alex runs to get the officer.  The officer walks calmly through the brush and asks Francis's "How much alcohol have you had to drink tonight?"  "Not a fuckin' drop!" Francis shouts back.  We all confirm with the officer has hasn't drank anything.  "Do you feel any pain" asks the officer.  "Yeah, it fuckin' hurts like a son of bitch!" shouts Francis again, showing how he was too tough to tell us he was in pain when we asked.  "You’re going to have to drop the profanity, and can we lose the attitude?" responds the officer as the EMT's from the ambulance run through the brush towards us.  "Moose, it better be Moose!" shouted Francis.  Moose was the nickname for a teacher at our high school, Ryan Mussack was a history teacher at SPHS and an EMT at night.  Everyone loved Moose, he was a great teacher and he was just all around a good, fun guy to be around.  Moose put up with a lot of our shenanigans and juvenile pranks, even laughed when we made a huge sign insulting the principle using words similar to his name.  Moose saw me through the flashing lights and looked straight at me and said "Matt, Oh God, who is it?"  I told him "It’s Sisul" to which he responded "Sisul, Oh God what did you do?"  Moose shined his light on Francis and his EMT team started to get to work.  "Moose! I'm so glad it’s you!" muttered Francis as he started to slip in an out of consciousness.  "Hey, It's Carla too!"  said Francis.  Carla was not only one of the EMT's on duty that night; but the mother of Francis's younger sister’s boyfriend.  "I already checked, I can move my toes, I'm not paralyzed." said Francis before slipping out of consciousness again.  "Francis, you gotta keep talking to me." demanded Moose.

The EMT's did an amazing job saving Francis's life that night, he was med-flighted to Madison.  We drove to his house and told his parents what happened and where they were taking him.  We drove straight into Madison from there.  We waited until after 2:30 AM to be able to see him.  He was all drugged up, so we couldn't talk to him.  His sister Veronica and mom were a complete wreck, his dad stayed at home with their infant son.  I tried to comfort them the best I could.  Alex, Ben, Nik, and I decided to leave and give his mom and sister some time to themselves.  I couldn't sleep that night and was very slow at work the next day.  Francis had a miracle that night, he shouldn't be alive, but he is.  He is at home slowly recovering now.  He is planning on steamfitting again come January. We did eventually go remove the Stoney Ridge Road sign so nobody got lost.