I don't remember any pain, really. I remember staring at a tree overhead. I've since learned that's how people often deal with traumatic events.

Luckily, it wasn't mean girls. There were one or two girls in their group, same as ours. It didn't color my view towards females at all, I'm glad to say. We even became friends later. We were young - just before middle school I think. When I got to know her, I learned her mom had polio. I was probably more traumatized meeting her mom and her backwardly bent calves than the wallops I took.

Yes, I'd love the AI thing on my stories. I can then copy/paste into future ones.

Medium really needs a "footer" feature we can attach to all stories. Thanks, Katharine!!