February 28, 1973

 David was 28 months old and weighed 27 lbs. when he was attacked by a large black German Shepherd on the porch of the Valley Falls Post Office. We sensed the end of winter so he was wearing a new hooded jacket with pockets instead of his usual one-piece snowsuit. He, Marilyn, and I entered the post office by the south entrance, which was then a flight of about 3 steps. The dog's owner was inside chatting with Gloria, the postmistress. The dog was evidently anxious for his owner  to come out because he approached us as we were climbing the steps, greeting us in a friendly-seeming manner, and jangling his chainlink collar with tags. I herded the kids against the wall, because I was afraid he'd knock them over and off the steps in his enthusiasm.
    We entered the building and his owner and Gloria were still chatting even as we left with Nana's mail. Marilyn was three and liked to use the combination to unlock Nana's mailbox. (The combination was B-FG-B with a full reverse turn after the first B.) We left, after exchanging greetings. Marilyn was ahead of me carrying the mail and David was a few steps behind. I turned to take his hand to help him down the transom and on to the porch, but instead he stuck his hands into his pockets, a new thing then. So the three of us were on the porch headed toward the steps on the right of the building, to where I'd parked my car across from the library.
  I heard a fierce snarl and turned abound to see David lying on his back with the large dog biting at his head. The dog must have run off when I turned because I don't remember chasing him off, but I'm sure there were screams. I carried him, bleeding profusely, into the post office. Marilyn must have been close behind. I know she dropped the mail because someone retrieved it and brought it into the post office.
     Gloria and the dog's owner were horrified at the sight. Gloria brought me back into the office area. Since David's entire face was covered with blood, I asked her to check to see if his eye was still there. She looked, said it was, grabbed a box of kleenex and laid the entire contents  on his forehead. She called the Rescue Squad* and then she called Dave at work and told him to get to the hospital. Of course, he wanted to kill the dog himself right then, but she got his priorities  straightened out.
   The ambulance brought us to St. Mary's. A woman stopping to get her mail drove Marilyn to Nana's. At the hospital, they put out a call for a plastic surgeon, so he had to be sedated. David was quite calm as long as I was there, but it was a sad sight when they had to take him away to the operating room to sedate him for the surgery. He was strapped to the gurney, but so little that the straps couldn't contain his body, so one of the nurses had to hold him down. He wanted his mother.
   Dr. Price arrived to do his work, and our pediatrician Dr. Grattan showed up, wondering why we hadn't called him; he found out by checking admissions on his regular schedule. He said that by the force of the wounds, the bites would probably have been  fatal if anywhere else on his body. A toddler's skull is the strongest bone.
   Dr. Grattan took immediate action. There was no question of "dangerous dog" and how many bites were allowed. He said that a dog attacking a small child with no provocation and in a public place was not acting normal. He declared the threat of rabies, even though the dog was up to date on rabies shots. Quarantining the dog would not be an option. Results would not be available for at least 10 days, and the dog's teeth had penetrated David's skull, so waiting could be disastrous.
   As it turned out, the dog was euthanized, and was negative for rabies. The owners had tried to hide the dog at another location, but Dr. Grattan was health Officer and issued a warrant or summons or whatever and they had to surrender it. Dr. Grattan didn't regret the seizure though: he said a dog that would do that should not be alive.
  David had over a hundred stitches in his head, the type that had to be removed later. He stayed in the hospital about 4 days, running a fever from the infection, and he also suffered a chipped tooth While there, with Dorothy and Gus visiting, he transfixed the parents of other patients by explaining in vivid detail what had happened. He was almost completely accurate, though he said when he was in the ambulance, he heard a siren and believed it was the sheriff coming to arrest the dog.
* A master proofer issued correction that 9-1-1 was not operational in 1973.