A Fatal Fall.

I spent a great deal of my work week while I was in the ice cream business at the Knob Hill Farms store on Lansdowne Avenue. Back then the Lansdowne store was the second largest Knob Hill food terminal. Previously it had been the old National Cash Register factory and was converted into the massive food terminal back in the early ’70s. Even after the conversion, the store's interior still looked and felt like an old factory inside.

Knob Hill stores could never be accused of being modern state of the art establishments.

The manager of the Lansdowne store was a young Greek guy named Jimmy. Jimmy was always at the store whenever I was there. Every morning, bright and early the Lansdowne store would get a visit from the owner Steve Stavros. Mr. Stavros had started the chain of the low price, no frills food terminals catering to the budget conscience back in 1963.

Mr. Stavros made the early morning rounds to each of his five stores every day Monday to Friday. Once inside the store, he would along with Jimmy walk up and down every aisle. Mr. Stavros was a real stickler for the details and would immediately notice anything out of place on his daily store tours. By the following morning before his next visit, Jimmy would have any issues corrected. I assume Mr. Stavros was happy with Jimmy because I never recall any other manager in all the years I worked at the store.

I had very little communication with Jimmy. With the exception of a friendly greeting, I hardly ever spoke to him. My job was to order, deliver and merchandise the freezers and I had very little interaction with any of the store employees. I arrived very early before the store opened and dealt mostly with the store receiver. It would be a safe bet to say I made well over a thousand visits to the Lansdowne store while it was my account. Even after all those visits, I can only remember one time Jimmy and I had an actual conversation. It would be a conversation I will never forget because it ended with a man taking his final breath right at my feet.

One afternoon I was merchandising one of the freezers with the family sized multi-pak boxes of assorted popsicles. I was crouched down filling the bottom shelves when Jimmy came up from behind and startled me.

“Mike, do you know how to stop a bleeding nose?” He asked me with desperation in his voice.

“Some guy has fallen down the stairs and has a pretty bad nose bleed.” He added.

“Try grabbing a bag of frozen corn to put on his nose and that should stop the bleeding.” I casually told him not realizing the seriousness of what had happened.

Jimmy darted off down the aisle to get a bag of the frozen niblets. I knew something wasn’t right just by Jimmy’s demeanor, he looked scared. The only staircase I knew of in the store was under the elevated open office and it led to the washrooms. I don’t remember if they were public or staff washrooms. It was always pretty dark down there and I had never gone down to use them.

I stopped what I was doing and ventured over to where Jimmy had told me the guy had fallen. I will never forget what I saw when I arrived at the top of the narrow, dimly lit staircase. An older man who looked to be in his fifties was lying at the bottom of the stairs. He was lying in a massive puddle of blood. His eyes were open as I ran down the staircase to see if there was anything I could do to help him. With each breath the man exhaled, blood gushed out from both his mouth and nose.

I knew this was much more serious than a simple nose bleed. I had never been in a predicament like this before; I had no idea what I should do. I was scared, I was terrified; there was so much blood everywhere all over the floor. I just kept telling him to hang on, help was on the way and he was going to be okay. Within a minute the blood had stopped, his eyes were closed and he just stopped breathing.

I was pretty sure he was dead and I remember thinking if he really was dead, I would have been the last person he ever saw.

Someone had already called the paramedics and they were just arriving inside the store when I got to the top of the stairs. There was nothing they could do. The man who had fallen down the stairs was indeed dead. Jimmy was visibly upset as were most of the onlookers that had gathered around. I too was upset as I walked back over to finish loading up the freezers. I could see the police were now on the scene. They were talking with Jimmy and filling out a report in the office above the stairs where the man had died.

I still had a couple hours left of working in the store. By the time I was ready to leave, the coroner had already removed the body. Before I left for the day, I went over to the office to ask Jimmy what they figured had happened to the guy.

The single dim light bulb that had been the only source of light on the stairs was removed and the stairway entrance was now taped off. I could no longer see the pool of blood at the bottom of the stairs. Jimmy told me that the man had probably gone down to use the washroom and had fallen on the stairs. Jimmy was in the office when he heard the man’s cry for help. When he rushed to his aid, Jimmy said he had a bad nose bleed. He immediately approached me, only because I was the closest person around.

The paramedics told Jimmy that he had most likely ruptured his spleen and drowned in his own blood. As I left the office, I saw the now thawed out bag of corn. It had broken open and there were niblets strewn all over the floor.

A couple days later I was back in the store. The stairwell was all cleaned up and had been repainted. There was now a much brighter light where the small dim bulb had been hanging just a couple of days earlier. Maybe, had the staircase looked like it looked now two days ago, that poor guy probably would have been able to see where he was going. Personally, I think the lack of proper lighting most likely was the reason why he fell.

Who knows, but it still kind of gives me the creeps knowing I was the last person he would have seen just before he passed away.

On one hand, I can only hope that the dim lighting was enough for him to see I was there by his side and reassuring him everything would be alright. On the other hand, I can only hope that the dim lighting prevented him from seeing how scared and terrified I really was.

Whoever that man was, I can only hope that he rest in peace.