Sometimes hitting the target, but most of the times missing, the boys played for awhile. They were having so much fun and had become so confident in what they were doing that Bruce didn't hear Eugene say, "Look out Bruce, here comes another dart!" Just as the dart left Eugene's hand, he looked up and saw his friend with his back toward him. "Bruce, move!" Eugene screamed. His cry came too late and in a fraction of a second the dart had lodged, ever so painfully, in Bruce's skull. Eugene desperately tugged at the dart, trying to remove it from Bruce's head but the dart held fast.

The boys rushed home, Bruce's grandmother immediately called his mother, a nurse working in a doctor's office. Bruce's grandmother also called Eugene's mother and Bruce's two sisters. Eugene's mother dropped what she was doing and hurried over to the house. Bruce's two sisters came running. They tugged and tugged at the dart, but the tiny shaft protruding from Bruce's skull resisted their efforts. Bruce's mother arrived with the doctor.

"Mrs. Carlson, I'm afraid we are going to have to take Bruce to the hospital," the doctor said after taking one look at the barb. Employing his expertise the doctor struggled valiantly with the dart. When he finally removed it, the end was bent like a hook.