Slag or Tree?

When we were about eleven and twelve Deb and I were playing chase before school started one day. Deb was being very elusive when I tried to tag her. So for some strange reason I decided to tag her another way. 

Why I did it, I have no clue, but I picked up a piece of coal slag and threw it at her. She turned to look at me just as the slag caught her nose and eye. Deb was adled and blood was flowing from her broken nose and cut eye when I got to her side. There was no question in my mind that I was in serious trouble. She asked,  "What happened?" Thinking what a rare opportunity to save my hide, I replied, "You ran into the tree."  That was the story we told Mom and Dad when we got home. My conscience bothered me, but evidently avoiding a paddling was more important to me at the time. 

Deb being stunned enough that she believed my story saved me that day. The truth wasn't told about this incident for many years, when Deb asked me one day, "Did I really run into the tree when my nose got broken?" I then told her the truth. She said she had always had the idea that I had thrown something.