Eddie Kaspbrak's Broken Arm

On July 20th, 1958, Eddie Kaspbrak, carrying a bag of groceries and his asthma medicine, was ambushed outside the Costello Avenue Market by Henry Bowers, Victor Criss, Moose Sadler, and Patrick Hockstetter. The attack was a direct retaliation for the Losers' Club's victory in the apocalyptic rockfight weeks earlier. Henry Bowers, his nose still bandaged from that fight, grabbed Eddie and began to beat him, rubbing gravel into his face and mouth. When Eddie managed to laugh despite the pain, Henry, enraged, twisted Eddie's right wrist up behind his back and shoved it upward until the bone snapped with a sound like winterwood giving under ice. The pain was immense, and Eddie shrieked before collapsing to the sidewalk. The attack only ended when a police siren approached, scattering the bullies. Patrick Hockstetter, before leaving, spat a large green lunger into Eddie's upturned face. Eddie was found by Mr. Nell, who called an ambulance. At the Derry Home Hospital, Dr. Handor set the greenstick fracture, and Eddie spent the night in a private room, his arm in a heavy cast strapped to his chest. The injury was a turning point. It forced Eddie to confront the truth about his asthma medicine, which Mr. Keene had revealed was a placebo, and to stand up to his mother, Sonia Kaspbrak, who tried to forbid him from seeing his friends. Eddie refused, asserting his independence for the first time. The broken arm also became a symbol of the Losers' Club's unity; Bill Denbrough, Richie Tozier, Ben Hanscom, Beverly Marsh, Mike Hanlon, and Stanley Uris all signed Eddie's cast, a gesture that felt like a contract, binding them together for the final confrontation with It.