It was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. School had let out early and fourteen-year-old Andrew Elliott was playing a prank on his twelve-year-old brother John, preventing him from entering the house. Lindenhurst Carrier Nicole Streb was subbing on the route that day and saw the boys horsing around and thought, "Oh, half a day."

She had gotten a few houses down when she heard the glass break and the ensuing screams. "I just knew it was that house and that boy. I ran back and the front door was open and I was yelling, ‘Boys! Boys!’"

What Streb discovered was that John had been trying to open a sliding window as Andrew was holding it shut, when John’s hand suddenly shattered the glass. She found him in the bathroom, his hand in the sink, bleeding profusely. Both boys were panic-stricken. John had sliced open three of the fingers on his right hand and one was cut to the bone. Shards of glass were embedded in the wounds. Andrew was frantically knocking on neighbors’ doors, to no avail.

"I just grabbed John," Streb said, "and told him ‘It’s going to be okay.’" She quickly created a makeshift tourniquet. "I tied it off with a washcloth, a dishtowel, something," she declares.

Their father, a New York City Police Officer was at work, and their mother, a newly retired city officer, and usually at home, had to testify in court for a recent case she had worked on. Streb called the father and told him John needed medical attention and asked for his permission to call 911, to which he consented. She stayed with John till the ambulance and family friends arrived and took over.

A few days later, the boys’ mother, Patty, stopped at the Post Office to express her gratitude, saying to Streb, "I’d like to thank you so, so much." She said of her son’s savior, "She handled a potential tragedy, when somebody else would have gotten very nervous. She handled it like a professional."

The Elliott's have since replaced the shattered window with special safety glass.

In photo: One look says it all. Lindenhurst Carrier Nicole Streb, right, poses with John Elliott, as his mother, Debby, looks on.