“Don’t touch me.”
“Okay. Did you trip?”
“Yeah. The tree root.” He rolled to his side and moaned again. “I’ve done something to my left shoulder. I need your help getting up. Kneel in front of me.”
We got him standing in stages, with many breaks and lots of swearing. When he was finally standing, I remained silent until the groans faded to heavy breathing.
“What else can I do?”
“Emergency room.” He gasped between each word. “You’ll have to drive.”
“My car or yours?”
“I don’t want to mess up yours. Think you can drive my truck?”
“Sure.”
It took us fifteen minutes to get to the closest urgent care. Since it was quiet tonight, he didn’t have to wait long.
Scott emerged an hour later with his arm in a sling. After a brief discussion with the registration desk staff, he gestured toward the exit. I ran to get the truck and pulled into the patient loading zone, then hurried around to the other side to help him in.
He slumped in the seat and hissed out a dejected sigh.
“Is anything broken?”
“No, my shoulder was dislocated.”
I shut his door with a soft clunk and returned to the driver’s side. This was bad news for him. I had a recurring dislocated kneecap. I knew how this went. “How long will you have to use the sling?” I asked as I cranked the engine.
“At least two weeks.”
Wow. His dad was gone. His workload had doubled, and one of his arms couldn’t be used. “You can supervise but not participate.”
“An excellent summary of the problem.”
“Did they give you anything for pain?”
“Advil is fine.”
I pulled out of the parking lot and onto the highway. “Do we need to stop anywhere?”
“Just home, please.” His voice was rough.
“Scott—”
“Don’t. I’ve had enough today.”
“I’m sorry. This is my fault.”
“No, Sara. It isn’t your fault, not any more than it’s mine. The universe is not out to get either of us. Things happen and sometimes they suck and we deal with it. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d really like to be quiet.”
Status Report #20
Thursday’s wish: Personal Training
Dear Boss,
I gave Sara a personal training session, primarily correcting her technique with free weights. Although I helped her in minor ways, there wasn’t much gravity to this wish. I rather fear that the aching of rarely used muscles may have worsened her mood.
