team dinner this week?
Murray
my wife offered. apartment fits six. two of those spots are highchairs
Marchetti
my nonna sent me a cooler of bolognese from Jersey. nine-hour sauce. i could heat it up for whoever wants in
Thompson
you brought sauce on a plane
Marchetti
i CHECKED sauce on a plane Thompson. in a cooler. with ice packs. she made me promise on her mother’s name
Avi
I can see this chat. and the coffee is fine.
Marchetti
yes cap
Berger
yes cap but the coffee is NOT fine
Thompson
yes cap
Kowalski
yes cap
Avi
Good first day. Get some rest.
Marchetti
yes cap. but the music conversation is happening
Berger
...resuming broadcast at a later time
Chapter 3 — ZAY
Eight AM. Treatment tables wiped, charts loaded, schedule printed and pinned above my station. Tape sorted by width, bands by resistance, rollers by density on the lower shelf. The ultrasound calibrated. I check everything twice because the second check is where you catch what confidence skips over, and I am not in the business of being caught off guard in my first week.
The facility is quiet at this hour. Just the hum of the overheads and the faint cold seeping through the walls from the rink. I set up my station the way I set up every station I’ve ever worked at, precise and deliberate, and I notice what I always notice in a new building. I’m the only Black professional in the medical suite. Probably in the whole training wing.
Gary finds me reviewing intake files. He sets a coffee on my desk and drops a folder next to it, which is his way of turning a walk-by into a conversation.
“Marchetti. Posterior capsule issue, flagged in the medical, confirmed in his physical last week. Some limited range of motion, impingement, compensating on his left side morethan he should be.” He opens the folder and taps the MRI. “Long-term rehab case. Daily sessions when the team’s home, coordination with strength and conditioning. I want you running it.”
