And Then There Were Nine

Submitted into Contest #185 in response to: Write a story about someone who doesn’t know how to let go.... view prompt

18 comments

Fiction Drama

Cardboard shoe boxes tower high the walls of our cramped entrance hallway of the apartment on East 23rd street. The ones I need are in a large box at the bottom of this wobbly pyramid. I hold the box above it against the wall, and using my thumb and the very tip of my pinky finger, pull the green box labelled Hoka out.


A voice rings out behind me, “You have ten pairs of shoes in the hallway. I think you need to get rid of a few.”


“But I need to rotate my shoes to protect my feet,” I say defensively to my wife Melissa.


“Ten pairs?”


I can’t see her face as I’m still pushing the boxes against the wall to prevent the pile from collapsing. That would be a mess so I better simply agree.


“Ok, I’ll throw one out.”  


When we first met, I was a bit resentful about how controlling she could be. But lately I have been reading of the need for spouses to simply be heard. It’s understandable, isn’t it? If you wipe your forehead and say “it’s hot today”, and the person you are talking to doesn’t echo the same emotion, and says something different like “look at that Great Dane!” you will probably feel a flash of irritation. Didn’t he hear me? Does he disagree?  What did I say wrong?


Still holding the stack of shoe boxes against the wall, I successfully slide it down to a safe landing. I put on the Hoka shoes with a maxi-protection extra thick stack. I feel three inches taller. So this is what it feels like to be 6 feet.


“Those shoes don’t match your running shorts,” she says, frowning.


This isn't negotiable. “It’s a 50 km race today. I need to wear these Hoka Speedgoat 5s to protect my knees.”


“Everyone we know is going to see you. The other runners will have matching outfits. I don’t want my husband to …”


I wave my hand dismissively. “Remember? The MRI showed my knee meniscus is partially torn. It's more important to protect that cushion in my knee than to look fashionable.”


“You are 38 years old. I don’t think it's a good idea for you to be running this much.”


“It keeps me healthy.”


“Call me the second you finish, to let me know you are ok.”


"Will do Lizzy."


After hearing my agreement, her face loosens. "I'll make you your favorite meal when you are done,” she says, and we give each other a quick hug before I leave.


Sitting in the F-Line train on the way to Central Park, immersed in the metal-against-metal screeching of the train making its way uptown, I think about why I spend so much time running.


Some people practice mindfulness, or meditation, or yoga. Those don’t work for me. Two seconds after I sit down to meditate or hold a yoga pose, I wonder why I am doing this and my mind races to people and places and plans.


They say in the modern world we overuse the planning part of our brain, and making us feel stressed. We only need to get a few things done each day, but that part of our brain that makes plans keeps churning and churning like a coffee grinder that has run out of beans. 


Better to “live in the moment” they say.


Running does that. One foot after the other. The need to vigilantly scan the New York City walkways for obstacles keeps me focused. On the positive side, people that I might feel threatening are now just scenery that goes past when I’m running. I’m invisible except to the other runners, who often give me a quick look over or a nod and a smile.


Races are friendly. People from every age, gender and ethnic group are here on the same mission. Ultra marathons attract a special sort of non-conformist. No one seems to have put any thought into matching their running shoes, shorts, and jerseys in the crowd that gathers to run the Hudson Valley 50 km.


I wish good luck to a few strangers, and then I see someone I know well.


“Good to see you here, Joe!” I say.


“Same here. I'm running this to get ready for the Hard Rock 100 in July."


I look down at the black sports tape covering his left knee.


“ACL tear,” he says, “The doctor told me to stop running, but I keep going.”


I nod. “A friend of mine recovered from that." A white lie, he recovered from a simple ankle sprain. I hide my schadenfreude that my meniscus injury seems more manageable than his ACL.


A horn blares, and then the run begins. Soon, we’re running over the George Washington bridge toward New Jersey. I see the greenery and the high cliffs created from the seismic shift that lifted New Jersey two hundred feet higher than the New York side of the Hudson River.


As we climb the steady incline of the bridge, Joe gains distance and steadily disappears amongst the swirl of runners ahead.


I concentrate on the rhythm of running. I try to maintain a steady distance with the woman in the pale yellow Lululemon shirt ahead of me while I let my thoughts float to other daydreams about seismic shifts, nature, and the meaning of life.


We've reached Palisades Park, the halfway point, and spread out string of runners does a large meandering circle through the park following the arrows taped up at every junction. From the heights above, we descend on a trail from Hawk's Nest to the Hudson River embankment. On one downward leap, we knee wobbles, and then I feel it bend like butter and pop out to the right side in a horrifically unnatural position. In the next instant, I’m rolling down the stairs. Over and over, uncontrollably.


Then the pain hits me. I scream. Laying on the ground, a few runners just go past without saying anything, but soon one of them stops and calls for help.


After a long wait, I'm being transported to an ambulance in a blur of pain, panic, and passing out. An EMT gives me a sedative and everything goes black.


An unknown period of time later, I awaken.


The lights in the room are bright. I smell the antiseptic sharpness of a hospital. Taking in my surroundings, the first thing I notice is how cold I am and that I’m wearing paper pajamas for some reason.


While I’m still taking processing what's going on exactly, a nurse walks in.


“Oh you’re awake? I’ll let them know,” she says, and then leaves the room.


Soon, a doctor appears, walking in together with my wife Melissa. They look at me with concern.


The doctor says, “Hi Jake. While you were in the emergency room, we took a few X-rays of your legs. It appears that low bone density, combined with all the running we’ve heard about from your wife, has weakened your knee joints and hip sockets.” 


He pulls out a laptop and shows me a colorful looking diagram. He moves a scroll bar and points at things I don’t recognize. I didn't realize x-rays are colorful these days.


“Looking at this slide, your fall has shattered your femur and right hip socket. We will do our best to put things back together. But currently there's a chance you will never run, or walk, again.”


“That can’t be true,” I say, my voice shaking. I’m gripped with a deep sense of panic.


“Our physio will teach you how to use a wheelchair, and in the meantime your wife Melissa can help push you.”


I look at Melissa.


“Great!” she says, smiling. “Now I can keep an eye on you every second.”


February 18, 2023 02:56

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18 comments

Graham Kinross
00:38 Jul 18, 2023

“I hold the box above it against the wall, and using my thumb and the very tip of my pinky finger, pull the green box labelled Hoka out.” instantly disqualified from the Jenga championships. One hand removals only. The wife’s response at the end seems particularly harsh given that a man who likes running has just been told he’s never going to walk again. People need to listen to their doctors more. It must be impossible for some of them to keep the ‘I told you’ look of their faces when someone comes in after ignoring their qualified advice.

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01:40 Jul 18, 2023

Yeah, its been a bit frustrating to know so many runners here (ultra-running is really popular in hong kong) get a serious problem with their knee meniscus, ACL, back, etc.. and as soon as its manageable go back to doing 50km runs and races, and getting permanent injuries and being unable to run forever. Guess this story was my i-told-you-so to the world as you can't really say that to someone who's had a big setback. haha good point about Jenga. somehow that game is really popular in Japan. How things over there? I was up in Tokyo a month...

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Graham Kinross
05:58 Jul 18, 2023

Tourists are back and so is the heatwave. We have been avoiding it to be inside, the AC makes life possible. You’re in Hong Kong? I visited there once and the humidity was killing me.

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06:59 Jul 18, 2023

Weather wise HK is not so bad. we are surrounded by the sea, it never really gets over 33C. I really miss Japan's four (5?) seasons, and the cool night time breeze in summer. Being on the top of a shinbashi beer garden on a summer night can be amazingly pleasant. (in HK it stays 30C in the middle of the night ) I lived in Japan for about 7-8 years and love the style and culture but never really got used to how reserved people are in public though, even though I have passable language skills. One day I asked the 7/11 guy I saw everyday, ho...

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Graham Kinross
10:27 Jul 18, 2023

Midsummer last year wasn’t so much cool as a medium rare cooking compared to incinerating heat during the day. Then again I come from the cold north of Scotland.

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Daniel Allen
18:11 Feb 23, 2023

This is an intriguing story. One the one hand, the protagonist (and his friend) clearly have an unhealthy addiction to running... it's healthy and all, but not while you're injured. That makes me sympathise, to an extent, with their wife. But when she's putting fashion before health, and especially when she's so happy with his accident at the end, it gives me some serious 'Misery' vibes. Nice work!

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01:56 Feb 25, 2023

Thanks for reading, exploring addiction to exercise even when its unhealthy could be an interesting future topic.

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Delbert Griffith
09:08 Feb 23, 2023

And just like that, a sea change in two lives. Nice tale, Scott. I saw a few grammatical errors in there, so you might want to go back and correct those. The wife is the most interesting character here. A terrific creation, Scott. You did a masterful job of making her intriguing without having her in the tale much at all. That's some writing wizardry. Your third-to-last paragraph has a chilling, brilliant piece in it: "...and in the meantime your wife Melissa can help push you.” That could mean so many things. Gave me chills. Nicely done...

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01:55 Feb 25, 2023

Thanks Delbert, I might rewrite this again as more of a horrror story;)

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Michał Przywara
21:48 Feb 21, 2023

That's a hell of a sudden shift and life change :) The situation is terrible for the narrator. While people get used to changes in mobility, right after the news drops can understandably be distressing - especially for a runner. But there's something else unsettling here: the wife's behaviour. While he was subtle with his schadenfreude about the ACL, she is overt with hers. Perhaps she didn't "just want to be heard", but really does want to be controlling. There's a bit of irony here too. We have a narrator making a point of living in ...

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04:55 Feb 22, 2023

Thanks, yeah I think I could have foreshadowed the ending a bit more for the horror vibe, maybe his wife could have been the one to sabotage/cause his accident somehow. I'm running fine myself, but always thought I need a backup hobby (now this one) in case something pops or tears one day. I did roll down a cement staircase in a trail race one time, and then I picked myself up off the ground in shock, and amazingly nothing was broken or damaged at all. but danger is always one step away on the mountains.

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Deni Bee
00:01 Feb 21, 2023

Lol... Sorry, I didn't really get the horror story vibe here. Maybe because during the first half my mind was reliving my daughter's experiences running similar races in New York City. It was an unfortunate ending for your protagonist either way, however. Good luck on the horror genre in the future

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01:18 Feb 21, 2023

Thanks for reading. Wrote this quickly, and probably should have pushed more toward happy running theme or horror story and not mixed both at the same time. Nice to hear your daughter is a runner. i used to run around new york lower manhattan as well, never made it over the GWB. always thought the Palisades are just an amazing scene.

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Amanda Lieser
03:37 Apr 13, 2023

Hey Scott, Oh my goodness, what a tale! My dear uncle has been a runner all of his life, and I know that the idea of walking away from a passion like running, could be an intense sacrifice that he would never want to think about. I always wanted to be a runner and I think that there’s a certain mentality around it that you’ve captured really well. I loved that the story starts with the shoes because I think that something that runners, by their very nature, have to think about a lot. This story made me wonder a little bit more about Melissa....

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[The ones I need are in a large box at the bottom of this wobbly pyramid. I hold the box above it against the wall, and using my thumb and the very tip of my pinky finger, pull the green box labeled Hoka out.] I, too, have struggled to balance teetering stacks while delicately weaseling something from the bottom. Mostly stacks of books. The boxes threatening to avalanche adds an element of tension to the scene, making me hold my breath and read on, to see if this will end in success or failure. [But lately I have been reading of the need f...

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Lily Finch
03:22 Feb 18, 2023

Scott, This is scary for two reasons. The apparent reason is that Jake may never walk again, and the physio will teach his wife to push the wheelchair so that she can watch him all the time.😟 Thanks for the good read. LF6.

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03:28 Feb 18, 2023

Thanks Lily just posted a draft before the deadline closes, was kind of aiming at a horror story still fine tuning and fixing grammar

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Lily Finch
03:42 Feb 18, 2023

Hey Scott, turning what you have into a horror story wouldn't be difficult. LF6.

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