Being a Sport - 3

As I could notice, S14 was approaching me with great pace and vigor, determined to cloud me in another round of dust, when suddenly... she collapsed.

For a moment or two, I thought she might have considered taking a break from the running and chosen to study the ground’s grassy vegetation, considering the fact that she had a good minute or two before I could come close to catching up.

However, milliseconds later, my ears began to process the shrill notes of a female writhing in pain and I realised how wrong I was.

Separated by a good fifty feet or so, I began pushing myself as hard as I could in her direction. The cries got louder as I closed in and so did my heaves and wheezes. Much against the will of my body, I wished to reach her as soon as possible; perhaps if I had made running a regular habit I would have even achieved the goal.

But then, how many times you think about staying agile because the girl you like might need urgent medical attention someday?

Sadly, that was one such day. S14 needed my help and I was as slow as an ambulance on triangular wheels.

“Ess-fo... Ess-forti,” I blurted, when I finally reached my destination, panting hard enough to create an impression that it was me who deserved greater medical help.

“Are you okay?” S14 asked, looking concerned.

Now, wasn’t that my question? I just ran what felt like a thousand acres, with that very question in my mind all way long and she props it before my chance. So much for winning a race.

“Uh? I-I am good,” I said, catching breath, “I heard you scream. Are you okay?”

“My leg,” S14 winched, suddenly reminded that she was lying on the ground for a reason, “it’s stuck.”

And so it was.

Bloody rodents, I cursed, as my eyes fell upon her right leg wedged deep into a burrow.

“Are there any rats in there?” S14 enquired like I was born with vermin sensing powers.

“Uh, no, I don’t think so,” I replied, hoping there weren’t any.

“Okay, but how do I get out of it? I can’t stay in here all day!”

“How about you try and twist your leg a bit?” I suggested, kneeling next to her.

“No, it’s stuck so bad that I can’t even move it.”

“How about you try and nudge-”

“No.”

“How about you push-”

“No.”

“How about you-”

“No!”

Huh?

“No, no, no! I can’t move my leg, not even a bit” S14 cried, uprooting a few blades of surrounding grass.

“Hmm, I think I know how we can solve this problem without you needing to move an inch,” I said with an enlightened look on my face.

Wrong verbatim, one may say. For someone who hated Math as much as he hated that rat who burrowed the hole which now temporarily housed S14’s right leg, ‘solving’ something was perhaps far cry.

“How?” S14 asked, looking doubtful.

“Wait right here, let me find a big stone,” I said, getting up.

“A stone?” S14 gasped, perhaps fearing I was planning to amputate her out of the problem or something. Suddenly, rats in the hole wasn’t the biggest concern for this girl.

“Yeah, trust me,” I smiled, keeping the suspense intact.

Seconds later, I had a considerably large stone and a considerably shaken girl in my custody.

“Now, stay put, don’t move okay?” I instructed, taking position.

S14 nodded, looking aptly horror-stricken.

Raising the boulder few feet above ground level, I applied it on the land that roofed her leg with measured force. The effect was visible immediately and so was my plan.

The patch began to develop cracks and loosen up. Couple more hits later, it was all left to me using my hands to bulldoze the pieces off and thus liberate S14’s leg from its earthy confinement.

“Looks like I’ve sprained my ankle,” she said, taking a toll of the damages.

Her leg was swollen pretty badly around the ankle area and had developed rashes all way up to the knee. Hairline fracture, I would have said. However, considering the patient’s mental and physical state, it was vital that I kept my diagnosis to myself and just stick to nodding in solidarity.

“Yeah, and very minor one too,” I said and extended a hand to help her get up.

“How am I gonna participate in the heats next week?” S14 rued, trying to steady up.

A minute ago she was worried about her chances of ever watching herself walk again and now she’s concerned about her absence as a participant at Sports Day. Fantastic.

Then suddenly, without warning, she put her other hand around my shoulders and latched on me, causing me to almost shrug her off in fright. Though I must admit I had visualised this scene at least a dozen times per day on average, I never knew it would be for such reason and this awkward.

“By the way, thanks,” S14 said, smiling at me, as we prepared to trudge towards where we kept our bags.

“What for?”

“For helping me out of that mess.”

“Oh c’mon, it was the least I could have done.”

“You could have easily finished the race and then help me out,” S14 said. “I wasn’t going anywhere!”

I could? Hell yes I could. Why didn’t I think of this before?

“But you sacrificed your winning situation and chose to help me instead, that’s so sporting of you!”

I did? Hell yes I did. That’s why I didn’t think of that before, at least that’s how it would remain for the rest of this conversation.

“Ah well, how could have I thought about winning that race with you in so much pain? I mean I certainly knew that I could have won the race and all, but you had fallen on the ground and-”

“You know something, I like sporting more than sporty,” S14 said, smiling shyly.

“You do? T-That’s good,” I said, feeling a lump at my throat.

“Yes I do, Mr. Carl Lewis!”

Okay, I know the race was left unfinished but that didn’t mean we were starting all over again. Were we?

“S14 I must apologise for calling your favourite athlete a-”

“No you needn’t, not a big deal really,” S14 dismissed, like it was never an issue. “To tell you something, I too mistook her someone else when my last boyfriend first told me.”

“Really?”

“Yeah and since then he always used to tease me about it. He even told all his friends that they too started picking me over that. Hence, when you did the same I suddenly saw myself in the same situation again and hence, got a bit defensive. I am sorry.”

What was I hearing? S14 had apologised, to me? If I knew that falling into a burrow would yield such brilliant results, I would have employed an army of mongooses and trained them to dig holes all around the school property, many weeks ago.

“No, not a problem,” I said, lending a cheek-to-cheek smile, “not a problem at all!”

“So, we are cool then?” S14 asked, smiling back.

“Oh yeah, super-cool!”

With S14’s left hand over my shoulders and her schoolbag in my left, I had readily transformed into her human crutch cum bellboy and we limped in tandem towards the auto-rickshaw stand.

“So there you go, all set,” I said when we reached our destination.

“Thanks again,” S14 said, halting next to a waiting rick.

“No problem, again,” I said, helping her into the vehicle.

As S14’s rickshaw took off, I saw her craning out her head and smiling at me.

There was something there, right when she smiled, hinting me that though there may be no need to start the race all over again, there’s something else that was about to start soon, very soon.

So much for winning a race :)