Joe leapt up, caught the football perfectly thrown by Frank, tucked it under his arm and ran as fast as he could, dodging his team mates. He was within ten yards of the goal line and no one was in front of him. "Touchdown for Hardy, finally something going my way," he thought.
That's when the hit came. Biff and Chet, who were on the other team for the scrimmage, had been scrambling to stop Joe before he scored. Biff came from behind with a flying tackle which took Joe down at an angle and slammed his shoulder into the ground. Chet came plowing through less than a second later and landed right on top of Biff and Joe.
Chet quickly pushed himself up, reached out for Biff's hand, and pulled him off of Joe. Biff in turn put his hand out to Joe ready to pull him up. "Awesome catch Joe. Too bad you just weren't a little faster…Joe?" Joe hadn't moved.
After seeing the tackle, Frank ran down the field to get into place for the next play. As he approached Biff, he saw the worried look on his face and quickly dropped down next to his brother. "Joe? Can you hear me?" he said urgently.
The coach came running over and knelt down by Joe. "Move back, boys. Give him some room to breath." Everyone obeyed the coach except Frank, who the coach knew wouldn't leave Joe regardless. So he didn't even try to push it.
"Hardy, can you hear me?" the coach said.
Joe opened his eyes, blinked and moaned. "What Mac truck just hit me?"
Frank gave a sigh of relief. Joe wasn't hurt too badly.
The coach looked into his eyes which were dilating normally and held up three fingers, "How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Three," Joe replied through gritted teeth, rubbing his shoulder. "The same number you always hold up."
"Well that hard head of yours is good for something Joe. What's wrong with your shoulder?" Frank said as he reached out to help Joe sit up.
Joe was holding his arm close to his body. "It's okay. I just slammed it into the ground when I was hit."
"Man, I didn't mean to hit you so hard Joe," Biff said.
"Don't worry about it. It's football, that's the way it goes. Help me up so we can finish the game," Joe said as reached out for Biff's hand. Biff pulled him to his feet, and he quickly grabbed his shoulder as pain seared through it from the movement.
"Joe, you're through for today," the coach said as he observed Joe's movements. "I want you to go in and have the nurse look at you shoulder. We have our big game against Southport in a few weeks and you need to be in good shape for it," the coach said. "Chet you can walk him in."
Chet and Joe walked slowly away from the field towards the school. Chet watched as Joe kept rubbing his shoulder. "Are you sure you're okay Joe?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. A little ice and a hot shower should do it," he said though the pain was getting worse.
"Well, if you had gotten the part in the school play you tried out for, you'd be fine right now rehearsing in the air conditioning. I really think you should have got the part, your audition was great," Chet said.
"Thanks. It wasn't good enough though…It's not a big deal," Joe said his voice strained with a little disappointment and more than a little pain. They reached the door to the gym and walked to the nurse's office.
Chet waited outside the door as Joe was checked over. Twenty minutes later, Joe came out with an ice pack. "See, I told you. Ice it tonight and tomorrow as much as possible and it should be ready to go for practice by tomorrow afternoon," Joe said.
The nurse poked her head out of the doorway, "I said we'll have to see if it's ready tomorrow. And I also said that if the swelling doesn't go down by this evening, you need to see your doctor before you can play again. Remember? Are you sure your head is okay?"
"Yes Mrs. White. I got it. And my head is fine, thank you," Joe said more than a little frustrated as he and Chet walked towards the locker rooms to shower and change.
Joe and Chet joined the others in the locker room. After a concerned look from Frank, Joe said, "I'm fine Frank. The nurse just told me to ice it. I'll be good as new for practice tomorrow." Joe turned and headed to the showers.
When Joe was out of earshot, Chet turned to Frank and said, "If the swelling doesn't go down by this evening Joe has to see his doctor before he can play again."
"Thanks Chet. It's nice to get the full story. I'll make sure that he takes care of it," Frank said. Turning back to his locker his said almost to himself, "Sometimes I wish he would just tell me everything."
"What do you mean Frank? I thought Joe always told you everything. Are you worried about him?" Chet said quietly.
Frank looked around and most of the boys were in the showers. "Well, I think not getting the part in the play upset him, but he won't really talk about it. And he's been moody for the last two weeks since he found out."
"Yeah I mentioned the play in passing on our way in and it didn't seem like he wanted to talk about it," Chet said.
"I don't think he could really be that upset about it though. That doesn't seem like Joe," said Frank.
"I know Frank, but he usually jokes about things and he seems sort of moody about this. You may want to ask him about it just to see if he's okay," Chet said as he picked up his things for the shower.
"Well, he just changed the subject the last time I tried to talk to him about it. Maybe it's worth another attempt," Frank thought as he followed Chet to the showers.
When Frank was ready to go, Joe was sitting on the bench holding a now slightly melted bag of ice on his shoulder.
"Has the swelling gone down any yet?" Frank asked.
"I can't tell. I'll have to look at it when we get home," Joe said a little abruptly. His shoulder was hurting. It was the same one he had dislocated a while back and he really didn't want to re-injure it. He was not going to miss that Southport game. Nor was he going to give Frank the chance to know how much it hurt since he would likely spend the rest of the evening in the doctor's office getting x-rays.
Maybe Joe is just hurting, or maybe Chet's right and there is more to him being moody then just his shoulder, Frank thought, resolving to find out.