Disclaimer: Any character you recognize is JE's.
Ice Pond Mishap
"Hey, you ready?" Lula shouted toward me. I looked up from the file I had been studying. Ready? For what? When I looked at Lula, it didn't really clear up any confusion. Instead it led to more confusion. Lula, the ex-ho who usually was dressed in tight spandex, heels, and sequins, was wearing none of the aforementioned items. Instead, she was bundled up in a cream-colored coat and thick black pants. The only hint of her true personality was her scarf, which was bright red had decorated with sequins.
"What's going on, Lula?"
"Girl, I know you didn't forget that I wanted to go ice-skating. I went out to the pond this morning, and it looks like it's completely frozenover," she said. I bit my lip for a second. Shit, when she had mentioned going ice-skating, I thought it was just a passing idea and nothing that she would follow through on. It was so cold; I couldn't believe that she would even want to go.
"Lula, I don't have any skates," I told her. Connie broke into the conversation.
"It's okay, Steph. Mr. Warren put up a stand to rent them out, and he has a concession stand. It seems that after the past few winters, he thought he'd take advantage of all the people who come there to use his pond." I sighed heavily.
"You're not getting out of it. Come on, Steph," Lula said, pulling me up and out the door. "We'll take my car 'cause I need some kick-ass tunes to get me in the mood." I reluctantly got into her car. Man, I've not gone ice-skating since I was a little girl! What was I going to do? Knowing my luck, especially in the last few days (in which time I had blown up two cars, got stuck with Big Blue, and got covered in chasing skips twice), the damn ice would probably break when I stepped on it.
"Were there people actually skating when you drove past the pond?" I questioned her. Lula nodded absently.
"Tons of people." That reassured me somewhat. If tons of people were doing it, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea. If I could get away with just drinking some hotchocolate, the day would be even better.
When we pulled up in front of the pond, I saw that Lula wasn't exaggerating. The pond was crowded, mostly with small children and their parents. Since it was winter break, it seemed that everyone wanted to be here instead of inside. I even caught sight of Valerie, Mary Alice, and Angie out on the ice. It brought up the question of where exactly Lisa was, but I'm sure that someone was watching the baby.
There were a few couples, skating hand in hand on the ice. Joe Morelli was there, with his new girlfriend. He hadn't gone back to Terry Gilman, as I assumed he would when we broke up. Instead he was dating some girl who worked at the button factory, which simply made my mother more insistent that I quit my job and get a respectable one.
I got out of the car and went to rent some skates from Mr. Warren, then laced them up slowly.
"Aunt Steph!" Mary Alice yelled, skating up to the edge of the pond, where I was sitting to put on my skates. Lula, who for some reason owned her own skates, was already standing on the ice.
"Hey Mary Alice. You having fun?" She nodded enthusiastically, then tilted her head inquisitively.
"Do horses ice skate?" she asked. I sighed softly.
"Very special horses ice skate," I told her reassuringly. She smiled brightly at me.
"Aunt Steph, are you ice skating?" Angie asked, skidding to a stop in front of me. I nodded at her. "Yay! It's so much fun! Watch me do a trick," she demanded, before going off and doing twirls.
"I can't do that," Mary Alice said sadly from my side.
"It's okay, Mary Alice. Neither can I. Let's just try to get out there and stand on our feet, okay?" She nodded and held my hand.
"Girl, I know you ain't leaving me behind," Lula said as I started to skate off slowly. I looked back at her, rolling my eyes. It was obvious that I wouldn't be leaving her behind. She may have been leaving me.
"Lula, it is completely frozen, right?" I asked worriedly.
"There are tons of people out here. Do you think that they would be here if the lake isn't frozen? But just make sure that the middle will hold a full-figured woman like myself. Maybe you should go take a little twirl," she said. I glared at her, and Mary Alice giggled and pulled me towards the middle of the ice.
"Aunt Steph, they wouldn't have let you out here if it wasn't completely frozen," she laughed, twirling around me. I grinned down at her, linking my hands with her and twirling in circles.
"Babe, didn't realize you could skate," Ranger said from behind me. I tried to stop and turn to talk to him, but instead Mary Alice and I somehow managed to get twisted together and started to fall to the ground together. Ranger managed to catch Mary Alice but I went straight to the ice. I did perhaps the stupidest thing I could do and tried to catch my fall. I immediately heard something crack and tears sprang to my eyes. Mary Alice leaned next to me.
"Aunt Steph, are you okay?" she asked. Ranger crouched down next to her and started gathering me up.
"Can you skate off the ice?" he asked. I nodded shakily.
"It's my wrist that hurts," I whispered, looking at it. It had already started swelling and bruising. He looked down at it, blowing out a breath. I slowly managed to skate off the ice, noticing that everyone was looking at me, and a great number of people had their cell phones out.
"I have that she'd get a broken bone—does it count even if a skip wasn't involved?" I heard Carl Constanza saying on his cell phone. I guess it's a testament to how much pain I was in that I couldn't even manage a full force glare.
"Babe, can I see your wrist?" Ranger asked, gently taking my wrist in his hand and feeling around. I hissed in pain.
"Cupcake, are you okay?" Morelli asked, skating to a stop in front of me. I looked up at him, and he noticed the tears in my eyes. His girlfriend was standing next to him, looking vaguely worried.
"I think it might be fractured, Babe. Better go to the hospital," Ranger said. I sighed.
"Do I have to?" I practically whined. "Can't Bobby take care of it?" Bobby, I had learned since starting to work for RangeMan a bit more (combining my skip-tracing at Vinnie's with working at RangeMan), was the medic for the guys.
"No, he only sets bones in major emergencies, when hospitals are out of the question," Ranger said. I gave up and agreed. Ranger found my shoes and switched me out of the skates, rather efficiently, looked over at Tank who was with Lula and indicated that we were leaving, before loading me in his car.
When we got to the hospital, Ranger led me into the emergency room and started filling out the different forms, then went and got us both warmapplecider to drink while we waited. It seemed that many people had been injured that day, because the emergency room was filled with small, crying children, angry mothers, worried grandmothers, and uncomfortable fathers.
"Can't you use your intimidation trick to get me the hell out of here?" I asked him. I usually wouldn't have, but my wrist was throbbing and the noise was giving me a headache. Ranger raised his eyebrow at me, and I sighed.
"Stephanie, what are you doing here? Don't tell me another car blew up?" Nurse Santori said. I looked up at her, recognizing her from the many other trips to the ER.
"Nope, I think I fractured my wrist," I said pouting. She grinned.
"Come on back, I'll get you started. We'll need x-rays," she warned. I nodded, already figuring that. She led me back and I set in for a long wait.
Nearly two hours later, I was leaving the ER with a new cast (black, just so it didn't clash with my RangeMan outfit), and Ranger looked at me.
"I guess you'll be at RangeMan full-time until you get the cast off," he said.
"I don't know… I could chase skips with this, right?" I asked. He just looked at me. I guess that meant no. "I'll be at RangeMan full time until I get the cast off," I agreed reluctantly.
"Good answer, Babe," he said, kissing me. I guess it was.