Chapter 11
"So this is it," Jenny whispers in my ear. "This is your chance to shine."
"Shut up," I gently push her away from me. "You're going to make me more nervous than I already am and I'm going to forget how to play."
"You're nervous?" Rebecca asks from behind Jenny. "I don't understand why. You've got this thing."
"Yeah," Kendra adds. "Next week we go to the state championships. Everyone here knows that's mostly because of you."
"You've made us a better team," Jenny says with a smile. "So if you could take us on, you can definitely woo a couple of college recruits."
"Just don't trip when you lead us out to the court," La Tasha calls from the back.
The announcer comes on and the lights in the gym flicker off. He begins introducing the visiting team and my interest in what he says quickly fades. I take a look out at the bleachers from the hallway we're waiting in. It looks like we have a full house tonight. I guess word finally got out that the Las Vegas High School Lady Wildcats is a much better team than the boys' basketball team.
The lights start flashing overhead and I guess that means it's our turn to be introduced. Some music starts up and the home crowd starts cheering. I take another look at the bleachers kind of expecting someone from my family to be up there, but I know no one is. Catherine and Sara had to work tonight and I talked Nancy and Lindsey out of coming. They're not really my family anyway.
"Start running," Jenny pushes me out into the view of the crowd. "They're calling our names. That's your signal to lead us to the court."
I stumble out onto the court, but manage not to fall down. I've really got to get my focus back. This is an important game for me, because those recruits are here and I can't risk looking like a complete idiot. It'd be good if I start out by looking a little competent.
We're introduced and the game starts with us quickly taking the lead. The other team seems good, but they're not good enough to beat us. We're the best team in the region; I'm hoping that we're the best team in the state. We may even be able to make it to nationals and that would be really cool.
The visiting team is starting to look frustrated. That means that the game is almost over. I've noticed that if you break another team's spirits then you've got them beat.
Jenny passes me the ball and I go up for a quick jump shot. I feel my defender push me in mid-air and it takes my attention away from my shot. Everything goes into slow motion and I realize that the push I just got has thrown me off balance.
When I land it's with my full weight going onto the side of my left foot. My leg buckles and I fall to the wooden floor. All the noises of the crowd quickly fade away from me and I think I can only hear the sound of my own screaming.
I roll up into a sitting position and take a look at my foot. It's not twisted in any weird angle or something, but it hurts. It hurts a lot. I drop back down to the floor and cover my eyes with my forearm. I don't think I've ever been in so much pain in my life, and I've been injured plenty of times before.
A little voice inside my head is yelling at me to get up, but I shut it up real quickly. There's no way I'm going to be able to put any weight on my foot. It just hurts way too much.
I feel a couple of hands grabbing at me and hear the voice of our trainer, Bethany, asking me if I'm okay. I laugh at the question. I'm seriously not okay. I hear Coach giving orders out to my fellow teammates telling them to give me some breathing room.
"Do you think you can stand up?" Bethany asks me.
I uncover my eyes and look directly at her. "No."
"Okay," she nods her head and puts her arm around my waist. She does her best to lift me from the floor, but she's only five and a half feet tall. I'm a little too heavy for her.
Within moments there's another body by my side helping me off the floor. I look at the person supporting most of my weight and almost fall down again when I realize it's Sara. She's not supposed to be here right now.
Sara's eyes meet mine. "You're going to be okay," she says.
There are a thousand things I could say right at this moment. There's also a lot I've got to think about here, because I don't know what to think about Sara being here. I wonder if Catherine is hanging out somewhere too. "I thought you were working."
"It was your last home game."
Something big is happening here, I think, and it probably doesn't have much to do with my left foot. My left arm slips from Bethany's shoulder and I fall off balance and am forced to put down my left foot to gain it again.
This time I think I could actually pass out from the pain. I hear Sara call out my name and Bethany apologizing. I quickly realize that it would be much better if I just passed out, it would probably hurt less. So I stop fighting to stay awake and let the pain carry me off into another dimension where pain isn't in my vocabulary.
I wake up in a hospital room and don't feel a lot of pain. As soon as I open my eyes I see Catherine and Sara standing above me. They're just standing there looking at me. It's kind of weird.
It takes a few seconds for my eyes to focus and I don't think my head is going to clear up anytime soon. They must have given me something for the pain. I wonder if they know all my drug allergies, even though I don't have any drug allergies.
"Wha..." I try to speak but my voice isn't working. I'm honestly not even sure if I'm actually awake. This could all be just one big dream. I could be dreaming about a hospital bed with me in it. There are a lot of possibilities here.
"She's waking up," I hear Catherine say. This could still be a dream, though. This whole deal about me getting hurt in the final home game could be a storyline made up by some person who decided to dictate my life and dreams.
When all this ends, I'm sure I'll find that I'm just having an anxiety dream about playing in the game I still haven't played. I'm just nervous about the recruits being there and this is the way my mind has chosen to deal with it.
Sara moves so that she's directly within my line of sight. "Hey."
I think she's talking to me and since this is a dream I can say whatever it is I want to say to her. "What?" That's the best I can say at the moment. My voice isn't working and I don't think my brain is in full control right now.
Catherine reaches out and puts her hand on my shoulder. "You're in the hospital. You passed out and you were brought here in an ambulance. You did wake up for a little while before they gave you the pain medication."
I don't remember waking up. I'm not even sure I'm awake now. "The game?"
"Your team won. Your coach and your entire team are waiting out in the waiting room for you."
Well, I guess this could be actually happening. Granted, I can't really feel my foot at the moment but the entire thing could have happened, and if my foot is as bad as I thought it was before I passed out then that means my season is over.
That's a very depressing thought. Another thought that comes to mind is, 'what is Catherine doing here?' How long was I knocked out for exactly?
"We're still waiting for your results," Sara says softly.
"Results?"
"About your foot," Sara's hand is gripping the side of my hospital bed rather tightly. Her knuckles have gone white. Is she angry about something?
"It broken?" It certainly felt broken before.
"We're not sure." Catherine's hand squeezes my shoulder.
"If it's broken then I can't play in the finals." I have a feeling that even if it isn't broken I won't be playing in the state championships anyway. I'm smart enough to realize when I'm hurt too much to continue.
"Let's just see what happens," Catherine says. I think she's trying to be helpful, but she's not being so successful at the moment. I can see the answer to everything in her blue eyes.
It doesn't take long for the doctor to come into the room and she stands on the other side of me. She gives me a weak smile and I see bad news in my future.
"Your foot isn't broken," she says, "but it looks like you've partially torn a tendon in your foot called the Inferior Extensor Retinaculum. You might have even done some damage to the muscle that is behind that tendon." The doctor moves to the end of the bed and lifts the sheet that's covering me and puts her finger gently on my foot. "The tendon is y-shaped and it runs across your foot. It helps to keep some of your other tendons in place."
"And that means," I ask. This sounds like it could be serious.
"Well it means that it probably would have been easier on you, Melinda, if you had broken your foot. You're going to have to get a MRI and see if you need surgery."
"Surgery?" I don't know how we manage it, but Catherine, Sara and I ask all at the same time.
"It's a remote possibility, but still a possibility. Most likely you'll just end up having to stay off your foot for a month and go through some physical therapy."
"That means no state championship." I certainly have had my streak of bad luck this year.
"I'm sorry." The doctor actually looks sorry too. "You're probably not going to be able to play in a basketball game for a while."
Yep. I've certainly had some bad luck this year. "I didn't even finish the last game of the season. I couldn't even do that. My mother even came and I couldn't manage to finish." Whoa, did I just say mother? I'm going to have to remember that I'm on pain medication and think a lot harder about what I say. My brain is choosing some real whacked out words right now. My mother, the mother I knew, is dead.
"Melinda, I think your mother is a lot more concerned with your health than whether or not you finished your basketball game." The doctor looks quickly over at Sara and Catherine but her eyes settle on mine. "Your mother seems really proud of you. I don't think you getting hurt will make her think any less of you."
"I am proud of you," Sara says brokenly. She opens her mouth and I think she wants to say more, but she doesn't.
"We're both really proud of you." Catherine gives me a gentle smile and I swear these pain meds are doing some weird things to me because I start crying. I don't cry. I certainly don't cry over some words two people I hardly even know say.
"I'll leave you all alone and go order the MRI." The doctor leaves the room and I'm left in here with Catherine and Sara and I'm crying, no matter how much I want to stop.
Sara lowers the bed rail that she's been holding onto for dear life and sits down on the bed next to me. Hesitantly she reaches out and actually gathers me in her arms. "I know how much this meant to you Mel, and I'm really sorry."
Her words and actions just make me cry all the harder. I reach up and grab onto one of the arms she's got around me. I'm not quite sure if I'm trying to push her away from me or pull her closer.