Chapter 6

Lee winced as he climbed out of his car in the driveway. He stretched his left leg again and cringed as the muscles tightened up once more. Slowly he limped his way into the garage, using the wall for leverage. He nearly tripped over Philip's skateboard leaning against the wall but managed to catch himself before he fell. He pushed open the door and quietly hobbled into the hall. He listened for a few seconds, hoping no one was sitting in the kitchen to notice him. Hearing nothing but silence, he carefully hobbled down the dim hall and stepped into the bright light of the room where Jamie sat at the kitchen table doing his homework. Lee's hazel eyes locked with Jamie's just before Jamie gasped, "Mom! Mom! You better come 'ere!"

Lee tried shushing him with a shake of his head and a wave of his hand. "No, no, you don't need to call your mother," Lee hissed but Jamie scrambled out of his seat and ran to the stairs, calling Amanda again.

"Mom, Lee's hurt!" Jamie yelled.

"Dammit!" Lee cursed under his breath before he limped over to the fridge. He pulled out two bags of frozen vegetables and sat down on one of the stools. When Amanda appeared in the kitchen, he had his left leg up on another stool, a bag of peas resting above his knee. The other bag of frozen corn was pressed to his right eye.

"Oh my gosh! What happened?" Amanda exclaimed. She rushed forward to gently touch his forehead before Lee moved the makeshift ice pack aside. "Lee! Your eye! Oh my goodness. I thought you were just going to do some training with Stanley today?" she questioned. She tentatively prodded the swelling around his cheekbone as she waited for an answer.

Lee glanced over at Jamie who was staring at him, his eyes wide. He sighed and tried to explain, "Stanley and I were going over some martial arts moves today, yes."

"And he decked you?" Jamie inserted.

"No, not really. The eye was an accident. He sparred and I sparred then he pulled and I pulled only we pulled in the same direction, right into my eye. And Stanley felt really bad about it, too. Until he broke his hand," Lee explained without making eye contact with Amanda.

Amanda sighed and continued to inspect the bruising and swelling around his eye. She gently applied the frozen bag to his skin again before she asked, "Stanley broke his hand when he hit you? That doesn't sound like Stanley?"

"No, he didn't break his hand when we collided," Lee shook his head with a grimace.

"Well, what happened?" Amanda gently demanded.

Lee pursed his lips then said, "After I hit the mat, Stanley took one look at me and rushed out of the room, only his feet got tangled up in the gym bag that I left beside the door."

"Oh, no!" Amanda exclaimed.

Lee nodded, "Oh, yes. He tripped, fell right through the doorway and when he tried to catch his balance he slammed his hand off the desk and broke it."

Jamie jumped up, "He broke the desk?"

"No, sweetheart, I think Lee meant he broke his hand," Amanda corrected him.

"No, no that's not when he broke his hand," Lee corrected Amanda. Amanda raised her eyebrows, confused.

"Oh, so what happened to your leg?" Jamie, now confused, asked.

Lee sighed, "Well, I got up to help Stanley only I tripped over him as he was trying to get up and then I ended up knocking him back down again."

"So that's when you hurt your leg?" Jamie asked, hoping he followed Lee's story.

Lee shook his head, "No. Stanley finally got to his feet only the strap from my bag was still tangled around his foot. He took one step forward to reach for the phone but fell on me again."

"And that's when-" Jamie began but started laughing when Lee shook his head once more. "Oh come on, Lee! How did Stanley break his hand and you hurt your leg?" Jamie pleaded.

"Stanley finally got his foot loose from the strap and I was able to get out of his way but when he reached the phone, it wasn't working so he got so frustrated he punched the wall beside the phone," Lee informed them.

Amanda reached out and touched his leg, earning a painful gasp in return. "Sweetheart, that doesn't explain how you hurt your leg," she stated.

Lee looked at Amanda, then at Jamie. He ran his hand through his hair and said, "I hurt my leg when the phone fell off the wall and landed on me."

Jamie tried hard to suppress his laughter as the image populated his mind. "Well, at least it was only your leg and not your head," Amanda added.

"Yeah, I'm going to head upstairs and get changed. I'm sure the bruise on my leg looks better than the one on my cheek so I want to just make sure that's all there is," Lee stated as he slowly lowered his leg to the floor.

He took two steps forward when he heard Philip exclaim, "What the hell happened to you?"

"Philip!" Amanda snapped. "What have I told you about that word?"

"What word? What happened to Lee?" Philip demanded, thrusting his hand at Lee.

Lee raised his own hand and shook his head, "I was practicing some hand to hand combat skills and by a series of unfortunate events, I had a telephone fall on me and my friend broke his hand."

Philip leaned to the side to examine Lee's cheek, "That's gonna be pretty gnarly tomorrow."

Lee lifted his hand to his cheek and tentatively touched it, "Yeah, yeah I bet it is."

"Lee, what the hell happened to you?" Dotty cried as she dropped the laundry basket she was carrying. She rushed over to him and began touching his cheek, his arms and when she inadvertently touched his knee, Lee cried out loudly. "Oh my gosh, Amanda, don't just stand there. Call the doctor, an ambulance, something! Oh, Lee, who did this to you?!"

Lee put his hands on Dotty's shoulders and assured her, "I'll be all right. Part of it was my own doing and the other part was sheer dumb luck. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I'll be okay. I'm just going to head upstairs, change my clothes and ice my knee for a while."

"You head on up, I'll make you a couple of real ice packs," Amanda instructed. She shook her head as she watched him limp his way up the stairs. She turned back to her family all watching him and asked, "Don't you have something better to do?"

Jamie scratched the back of his neck and sauntered back to the table where his homework awaited. Dotty walked back and picked up the laundry basket, "I guess I'll take these up to my room and fold them there." She left the kitchen, leaving Philip still staring after Lee.

Amanda cleared her throat as she filled two ice bags. "You and I will have another conversation about your language," she stated firmly looking right at Philip. He swallowed loudly before he put his head down and walked down the stairs to the family room in the basement. Amanda shook her head and sighed. She climbed the steps and found Lee sitting on the edge of the bed, his pants only halfway off. "Need some help?" she teased.

Lee glanced up, gave her a half-smile and admitted, "Actually, I do. I can't get my boot off because I can't twist my leg enough to pull it."

Amanda dropped the ice bags beside him and offered her hands. "Stretch it out and let me see it," she waited until Lee slowly lifted his left foot. He lay back on the bed and groaned as Amanda tugged his boot until his foot slipped free. "The other one, too," she commanded and a minute later, both boots were on the floor and she was pulling his pants free from his legs. On his left leg, just above his knee was an angry looking welt, already bruised dark purple and blue. She took one of the ice bags and placed it on his knee, drawing a hiss of pain from Lee. "Scoot back, get a pillow under it," she stated, lifting the bag of ice again.

"Amanda, can I at least put my sweatpants on?" Lee asked. He was wearing nothing but a t-shirt and his boxer shorts.

"Just let the ice get on there for a while first," Amanda explained. '

Lee pushed back until he was completely on the bed. Amanda took a small throw pillow from the couch and propped it under his knee. She placed the ice pack on his leg and the other bag on his cheek. Lee reached up to balance the ice pack and captured her hand with his. "Thank you," he whispered.

Amanda sat on the bed beside him, brushed his hair off his face and smiled. "So, did you learn anything from your little adventure today?" she teased.

Lee smiled back at her, "Yes I did. I learned I still have the best Bluebell around no matter how stupid I was when I got hurt."

Amanda kissed the tip of his nose and whispered, "And don't you forget it."