Chasing the sunset, p.19
Chasing the Sunset, page 19
Lucy took a deep breath, let go of Alex, pushed off lightly with her left foot, and felt the board move beneath her. She wobbled but didn’t fall.
“Nice job!” Alex encouraged. “Now, to steer, lean your body gently to the left or right. Your trucks will turn the board in the direction you lean. Try it.”
Lucy tried steering, making a few wobbly turns, but she was getting the hang of it. Just as she was gaining confidence, she hit a pebble and stumbled off the board, and it darted in front of her. She caught herself from falling and then grabbed the board.
When she turned back, defeated, Alex was still positive. He nodded approvingly. “You’re doing great. Remember, the key to skateboarding is balance and control. Practice pushing and steering until you’re comfortable. And don’t forget to practice stopping too—you can drag your back foot on the ground to slow down.”
Lucy practiced turning and going straight for at least thirty minutes while Alex and Gabe just watched her. She was surprised by how tired she was just from pushing her foot, but the endorphins were pumping, too. Her energy and excitement powered her along. She was feeling confident when Alex shouted to her from the other end of the lot, “Okay, ready to learn some tricks?”
Her stomach dropped. She rolled back to them and said, “But what if I fall?”
Alex shook his head and said, “Don’t fall.”
“That’s your coaching instruction. ‘Don’t fall’?”
“Pretty much, yeah. I could say what some coaches say, which is ‘Everybody falls, even pros. Don’t get discouraged if you fall.’ But I say screw that. My philosophy is don’t fall. If you have it in your head that everybody falls, it makes you fall more, in my opinion. Look, see that fence over there.” He pointed to a metal fence at the end of the lot.
“Yeah.”
“We’re going to start over there. You’ll get to hold on to the fence, so no worries. Remember, it’s all about balance and not being afraid of falling.”
Alex and Lucy skated over to the fence. She was impressed with how well she’d done in just a short period. Some muscle memory from her brief time in middle school had kicked in. Was this it? Am I going to be a professional skateboarder? she thought.
She was definitely feeling joy, but it soon shattered with frustration after her fifth attempt at an ollie. An ollie is a trick where you and the board leap into the air and land back down. When she learned how to do it in middle school, it had taken multiple falls over multiple weeks. She hadn’t thought about holding onto something then. Every time she attempted it, she didn’t fall exactly. She used the fence as a security blanket and held onto it so tightly.
Every time she failed, she’d blame something—the board, the fence, the wind. She even thought maybe the wrist guards were getting in her way, so she threw them aside. After a while, the metal cut her hands in a few places when the board would get away from her.
Alex was patient. “In order to do an ollie, you’ve got to feel comfortable leaning back on your tail,” he said.
It was easy enough for them to practice just leaning on the tail while holding the fence, but that wasn’t the trick.
Alex’s calm voice made it sound easy. “So if you want to lean back on your tail, you want to put pressure down toward the ground and not backwards. If you go backwards too far, you’re definitely going to fall. So remember, you want to put pressure on the tail, slide that front foot up, get your knees up as high as you can, lift the board up off the ground, get it up high, level it out, land, feet over the bolts of course. You can hold on to the fence for a bit, but my goal is by the end of the hour, you’ll be confident enough to let go of the fence.”
Lucy didn’t mean to, but she rolled her eyes. Alex was losing his luster with his positive attitude and belief that one could just will themselves not to fall. She was growing physically and emotionally tired, but Alex persisted in his encouragement.
For the next thirty minutes, she attempted to follow his instruction. Her hand was being scratched so much by the fence that she let go of it. She turned to Alex. “Okay, I’m going for it. No fence.”
Alex went into a half squat and clinched both his fists and shouted, “Alright! Let’s goooo!” He drew the attention of the few boys in the parking lot, interrupting their amateur filmmaking.
Lucy was nervous and looked down at her partially bloodied hand. She secured her helmet as tight as she could and then drew a deep breath in. Lucy got on the skateboard and pushed off just to get it moving some. She put pressure on the tail, but not too much, pushed her foot forward and jumped. The second she was in the air, she thought, I’m doing it. I’m actually doing it! Her loss of focus caused her to lose her balance and as the ground came toward her, she heard a crack.
She’d done exactly what Alex told her not to; she put out her arms to brace herself. A sharp pain traveled up her arm as Gabe made his way to where she lay. She looked up at him. “Uh-oh.”
“Are you okay?” Gabe asked anxiously.
“I think I’m,” Lucy moved her wrist slightly, “ow. No, I don’t think I am.”
“Don’t worry,” he said. “We’re going to take care of you.”
“Are you sure you don’t have some kind of magical time machine? I’d really like to start today over and maybe not dream of being a thirty-year-old middle schooler.”
Gabe laughed. “I’m sure.” Alex and Gabe helped Lucy up, and they walked over to a bench that was scratched up from years of skateboard tricks and sat down. Lucy’s wrist was throbbing. Gabe asked, “How’s your pain on a scale of one to ten?”
Without hesitation, Lucy replied, “Eleven.”
Gabe instantly responded, “Let’s get you to the hospital.”
Lucy agreed and thanked Alex for his time.
“No. Thank you! This was so much fun. I hope you stick with it. It takes a few weeks to get the hang of even a trick like an ollie.”
“I’ll think about it,” Lucy said, somewhat genuinely. She really loved the fantasy of her being a badass skater. The reality, though, had her headed to the hospital, so they parted ways. At least for now.
Gabe held the car door open for Lucy as she gingerly climbed in. He’d thought skateboarding would be a fun start to the quest, but was regretting it now. Lucy seemed to have calmed down from the shock, transfixed by what was happening outside of the car—her eyes appearing to be searching over the skateboarders.
“What are you looking for?” he asked
“I’m looking for the girl. The one I was talking to earlier. I think that’s her, but I’m not sure. Can you give her my board?”
Gabe sighed. He wanted this to be it. How cool would it be if this unexpected, crazy suggestion was Lucy’s destiny? He looked out toward Lucy’s gaze. Sure enough, that was her, and she looked just as sad as when they’d encountered her before. He grabbed the board from the back of the car.
“Don’t forget the helmet and pads.” Lucy winced as she attempted to take the knee pads off. “Oh, and the wrist guards I threw off by the fence before I fell.”
“Okay. Okay. I’ll get those.” Gabe went over to Lucy and gently pulled her knee pads and elbow pads off. With the skateboard in tow, he said, “I’ll be right back.”
He retrieved the wrist guards and hurried toward the little girl. When he reached her, he quickly gave the board plus the safety equipment to her. “Here, the lady I was with before wanted you to have these.”
Her jaw dropped, and she stared at the board with excitement. She tilted her head and scrunched up her face. With a pinch of whine in her voice, she held up the helmet and pads and said, “These won’t fit.”
“You’ll grow,” Gabe said matter-of-factly, and left. His worry about Lucy overwhelmed him. He picked up the pace and ran toward the car.
20
The Hospital
“Mission accomplished,” Gabe said as he climbed in. Lucy smiled, and her entire face lit up.
He grabbed his phone to punch in Central Nashville Hospital to the GPS and saw a message notification from the VC app. He didn’t want to look at it and began to wonder if this physical setback would lose Lucy points. As he set off, he glanced over at Lucy. She was holding onto her wrist and gazing out of the window, and he saw a single tear stream down her face.
When they reached a stoplight, he turned to her and said, “Well on the bright side, you’re right-handed.”
“No, I’m left-handed.”
Puzzled, he replied, “I could’ve sworn I saw you eating with your right hand the other day.”
“Well, we live in a right-handed world, so sometimes I switch, I guess, but yeah, I write with my left hand.” Her single tear became a sob. Gabe tried to find the words to comfort her and was just about to lay a hand on her shoulder when the car behind him blared its horn.
Gabe let out a deep sigh as his foot hit the accelerator, his stomach turned and he could feel his blood pressure rising as he tried to imagine what would be next on their quest. He spun on how he’d possibly get 5,000 points if Lucy couldn’t even use her dominant hand.
When they arrived at the hospital, there was construction in the parking lot outside the emergency room entrance. Gabe circled around several times before deciding to drop Lucy off at the front and venture to find parking farther off. When he put the car in park briefly in front of the entrance and went to open Lucy’s door, a man in scrubs yelled at him, “You can’t park there.”
She turned to Gabe and said, “I’ll wait for you.”
It took Gabe ten more minutes to find parking and come back to the entrance. He didn’t see Lucy, and he panicked for a moment that she may have fled again. Taking a deep breath, he entered the ER and spotted her waiting in line to check-in. There were three people in front of her and three people behind her. When they reached the front, they asked her what the problem was. She explained, and they handed her a clipboard to fill out, taking it with her right hand and then handing it to Gabe straight away.
Construction outside the hospital made it impossible to find a quiet area to sit. He hated to talk so loud, asking her private medical questions. He felt the blood rush to his cheeks when he asked, “When was your last period?” As she replied a little nervously, the man in scrubs who had fussed at them about the parking approached, giving Gabe the stink eye as he passed by. Gabe looked around, more conscious of his surroundings, and saw a few more people looking at them with suspicion.
He was frustrated, but hoping to ease the tension in the room, he code-switched. He shifted his tone to be more formal. “Well, Miss Lucy, I think that’s it. Do you need my help with anything else?”
She leaned in and loudly whispered, “What the hell are you doing? Miss Lucy?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he tilted his chin slightly, letting his eyes scan the waiting room. When she followed his gaze, she saw what he saw. An elderly white woman was watching them intently. Lucy gave a small nod, her expression shifting with recognition. She understood.
They handed in the papers and waited for what seemed like an eternity. When Lucy was finally called back by the man in the scrubs from the parking lot, Gabe stood up and followed.
When Gabe reached the door, the man put his hand out. “I’m afraid it’s patients only.”
Lucy pleaded with him. “Please, um” pausing for a split second to glance down at his nametag, “Fred, he’s my friend.”
“Sorry, ma’am, relatives only. I’m afraid it’s policy.”
Gabe nodded and gritted his teeth as he watched Lucy disappear into the depths of the hospital.
There was no such policy and Fred knew it, but he was protective of women and had just got out of a lecture that all the nurses had to attend about signs of abuse or human trafficking. A physical injury and an unlikely pairing. Something just seemed off. He guided the woman with the hurt wrist into a triage station.
“Lucy, just give me one moment while I start your chart. Can I have your license and insurance?”
Central Nashville Hospital’s e-charting system connected to other hospitals. He searched for her name and found a person who matched the address on her license in the system from their sister hospital in Jackson, Mississippi. He typed in the pertinent information and then turned to do a quick exam.
“So what happened? You hurt your wrist?”
“Yes, I fell doing something stupid.”
Fred looked down at the intake packet. “It says here that you were skateboarding?”
“Oh my gosh, he wrote that?” Fred tried to judge if there was any fear in her face. “Yes, I fell skateboarding. What difference does it make?”
“Well, none … I suppose.” Fred was becoming more and more convinced that there was something shady happening here.
“And what brings you to Tennessee? Your license is from Mississippi.”
She swallowed hard. “Just visiting a friend.”
Fred wasn’t convinced. He noted her answer and put an order in for X-rays.
“Wait here. Someone will come to get you for an X-ray soon.”
Fred walked away to the nurses’ station and dialed the number that was listed as Lucy’s emergency contact in the Mississippi system. He just had a funny feeling about that Black man.
“Hello?”
“Hello, yes. Is this Colt Rivers?”
“Yes, this is he. Who’s this?”
“I’m a nurse at Central Nashville Hospital. I’m calling because your wife has come in with what may be a broken wrist and her Mississippi file lists you as her emergency contact. Wanted to let you know.”
“Was anyone with her? Did she come in alone? Is she going to be okay?”
“She was with a Black man. She called him her friend, but I think you should come here.”
“I do too. I’m on my way now. It’ll take me a few hours. Don’t let her leave.”
Fred was relieved that his tone sounded genuinely worried. He’d made the right call. Something wasn’t right.
When he passed by the triage station, Lucy was sitting still waiting for X-ray. Fred hated inefficiencies. He normally would have checked on the holdup and made sure his orders had made it to radiology, but he wanted to delay. Even though his shift was ending, he hung around.
After she finally returned to the room, Fred checked her chart again and saw that the doctor had ordered a sedative and a surgical consult. Confident that the process would take several more hours, he clocked out.
Lucy’s eyes opened, and it took her a minute to remember where she was. She looked around the room and was surprised to see Daisy seated by her side.
“Daisy,” she said, still a little groggy. “What are you doing here?”
“When I found out you were in the hospital, I came straight away.”
“How’d you find out? Where’s Gabe?”
“They didn’t let him in at first. I bumped into him when he came back to the B&B to get you a change of clothes. I think he should be back soon.”
“That painkiller cocktail they gave me was strong. Before they gave it to me, the doctor said I’d have to have surgery.”
“I’m sorry, that really sucks. At least this makes for a good story,” Daisy said with a pitying smile.
“I guess,” Lucy replied softly.
“Well, hey … speaking of stories. How was your first adventure? I mean, besides the broken wrist, of course.”
“Well, actually, it was pretty great. I’m still thinking about possibly going back.”
“Really? I cut my fingers on one of my first quests and I hopped ship right then.”
“No, I’m messing with you. I gave the board away to this little girl. How about you? How’s it going with the comedy?”
“It’s rough, but at this point I’ve kind of settled on it. Randy is giving me some good material, but I’m kind of concerned that it might not be on the up and up.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I really really really don’t remember any of these visions and comedy that he’s giving me. I’m starting to doubt that it’s something that he got from me. I heard some other Vision Catchers talking about a black market where you can buy visions.”
“Wait what? So you can just purchase the dream? Why would Randy do that for you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe there’s some kind of bonus scheme if they successfully get somebody on a new path. I mean, I am on this path, but I’m not gonna have him forever. I’m only going to be on this quest for another fifteen days. What’s going to happen after that?”
Lucy felt drunk, slurring her words, but managed to find something encouraging to say. “Does it light you up? Is it what you were put on Earth to do?”
“Well yeah, it’s nerve-racking as all hell, but it’s the best feeling after I step off that stage when I’ve made people laugh. It’s exhilarating.”
Lucy smiled and continued to slur her words. “You sound enthusiastic. Do you know where the word enthusiastic comes from?”
Daisy shook her head no.
“It comes from the Greek word enthousiasmos and means ‘possessed by a god’ or ‘inspired.’ I tell you what you let the gods possess you this afternoon and write jokes about this.” Lucy pointed to her wrist, which was temporarily braced.
“About what?”
“I give you permission to make fun of me for being a middle-aged person pursuing a career in skateboarding. In fact, I challenge you to write it. Don’t talk to Randy. Even if there’s some kind of black market of jokes, I bet this is a first. Do it while I’m in surgery and then you can perform for me when I wake up! If the drugs are anything like what I’ve got now, then I’ll be in hysterics.”
Lucy started laughing and couldn’t tell if it was because of how high she was or the idea of a comedy show in a hospital room. The laughter was contagious and Daisy began laughing too.
Once they both caught their breath, Daisy grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “You know, what you said earlier about being possessed by gods … that reminds me of how they explained this whole thing in that play at orientation. Did they do that for you guys?” Daisy asked.
