After the game

The group of teenages triumphantly trotted home in the February snow. It was cold, but they were wearing shorts. The snow crunched under their feet as they went. They had just struggled in one of the best Basketball games they had ever played.

According to the score, the boys actually lost. But just barely. It was 31 to 30 against another group of teenages. A very good, tall, and possibly undefeated basketball team.

After weeks of preparations, we had expected a victory, but given the circumstances we fared better than anyone could have expected. The next team we met up with was in for a big surprise. The worst team ever was on it’s way to the top.

So we hoped.

As I took the shortcut to my parents house, I started to feel a bit dizzy. I did just play in it's entirety, a very rigorous game and decided I should take it easy the rest of the day. I went straight to my bedroom when I got home.

I was woken up for dinner hours later. I felt a lot better and the aroma of chicken and rice never smelt so good. I slept through lunch afterall.

For some strange reason the chicken tasted like fish, but I was the only one who thought that. I soon felt sick and everyone thought it was food poisoning.

Standard operating procedure was that I took up camp by the bathroom. I never thought much of that it until years later when my brother-in-law voiced his opinion of the practice. Well, he has a lot of opinions. If I recall correctly my bedroom, in the basement, was the only finished room.

Anyway, I remember trying to position myself so I could at least hear my favorite television show, the Simpsons. I was having trouble seeing straight, so I guess it did not matter that the angle from the hallway prohibited a great view to the set in the kitchen.

My parents thought it was the flu until I started to complain of numbness the next day. I could barely walk too. An appointment was made with the doctor and I was practically carried into the office. That was the first and only time I didn’t have to wait in the foyer. I was rushed straight to the back room, and then shortly after in an ambulance, was rushed straight to the Regional Medical Center.

If I was a cat, I suppose I used up a couple lives over the next few months. My basketball career was over, but it was alright. I wasn’t really that good anyway.