Impress Me Not: The Handyman

Chapter 92

You know what they say about bad things happening in groups? Solomon liked to think of it as a pebble falling down a really tall mountain. It starts out small and harmless, and then it picks up speed and collects all the loose dirt that it comes across. Eventually, it turns into a giant disaster. And it doesn't stop until it reaches the bottom of that real tall mountain.

Solomon hadn't gotten one of those pebbles in a long time. He had them early on in his life. He got them so much that he thought that he wouldn't have to deal with that ever again.

But life liked to throw a fast one every once in a while, just to keep you from getting too happy.

Solomon already wasn't happy dealing with all the stress of the legal issues with Maya. There was already so much to do, and it was just beginning. Ira had gotten her on the news, in the best spot that he could. Everyone was starting to give that school flack for the way they were treating girls. But it was still going to take time before the school started to crack under pressure.

In the meantime, Solomon was actually looking at other schools that would fit her. She only had a year left, and he figured that it would be best to get her into a good school that she would enjoy rather than just a public one.

It was going to be a mess of paperwork to deal with, but he would deal with it. He'd do anything for her. He just had to make sure that he found a good one that she felt safe at. It was either that, or simply put her in public school and pay for dance classes instead. He would see what Maya thought about that.

But the pebble decided to grow that day. At this point, he was sure it was a boulder. Because when it hit him, it knocked him off his feet.

"One. Two. Three!" his coworker shouted. They lifted the heavy heating unit together. They just needed to move it onto a machine that would lift it to the roof. It wasn't that far. Solomon had done it a thousand times before.

But this time was different than all those other times. He must not have lifted it correctly. Because it only took a second of lifting that Solomon felt a sharp pain in his back. He had never felt such pain before. He instinctively dropped the heavy unit. His muscles were failing him.

Then he realized that even when he was overloaded with the agony from his back, he could still feel more pain.

He dropped it on his foot.

Needless to say, he wasn't having a good day.

"Solomon!" His coworker ran over to him. "Are you okay?!"

"No!" he yelled at him. He felt bad for yelling at him, but he didn't know how else to respond. He felt like he couldn't even talk at the moment.

"Can you get up?" he had pulled the unit off his foot at least.

"I don't even think I can move at the moment," he told him. His back was in so much pain. It was coming at him in intense waves. First his back, then his foot.

They wound up having to call for an ambulance and put him on a stretcher. He really couldn't move without intense pain. Solomon told one of the EMTs to reach in his pocket for his phone. The first person he wanted to talk to was Niko. He needed to tell him to call everyone else up. He was sure that Maya would be worried if he didn't come home right when he said.

He felt like a fool. He had pulled some muscles before, but he had never hurt his back this badly.

"Hello?"

"Niko," he scrunched his eyes closed to try and fight back the pain that he was still going through.

"Solomon?" He sounded worried. "What's wrong?"