Five Little Words

Part 11

We had a ten minute session in the robot before Trent decided that I needed a break. I tried to disagree with him - I wasn't tired, I could go on for ages! But he just stared me down and told me to take a rest, and I realised that I had no other choice but to obey.

So, we took the suit off, and I was sat back down in the chair while Trent put it away back in its cupboard.

When he came back, I asked him a question; eyeing the balance bars on the other side of the room......

"Say, Trent...."

Trent glanced up at the sound of Dec's voice, almost immediately knowing what he was going to say.

"Do you think we could have a go without the suit? I mean, just to see?"

Yep, got it in one.

The physiotherapist sighed and looked over at Charlie, who shrugged.

"If you think you're up to it...." he began, and he couldn't help but smile a bit as Dec nodded eagerly.

"Oh, yes please" he pleaded, and Trent nearly full-on laughed when he was sure that his patient would pull out the puppy-eyes next.

I'll have you know that I did NOT pull out the puppy-dog eyes.....I may have just pouted a little and made myself look as much like I was silently begging as possible......

"Come on then" Trent agreed, gesturing for Charlie to wheel the chair over to the bars, bringing it to a halt in line with where the bars began.

"Alright, just remember Dec," Trent warned, showing his patient where to put his hands on the metal bars, "Your legs are going to still be very, very weak, and you're going to have to rely a lot on your upper body strength to stop you from collapsing here."

Nodding to show he understood, Dec readied himself to stand up out of the chair, and Trent stood back and off to the side, watching curiously to see how this went.

As it turned out, and like you probably guessed right from the start, it didn't go well.....

I managed to stand up, but just as I went to take a step forward, my legs just collapsed beneath me, and if Trent and Martin hadn't caught me then I probably would have face-planted the floor.

"Whoa, easy there cowboy" Trent yelled, leaping forward and grabbing hold of Dec's arm just as Martin caught hold of his brother's chest.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, hey?"

Dec shook his head vehemently (and probably rather stubbornly....)

"No, I can do this, just let me try!" he retorted, struggling to get his legs back underneath him to push himself up again.

"Kidlet, maybe Trent's right - you need to take your time with this" Martin tried next, but he was quickly cut off by a fierce glare from his little brother.

"I have to do this, you have to let me at least try!"

He sounded frustrated, and close to becoming upset (um, far from 'close to', I think....), and he put a gentle hand on the side of his brother's head.

"We did let you try, and it didn't work - so perhaps we should get you back to your room, hey? You're tired and frustrated, so let's just head on back, okay?" he continued, hoping to calm him down a little.

Let me tell you now, Mart: it didn't work.

I just decided to go along with it for now because - as much as I was loathe to admit it - he was right. I was tired, and it was making me emotional, as was the building frustration at my most recent failure.