Republican Phenoms

Hurt

Daniel

It's hard to believe that we're already more than halfway through our last fall semester at Drake. June was named our platoon leader for the year; so far, she's been doing an amazing job. She's tough on all of the cadets, keeping them in line, but she cares about them at the same time, making sure that if they have trouble, they can get the help that they need. She's going to make an outstanding officer.

Today for physical training, we're playing soccer. Like most November days in Los Angeles, the weather is fairly warm. I'm sweaty from the workout I'm getting.

Karen, who has been assigned to the other team, kicks the ball in my direction, and I run to block it. As I swing my leg at the ball, my foot makes contact --

-- and I fall.

I find myself on the ground in incredible pain. I try to stand up, but I can't. In fact, I can't even bend my left leg. I can only wince and clutch at it.

June rushes up to me. "Are you all right?"

I shake my head. "No. I can't move my leg."

"Josh, call an ambulance!" She bends down to look at my leg. "What happened?"

"I don't know. All I know is, I kicked at the ball, and the next thing, I'm on the ground. I can't bend my knee." I try to bend my knee, but all it does is cause me an extreme amount of pain. The pain is excruciating.

"Do you want to call your mom so she can meet you at the hospital?"

I shake my head. "She doesn't have a mic. I guess I'll have to let her know what happened when I get out of there."

"Nonsense. We'll send someone by her house."

"She gets off work at six."

"Then, as your platoon leader, I will personally stop by her house at six to let her know what's going on."

I look at her. "You don't have to do that, Cadet Iparis."

"Nonsense."

June dismisses the platoon for the day, telling them to go for a run on their own instead. She waits with me, holding my hand, until the ambulance arrives.

"I'm going with you to the hospital," she says, as the paramedics put me on a stretcher.

"Don't be silly, June," I say. She stays with me as I'm moved into the back of the ambulance. "I'm going to be a military officer next year. I can handle myself just fine."

"And that's why you got into this ambulance by yourself," she says, sitting down in a seat in the ambulance next to my stretcher.

"Well, I can't move my leg, but that's what the medical staff is here for."

I can feel the ambulance rumble down the road now.

"What, June, are you going to help me if I fall down in the shower, too?" Her face turns pink when I say that. She's probably imagining me naked in the shower.

"No, but I feel like I need to look out for my people."

"Really? You'll accompany Matthew and Ed if they ever get injured at drill and go to the hospital too?" I give her a disbelieving look. There's no way that she'd go to the hospital with them. I know she despises them.

The ambulance pulls up to the hospital rather quickly. As the medical staff carry my stretcher through the hospital building, I notice a crowd of people sitting in the waiting area. A lot of them look like they are from the poorer sectors of Los Angeles. Here I am, getting into a hospital room immediately. I feel like such a trot.