Part 3: A Stranger Presents a Possibility

Karina had a broken ankle. It had been all her fault, too.

On Friday night, she had missed the bus home from school, so she decided to walk instead of wait for the next one. She cut through High Park on her way, and was seduced by the trails. It wouldn’t hurt to run a bit, she thought, even though she didn’t have her runners on, and she was wearing jeans. So she took off down the hill, the one at the north end of the park that she usually ran up. Her jeans were tight and they made her stride choppy. Half-way down, she stepped on a log. The ballerina slippers she had on provided no support at all and her foot slid right into the crook of a branch. Karina tumbled forward, but her right foot stayed stuck where it was. The crack she heard was not the branch breaking — it was the bone. A runner had found her and called her parents.

If only she’d worn running shoes to school. If only she hadn’t missed the bus. If only she hadn’t tried to run down the hill. Karina started to cry again just thinking about it. Her parents and the doctor came back into the room she was sharing with an older man who seemed to be asleep.

“Karina, honey, it’s ok. Don’t cry, baby!” Her mom tried to console her tears.

“It’s my fault. And the team, there’s no team without four of us!”

“What’s this about a team?” the doctor asked. Karina, through her tears and sniffles explained about the cross country team at school, and how they needed four to score, and how now there were only three.

“And when is the race that you want to run?”

“It’s at the end of October.”

“Hmm. Well, you might be able to walk by then, but certainly not run, especially not cross country. Maybe on the treadmill or on a track for a bit. I’m sorry. But you’ll be running again soon, even if you don’t get to do this race.”

“But my friends, they won’t have a team! I feel bad.”

“Karina, they’ll understand. It was an accident. You just fell.”

Karina knew her mom was right, but it still hurt. She imagined her friends’ sad faces when they learned the news.

“Ok, honey, we’re just going to go get a coffee downstairs, and we’ll be right back. The doctor said you have to wait for one more test result.” Her parents shuffled out, and Karina was alone.

Except she wasn’t alone. The old man in the bed next to her was sitting up now, looking at her with a big, wide grin on his face. It was a little scary. He spoke in a gruff whisper: “Nevermind those doctors. I know how we can get you running again!”

Karina couldn’t decide whether to call for help or shut the door so no one would hear the secret the old man was about to tell her.

“Here…” The old man rolled over towards the other side of the bed, and reached down to dig something out of his jacket pocket. He rolled back towards Karina, and shoved a small, browned, folded paper at her.

“Here!”

“What is it?” She did not want to touch it.

“Take it!”

“I’m not sure that I should.”

“It’s a pamphlet. About how you can get yourself back to running.” Karina took the paper.

“That’s a girl! That pamphlet will tell you all you need to know.”

To be continued…

Return each Friday for the next installment of John Lofranco’s six-part serial. Coming up next — Part 4: Inception of a Solution.