The pickup game featured plenty of contact: banging in the paint, wrestling on defense, boxing out for rebounds. But when it happened, no one was nearby. The right foot planted to change direction, but the right knee kept going, wrenching sideways with an audible pop. Both feet straddled the free-throw line and both hands held the knee as if to keep the thigh bone connected to the shin bone. Pain foretold the future: surgery, immobilization, crutches, months of physical therapy. Even knowing the left knee healed three years earlier wasn’t a comfort as sweat pooled on the polished hardwood.
John Sheirer's most recent book, For Now: One Hundred 100-Word Stories, contains YEARS, first published in Five Minutes. www.johnsheirer.com