by Ryan Willard

Created on: January 23, 2007   Last Updated: May 14, 2007

I was down town in my car on a parts run, in the high noon glare of the hot sun. With just a day left in the Coast Guard I felt free, on my way to a brand new life, when a truck ran a red and hit the broad side where I rode. My car came to rest on the curb where folks walk and they ran to see if I was hurt. I shook my head a few times; I thought I was fine. I tried to move when at last I came to, and saw my foot stuck where the door and seat leave some room. The pain set in and at once I did feel it and I saw the truck that hit me back up and drive off. There was a man at my door who would call for the cops, but first he tore off the door and got my leg free. I lay on the road to wait for some help when I thought of my date I had made with my Kim. A date I would miss if I could not walk and knew she would leave and go back to Troy.

The Doc said I was fine but my foot was in fact broke and when I called work they said they would get my stuff and bring it to my door; no need for me to come back to the ship. I thought it was great of them to do, to let me go but when I got to my house I did not have my phone. I thought about Kim, who would call and call and call, and felt like hell and hoped she would stop by.
I laid in my bed and heard a loud knock but I did not want to move so I just yelled, "Yeah, come in!"
"It's locked," the voice said. The voice was Kim's. I fought to my feet and limped to the door and saw her there with a sad smile from my cast.
"I called the boat," she said. "They told me the news."
"I left my phone at the scene, or else I would have called."
"It's fine," she said and gave me a big hug. She would not let go for the rest of the night. For the next whole week we just lay on the couch, or sat in the tub or had sex on the bed. A pile of gone food made a wall in our room and we knocked it all down on one of the nights.
"That was a lot of pies," I said, and we both shared a laugh.
"I think we should leave and greet one of these days."
But we just stayed there, in the bed for the most part, so I could get on my feet and walk soon. A few more days went by, and the pile of mail at the door, and those who brough the food would be all there was to let some draft in. My phone came, in a neat white box, but I'm not sure on which day, and it was dead as can be. Kim took it to her car to give it a charge since I did not have one there.
"While you're at it," I said, "I could go for a beer." So she slipped on my boots and drove to the store. She brought back some booze that would last us the week and a bag full of food which I thought we would cook. But we called for more pies and they would come all through the day and we did not care I just signed the damn checks.
I said, "How long will it be til you lose your damn mind?" I reached for a knife to cut off my cast but she stopped me and threw it back down to the floor.
She said, "I'll let you know when I leave here for Troy."

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