By Chance: Day 4

Word Count: 24,042

Summary of Events:

Steele and his coworkers were helping unload cattle from a truck, one of which was a very angry steer who upset a particularly anxious horse one of Steele's coworkers was riding. The coworker got bucked off the horse and hit his head on the metal fence, losing consciousness, and laying on the wrong side of the fence. Steele roped the steer to get him away, prompting the steer to take a run at Steele and his horse, who escaped the blow, but the steer, while still behind Steele's horse, spooked her into running forward along the fence so close that Steele's knee hit a fencepost. As a result, once the steer had been taken care of Steele accompanied his unconscious coworker to the hospital, from which he was actually discharged and allowed to go home one his injury had been treated…

Excerpt of the Day:

Carefully Steele removed his crutches from under his arms and set them down on the stairs so that they slid down to the landing. He then used the solid railing on either side in lieu of crutches and made his way down to the landing, where he adjusted his crutches to slide them down the second flight of stairs before he hobbled down after them.

At the bottom of the stairs, Steele sat down on the bench that he’d never used before, but he was pretty sure had been placed as a functional decoration by the Czajkowskys, and removed his boots, the left one with his hands, the right with the aid of the boot remover.

He then unlocked and pushed open the door into his area and took up his crutches before standing and hobbling inside, where he placed his boots on the boot rack beneath the coat pegs just inside the door.

Closing the door, he made his way toward the couch and sat down heavily on the cushy upholstery.

After basking for a moment in the comfortable upholstery, Steele removed the white paper bag and teal-green pill bottles from one of the breast pockets on his shirt.

He read the stickers applied to the pill bottles, which not only told him the complex medical names of what he’d been prescribed, but when, how, and how often he was to take them.

The doctor and the pharmacist had both told him that he should take the one immediately upon getting home, but could wait with the other until suppertime. He didn’t want to get up, but he forced himself to do it and took the dosage as instructed.

He then made his way back to the couch, sat down, and looked at his knee. According to the x-rays, he had a hairline fracture of his tibial plateau, which actually impressed the medical staff, who’d expected more damage.

A locking knee brace that was holding his leg at something of a 45˚ angle was, thus, all that had been put on, and he’d actually been released to go home when part of him had expected he’d be staying overnight.

Nevertheless, he was grateful, the only thing was, he wasn’t allowed to drive until the brace was off, and when he’d asked about riding a horse, that had been ruled out almost emphatically for the entirety of the — as far as the doctors were concerned — minimum six weeks of recovery time.

Even though they did admit that hairline fractures could heal faster — as well as healing stronger — than more severe breaks, the medical personnel who’d attended to his injury all agreed that he wasn’t likely going to be able to even walk on his right leg until the six week mark, by which time the CFR would be a week in the books.

Steele didn’t like that news, as the more he’d thought about it, the more he felt sorely disappointed to think that he could end up missing the CFR, and especially because of a flukey accident.

Pronunciation:

Czajkowskys: chaikohvskees