 |
Fences Mended
Steve massaged his fingers into the lump that was forming on the back of his head as the other hand stuffed his sweaty clothes into a duffel bag. He'd hoped a cool shower after training would help with the swelling and pain, but he knew better. The goose egg on his noggin was merely an occupational hazard from teaching men and women how to beat each other into submission. Now, obviously he didn't actually want his students harming their fellow trainees, so, punches were pulled, various body locks and holds weren't applied with such damaging pressure, and they always offered one another a hand to get up off of the mat. However, inevitably, there would be miscalculations and accidents. Today, such an accident occurred while Steve was working with one of his newer trainees. The young man executed a double leg take down without taking into account that they were nearing the edge of the fight zone. It wasn't all of his fault, though, as Steve typically did just fine at tucking his chin to avoid having his head hit the ground, but this time it just didn't work out that way. Not only did he neglect to tuck his chin, his head smacked audibly into the concrete beyond the edge of the mat. The impact had knocked him out for only a couple of seconds, leaving him glassy-eyed with a killer headache. "Mr. Blackman, I'm really sorry. You sure you're cool? I mean, I can drive you to the hospital," the young man said as he slung his gym bag over his shoulder in preparation to leave. "Don't worry about it. Nothing some ibuprofen and an ice pack can't fix. Get outta here. I'll see you tomorrow," Steve replied. About 15 minutes later, after all of the students had finally cleared out, Steve went about the facility disinfecting the equipment and putting things back in their place. Usually he locked the doors before getting started on setting up for the next training session, however, it slipped his mind this time. All he wanted to do was clean up and get out of there for a few hours before having to return that evening.
|
