Figure 8

Ice Skates and stretchers

The audience gasped, once with amazement and delight and twice with fear and worry. Maya had slid onto the ground, her leg bent in a way I will not describe. She only let out a small, whispering whale before being carried off the floor and falling unconscious.

Maya had always dreamed of competing in the winter Olympics, ever since she could lace her ice skates she fantacized about the day she could skate in the big leagues. It seemed only yesterday she was a little girl with hopeful eyes. The memory was quite vivid, and it seemed in the time of her unconsciousness her mind decided to play it over and over again.

A small girl, around the age of five or six, toddled into a warmly lit living room. The room had slight remnants of Christmas time, the air smelled like cinnamon and a few garlands begun to hang themselves upon the walls and mantel. In the corner of this cozy room, a man sat, fast asleep, in an old squishy, leather armchair. The girl climbed onto the man's lap, bouncing slightly on his knee when she reached the top. "Daaaaadddd! Wake up!" she moved her face closer until their noses nearly touched, she let out a childish squeal and her father's eyes shot open. "Maya, you need to stop doing that, it startles me" he wiped his eyes sleepily and yawned, making Maya rise ever so slightly on his chest. "Sorry" she mustered a sorry face that fell when her eyes gazed over to the television facing the old chair. She stared at the t.v. for a while, apparently mesmerized, she wasn't sure if her father had said anything like "it's ok" or "That's alright, just don't do it again" because to her, nothing beyond that television set mattered. After a few moments of silence, in which her father sat looking from his daughter to the program, she said ever so quietly, "Daddy?"

"Yes, pumpkin?"

"What's that?"
"What's what?"

"What are they doing on tv?"
"Oh, that, they're ice skating"

She was silent again. Looking intently at the ice skaters gliding across the ice. She looked up at her father, excitement, and curiosity glazing her eyes, "I wanna go" she shook her head, "No, I wanna go now!" she hopped off his lap, attempting to copy the skaters. "I wanna be on tv! Look I'm good enough!" she tripped and fell on the floor. Her dad sighed, "Oh pumpkin, you will one day. With enough practice, I know you will" he picked her up, she smiled, "You think so?", he smiled back, "I know so"