Wednesday, September 10, 2008:
We rush back for Sarah’s soccer game. It’s scoreless at the half. Sharon is at the corner of the east parking lot talking to Patty Rogers. (Jessica’s career, after her third concussion, is over. There’s something for Caitlin, with her final knee injury, to think about.) I was just getting around to the west side when the half started. Orem throws it in to a teammate. Sarah challenges her. Orem winds up to kick it. I swivel to see where the ball is going. Then I swivel back and see Sarah, prone, and hurt. This is a tough kid, who never fusses or fakes, never calls attention to herself or makes trouble. She is rolling and writhing. I knew this would happen! Off-field people come out very slowly. I make my melancholy way back over to the Springville bench. Sarah is in distress. It’s not the knee! The staff attends to her ankle while Sarah quietly grimaces and lets a couple of tears fall. Fouled? “Nope. Just a hole in the field.”
Another girl comes in with a nose bleed. Orem nearly scores. From Sarah’s vacated position, I notice. Now Caitlin bursts in and looks down at Sarah, lying there on the ground. “Well at least it isn’t your knee!” Darn it, I think. It’s all about you, isn’t it? And on a deathbed! Fortunately I don’t say anything. Caitlin keeps standing there, and looking down. Then she starts to cry. Oh—I understand.