Pain on the Playground

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Pain on the Playground

On one fateful evening, in the summer of 2001, an incident occurred that would scar me for life. At the beginning of the day, the routine was as normal as any other day. I would get up, climb out of bed, head into the kitchen, enjoy a bowl of cereal, put on my sneakers, and head across the street to the playground. As I entered the playground that day, I was totally oblivious to what was about to transpire. Until this summer evening, pain was only a four letter word in my mind.

Now I admit it, I was not the nicest eleven year old around. To cut straight to the chase, I was a loud mouth, sarcastic, wise ass. Before I spoke, I would not shudder to think for one second what I was about to say. The playground is where I would lash out numerous times. I would shout out obscenities to the people at the playground, ranging from babies to adults. Plain and simple, I was a baby bad ass.

If I had known what was about to occur on this fateful day, I would not have run my mouth off nearly as much as I did. A full court, five on five basketball game had just gotten under way. Since I was voiceless because of my size and age I did not get selected to partake in this game. This was nothing new to me for I had always been ignored when it came to selecting squads. However, when the game would commence, my voice would be heard loudly and proudly. I would become the biggest trash talker on the court.

“Yeah, that was a good shot! Try hitting the rim next time.” As I continued to shout, the players would become infuriated. “Will somebody shut him up?!” shouted one of the performers. To get a reaction out of a player, whether it be good or bad, was something I enjoyed. Suddenly, the shortest and youngest person was th...

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... Looking back up at the top of the fence, to my dismay, I observed there the skin from my wrist. My basic instinct was to run to wherever I could run. I ran around the building and into a dentist’s office, which was located directly next to the playground. I walked in at top speed and headed straight for the receptionist. From afar she noticed me and at the top of her lungs shrieked, “Get off of the carpeting, it’s brand new!”

I then ran back outside, awaiting further assistance. After she had laid down a trail of newspaper, the receptionist called me back in and accompanied me to a sink where she would rinse the blood off of my badly sliced wrist. As my red, young blood flowed down the sink, and the tears trickled down my face, I realized that this was the first actual test of pain that I had dealt with as a child. At least for the moment, I wasn’t such a bad ass.

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