Roller Skating Adventure

Today was almost too hot for breathing, so Zoe and I were just lying around in the hammock on the screen porch trying not to move when my mom spotted us. When we told her we were bored and besides, it was much to hot for doing anything, she made us go upstairs and clean the attic, despite our whining.

"What? Do you have any idea how hot it is up there?" I cried.

"Yes, I do," she told us. "Up you get! Come on!"

 

 

We had been up there for what seemed like hours when Zoe let out a cry from behind me.

"Charlotte! Come look at this!" She was holding a large cardboard box. Inside was a pair of roller skates!

"Cool!" I cried. "Let's go try them out!" Without a thought to the rest of the attic - which was still far from clean - we hurtled down the ladder and out the front door.

Once in the driveway, I told Zoe I'd pay her a nickel if she let me go first. She agreed, so I handed over the coin and strapped on the skates.

I stood up and tried them out. They were old, but they seemed to work fine. Soon I was doing figure eights in the gravel and pretending I was a champion roller skater. My imaginary audience cheered as I passed by and I gave them my best queen wave.

 

Too soon Zoe was begging for a turn, so I handed them over and she gave it a try.

Zoe loves figure skating, and her favorite trick is to catch the teeth on her skate blade in the ice and launch herself up into the air. She didn't know that the red piece of plastic on the front of the roller skate was a brake; she just thought it was like the teeth on her figure skate. So, when she tried her favorite flying leap...

"Oh my gosh! Zoe!" I cried. I ran over to where she was sitting, holding her ankle.

"I think I twisted it," she said.

"Hold on, I'm going to go get Mom!" I yelled, and sprinted off towards the house.

Mom ran back outside with me, and upon seeing Zoe, helped her up and into the back seat of the car. I hopped in next to her and Mom drove off towards the hospital.

Once there, we were led into a room off a long hallway. We helped Zoe up onto a big white table covered in tissue paper, like the ones they have in doctor's offices. A nurse came into the room.

"Well, what seems to be the problem?" she asked us. I told her that we had been roller skating, and Zoe had tripped and twisted her ankle. The nurse picked up Zoe's foot and inspected it. She prodded it a few times, and when Zoe gave a yelp of pain, she nodded her head and sat back.

"It's a bad sprain, but nothing serious," she told us. "And nothing a few days of rest won't cure." The nurse wrapped her foot with some brown stretchy stuff and told her not to walk on it for a few days.

We're all glad she'll be okay, but already she's using her injury as an excuse to sit around and make us wait on her! I'll be very happy when she can walk again!

Have you ever been injured like Zoe was today? How did it happen? Leave your comments below - I'd love to hear your stories!