On Being Humble

[Roderick Faulkner]

The first thing Rod saw was the bottom of the fence post and blades of grass in front of his eyes. That was odd. He couldn't remember lying down, and he felt fine. Maybe a little warm from his insulated jacket, but it was tolerable.

The last thing he remembered was leaning against the fence post watching a couple horses graze peacefully in the pasture. Back in New York, he would sometimes go out and watch the horses while Gail was finishing up and pretend to be surprised when she came out and hugged him from behind. There was always something surreal about watching horses being horses. It was like time didn't matter to them. A minute or an eternity could pass, and they wouldn't notice. Here, he could think of happier times in their lives.

Rod didn't remember falling sideways onto the grass. He was only unconscious for a few seconds after hitting the ground, but it could have been minutes for all he knew. He scanned the fence for his cane and reached back to grab it. Even tucking his left leg under him and propping himself up with his left arm, he couldn't dislodge it from where it was hanging on the fence post. He was a good ways down the lane and prayed that Gail or somebody could help him up. He hated asking for help.

[David Adams]

David strolled slowly down to the pastures, taking in the scenery. Since growing up on a station, he has grown to love sitting in the shade of a tree and watching the herds of cattle mill around, eating grass and mooing to each other. It was quite peaceful, and horses were no different. Although they could be more exciting, throwing bucks and chasing each other around. David smiled as he moved to the fence, leaning on it to watch the horse's grazing.

One of the horse's suddenly lifted it's head and twitch it's ears. David turned to look in the same direction and spotted a man lying on the ground. He saw the
is man trying to dislodge his cane from the fence post, and David started running. He slowed down as he approached and moved towards the man after moving to his front. He spoke as he unhooked the cane from the fence.
"Are you alright? You fell pretty hard." He helped the man to his feet and studied his face for signs of injury. David's face was full of concern for the man, as he knew that even the smallest accidents can do quite a bit of damage. He held up two fingers
"How many fingers am I holding up?" He wanted to make sure that the man wasn't going to fall over again. David was grateful he had his phone with him, so he could call for help if the man showed signs of a concussion.

[Roderick Faulkner]

"Thanks. I'm okay."

The concern was nice, but the boy's reaction reminded him of his wife. It was alright when she fussed, but it was weird when other people suddenly showed concern. It was the one thing Rod hated about his injuries--people taking pity on him. He felt sure that if they saw the scars most would be horrified or disgusted. He wasn't quite ready to be proud of something that destroyed his life financially and physically.

"Two."

Rod was leaning heavily on his cane glancing down at his right leg. It felt funny, and that in itself was concerning. He switched his cane to his right hand, but it was rather noticeable that his grip wasn't the same. The handle rested between his thumb and forefinger, but he wasn't able to wrap his fingers around it. Carefully, Rod tried massaging some feeling back into his leg.

"I don't need an ambulance. But thanks for the help."

He was grateful, really, but fainting wasn't normal. He pulled his jacket off slowly, and had to tuck his cane under his left arm to take care of the right sleeve. However, Rod forgot that he was wearing a shirt with 3/4-length sleeves after Gail told him it was supposed to be warm today. The sleeves were pushed back to his elbow, and the parallel scars on his arms stood out. Despite his injuries and disability, Rod preferred doing things by himself and tried to avoid asking for help when he could.

[David Adams]

David nodded humbly when the man thanked him.
"No problem. Happy to help." David smiled and relaxed when the man told him the correct number of fingers. He also took his hand away from the phone in his pocket when it was mentioned that and ambulance wasn't needed. 

David raised an eyebrow as the man massaged his leg and noticed that his grip was off.
"You sure you're okay?" David looked towards a horse as it wandered over to the fence, nickering softly and snacking it's nose towards the two men. David scratched its nose as he straightened up and introduced himself, offering his hand politely.
"I'm David Adams, Blue Ribbon House." He smiled, it had been obvious that the man was uncomfortable with David's concern, so he made an effort to push his concern aside and have a simple conversation.

David's eyes widened slightly as he saw the scars on the man's arms. He hadn't ever seen injuries of that severity. The worst injury he had seen was when a guy working for David's father fell off his work horse and onto a barbed wire fence. The guy had sliced open his cheek, but it still didn't seem to be as bad as what the scars on this man's arms suggested. David didn't ask any questions, and he didn't look at the scars after seeing them initially. Instead he turned to the horse that was still standing at the fence and stroked its face.
"I'm from Australia. My parents work on a cattle station, it's where I first learned to ride. Where are you from?"

[Roderick Faulkner]

Rod hesitated a moment before shaking David's hand. He couldn't really give a solid grip in a handshake as his fingers wouldn't bend beyond a relaxed and neutral position.

"Mr. Faulkner, geometry teacher and swim coach."

Upon noticing David's shock to the scars, Rod's initial reaction was to put his right arm behind his back. Most people didn't know how much worse it used to look, and he was ever so grateful for that. He was lucky to still have all his limbs and what feeling and mobility remained. The propeller injuries on whales and manatees looked horrific enough without transposing them onto a person.

"Rochester, Minnesota. And sorry about the scars. I wasn't trying to frighten you."

He wouldn't have blamed the student for wanting to leave. Boating accidents weren't nearly as common as car accidents, and Rod wasn't even sure how aware people were of the dangers of motorboats to swimmers.

"Welcome to America, though."

Rod did his best to smile, though public relations was more his wife's strength. She lived for the spotlight, he was just happy to swim. He didn't mention that he couldn't ride, though it was likely fairly obvious considering he couldn't even hold his cane properly. Rod took a step back to give the curious horse a bit more space. He was a bit conflicted as to whether he should pet the horse. On the one hand, he needed his left hand to hold the cane for added stability and reaching across with the right was uncomfortable at best. On the other hand, he didn't want to come across as someone who didn't like horses. He married a rising equestrian knowing full well that her horse took the top spot where love was concerned. Reluctantly, he switched his cane over to his right hand and gave the horse a couple pets on the neck

[David Adams]

David understood that the man couldn't shake his hand properly, and smiled to ease the slight tension between the two of them.
"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Faulkner. I'll probably be seeing you around the gym, since I'm on the track team." David explained and smiled warmly.

David saw the teacher put his hand behind his back, and he frowned slightly, but not enough to be noticeable.
"It's fine, you didn't scare me. I've seen some pretty bad injuries, living on a farm and all, I just haven't seen any that have left behind scars like that..." David trailed off. He didn't want to pry, and he hated it when people asked about things like this, so e imagined that other people felt the same way. He was happy to get off the subject of scars when Mr. Faulkner welcomed him to America.
"Thank you, you should definitely visit Australia if you get the chance, it's definitely different. I must say, I don't think I've been in an area this cold since I visited Canberra when I was eight." David laughed, rubbing his arms comically. His station was located around 200 kilometres away from Alice Springs, and it had temperatures that rarely got below 20 degrees Celsius.

David watched Mr. Faulkner's interaction with the horse and cocked his head slightly. He noticed the man's conflicted expression and felt as if he should help, although the man's reaction to his help before stopped him from reaching out. David instead settled for standing quietly and enjoying the peaceful scenery around him.

[Roderick Faulkner]

Despite not being able to run or swim anymore, Rod still enjoyed gyms as a place where everyone was more interested in their own workout to care what anyone else did, but didn't have th deathly silence of a library. He didn't want to attract attention, but a bit of noise was just a steady reminder that other people were alive and existed. He was looking forward to feeling the safety and comfort of a swimming pool again even if he wasn't swimming laps.

"Can't say I've ever been to Australia. Though, this winter is really warm. A couple years ago, the big university in Minnesota had to cancel classes because of cold. Parts of New York got almost sixty inches of snow--one and a half meters if metric is easier for you."

Early on in their relationship, Rod was surprised at how fast Gail could do some metric conversions. Only later did he discover that she was doing inches or feet into centimeters or meters as hands. Somehow, it wasn't surprising that someone as horse crazy as her would have learned math as it pertained to horses.

He didn't feel the need to say anything for a few minutes. Silence was so nice sometimes to just enjoy the atmosphere. Yes, he loved noise when he needed to work and blamed that one growing up in or around the pool, but he could appreciate someone else's company without words. It crossed his mind to tell David about the origin of the scars, but he feared it would be opening up too much. Then again, the boy said he had seen some pretty bad injuries in his life, though farming never struck Rod as being particularly dangerous. He reminded himself that these were high school students and word that the geometry teacher was badly scarred would likely make its rounds early in the next semester. No doubt teenage brains could come up with all sorts of wild stories about where the injuries came from. For all they knew, their teacher got mauled by a Velociraptor like in Jurassic Park.

"Boat propeller."

There was no shame in being the victim of a terrible and preventable tragedy. Sooner or later, he would have to learn to live with the scars of an event that nearly killed him. He didn't have to say anything about spending nearly three months in hospital or the long road back to a semblance of independence. Just keep the record straight.

"I was hit by a motorboat a few years ago, and well, let's just say it's a miracle I'm still alive."

[David Adams]

David couldn't even imagine one and a half metres of snow. He visibly shivered soon hearing about it.

"That's a lot of snow." He said, his voice trailing off as he thought about his station being covered in snow. He laughed to himself as he thought about the animals' reaction to it, the poor beasts would be utterly terrified.
"I would also definitely recommend that you visit Australia some time. Though maybe don't go too far inland if you're not a fan of heat." He said with a laugh.

David enjoyed the peace as they stood quietly for a while. It wasn't awkward at all, but rather, it relieved a bit of the tension he had been feeling as the conversation went on. His mind wandered a bit as he stared out over the paddocks. As soon as the teacher mentioned a boat propellor, David turned to face the man. He blinked a few times, trying to make sure he had heard that correctly.

"A boat propeller?" He thought back to the few boats he had seen over the years, most of which had looked harmless while on the back of a trailer. He had no idea the things were so dangerous, causing that kind of harm. Then again, you wouldn't think a car could do something like that, yet they do. David winced as Mr Faulkner finished. How anyone could go through something like that and still want to go near water was beyond him.

"The driver of that boat must have been an idiot, taking his boat where he could hit someone..." David trailed off again. He had no idea where people drove boats, or how close to shore they would go. The only areas of deep water he sees are dams on his station and neighbouring properties. He'd been to the ocean once, but only when he was very young, and there were no boats.

[Roderick Faulkner]

Rod was willing to seriously consider a vacation to Australia. After everything that had happened, relaxation never once crossed his mind. Gail worked herself half to death on his account, and now, things were finally looking up. His wife would love to see the Great Barrier Reef or just go sight seeing in Sydney. He would most likely be staying where it was safe and not getting in the water. Maybe he wouldn't be the sort of husband who could share exotic memories with his wife, but he could live vicariously through her.

Here, only Gail knew that he still had nightmares about the incident. They were fewer, but some nights, he dreamt that he was dying and that Gail would have to carry on alone. He doubted he could ever go back to Lake Ontario and not have a panic attack, but that was a small price to pay. According to the doctors, he recovered well both physically and mentally.

"Yeah, he wasn't paying attention and got too close to a swim zone. But, I have the best wife in the world. Really, when you find a woman who really loves you and will stick by your side, treat her like a queen, and never let her go."

Whenever Rod thought about the college student who hit him, he couldn't feel angry. At first, he wanted the young man to suffer, but a bit of time shed a more compassionate light on the matter. That man would spend the rest of his life knowing just how close he was to killing another person and how he ruined the dreams of two people because of his negligence. Good Christians forgave, and Rod figured that the young man's conscious would be punishment enough.

"You'll probably see Gail around campus. I think she goes by Mrs. Sorenson-Faulkner to students. She teaches show jumping and hunters if you're taking either of those classes."