The Shoes of Baltimore (NaNoWriMo Day 5)

They had a light dinner that night. Julie’s natural instinct was to try and make him eat more. He was in really great shape, but she always felt he could eat more.

“Are you sure you just want the chicken and vegetables? Is that enough?”

Charlie smiled at his mother. He used to get annoyed and would snap at her for saying something like this. If he wanted to eat more, he would. If he wanted to eat something else, he would. He didn’t need he suggesting options he already knew about.

But as he got older, he realized she only said it because she cared about him. So he stopped getting annoyed.

“Ya mom, this is fine. Anything else and it will feel like I’m running around with a belly full of bricks tomorrow.”

“Okay Julie,” said.

Charlie went back to slowly picking up the chicken with his fork and putting it in his mouth. He then would split a piece of broccoli into four different pieces. He would slowly eat that. Then he would go back to the chicken.

This process repeated until he had finished his meal.

When they got back from dinner, Julie and Charlie went for a walk around his apartment complex.

I wish he lived in a better spot, Julie thought.

She wished she had been able to pay for him to live in a nice place while he was training. But since he graduated and no longer had scholarship money to live off of, he had to take a part-time job to pay the rent.

It wasn’t a lot of money, and he just had the bare necessities he needed.

“How’s the job going?” she asked.

Charlie really didn’t talk about that, other then when he felt so stressed out or overwhelmed that he had to talk about it.

“I just don’t know how anyone can stand to work retail. You have terrible schedules and the customers treat you like dirt.”

Julie knew all too well how Charlie felt. After she graduated high school, Julie was pregnant with Charlie.

Her husband and Charlie’s father left when Charlie was four. Her parents had never wanted her to marry Charlie’s father in the first place, and they disowned her when she abandoned going to college.

So with only a 12th-grade education and limited hours she could work, the only work Julie could find was either as a waitress or cashier. She bounced around those jobs before finally finding a job as a secretary.

The pay wasn’t great, but it provided her with stable hours.

“Yea,” Julie said. “But I think everyone should work a retail job once in their life. Remember, you aren’t going to be there forever. And because how rude and how badly everyone treats you, hopefully it makes you want to be nicer to everyone else. And you can’t take it too personally. Those people are just going to be miserable and rude to everyone.”

Charlie felt selfish for complaining about working this job. His mom had went through a lot to make sure that there was always food on the table.

“You’re right,” Charlie said. “I keep trying to remind myself that it will just be for a few more weeks. I also think it will be hilarious if the jerks I have to deal with see me on TV and remember they treated the guy who carried their dog food to their car like garbage.”

Julie chuckeld.

“Living a better life is the ultimate revenge,” she said.

That’s what Charlie thought about every time a customer insulted him at the pet store.

He started thinking about an old guy yesterday.

“Hey dopey, or sleepy, or sneezy, whatever the hell your name is. I need the cat food in the blue can.”

“Okay, do you know the name of the food?”

“No. It’s in the blue can.”

“Okay, I can help you try to find it.”

“Make it fast. I don’t have all day.”

Well if you knew the name of the food you bought it would go quicker you idiot, Charlie said to himself.

During times like this, Charlie started thinking about sponsorships. He thought about Usain Bolt’s $10-million deal with Puma.

Charlie didn’t care what company offered him a deal. He was going to hire an agent to get the best price, but he was going to take money from the highest bidder.

Charlie knew he had to make the most out of his attention if he was ever thrust in the spotlight.

It wouldn’t last forever.

They returned to the house after 20 minutes of walking. Julie was sleeping on the couch. It was 9:30 p.m., and Charlie said he was going to bed.

He had to be up by 7 a.m. the next day.

“Okay hunny,” Julie said. She gave him a bear hug.

“Good night.”

“Good night,” Charlie said.

Charlie was nervous when he went to bed, but he was able to fall asleep within 30 minutes. He knew there was nothing else he could do to prepare for tommorow.

He was confident that he did everything in his power to put himself in a position to be successful. When you feel like that, it’s a little easier to fall asleep.

Julie, on the other hand, didn’t fall asleep for hours. She was a nervous wreck.

This was going to be the biggest moment of Charlie’s life, she said to herself.

After several hours of tossing and turning, she was finally able to fall asleep.

In the morning, Charlie awoke before his alarm went off. He got out of bed and reached his hands as close to the ceiling as he could get them, stretching.

He brushed his teeth. Put on his shirts and shorts. Tied his shoes.

He walked down the steps and saw his mother pacing.

“You’re not the one who has to run today. Why are you pacing?” Charlie joked.

She looked up and smiled.

“You know I got so nervous. Even when you were a little kid, I was even nervous for you in your t-ball games!”

He walked over and put a hand on his mom’s shoulder.

“It will be okay mom. You’ll get through this!”

She sighed.

“Ready?” she asked.

“Ready,” he said.

This trial wasn’t open to the public, but the racers were allowed to have on guest. One of the security guards directed Charlie’s mom to the stands.

Julie give him a thumbs up and walked to the section of the stadium with the other spectators. The guard walked with Charlie to the entrance for the track.

“Best of luck kid” he said when they reached the entrance.

“Thanks,” Charlie said.

It wasn’t luck that would help Charlie win this event. But he would take as much as anyone was willing to give him.

There were world-class athletes at this event. Charlie started to feel a little intimidated when he saw some previous medal winners stretching and warming up.

It’s okay, Charlie told himself. These guys have had their time. There’s no way they’ve trained as hard as me over the last year. I want it more.

Charlie was handed a number and pinned it to himself. He had five minutes to stretch.

They called his group to the line. He was competing against someone who had just won the silver medal four years earlier.

But Charlie stopped looking at the other runners so he wouldn’t psych himself out.

“Get ready gentleman,” the line official said.

Charlie got himself into position.

The horn went off, and Charlie took off. He felt strong, and he knew he was in prime condition to win this race. He didn’t see any reason why he would lose.

But 30 seconds into the race, some of the runners got stuck in a cluster. One of the runners behind Charlie was bumped, and his knee went full force into the back of Charlie’s leg.

He felt the pain immediately. He put his hands in front of himself to lessen his impact, but it was so sudden that his skin was scrapped raw on his right forearm and left elbow.

He was bleeding and it hurt, but the pain in his knee was so great that it overwhelmed his other injuries.

He tried to stand up and start moving, but the pain was too great. He couldn’t put any pressure on his right leg. Charlie looked around, having no idea what to do.

Medics were racing over.

“Start massaging it! Start massaging it!” Charlie yelled.

He was so shaken up that he still didn’t fully comprehend what was fully happening. He thought maybe it was just a cramp. He tried to put weight again on the injured leg but felt a wave of pain rush through his entire body.

He yelled out in agony.

Charlie realized he wasn’t going to be able to finish this race. Two of the medics went under each of his arms and helped him get off the track. They took him to a bench and went to get a stretcher.

Tears streamed down Charlie’s face.

Why? Charlie asked himself. Why? Why? Why!

The medics helped him get on the stretcher. Charlie put his hands on his face to hide the fact that he couldn’t stop crying. The guards had let his mother down on to the track at this point and let her get in the ambulance with him to the hospital.

“Charlie, Charlie, are you okay?”

He couldn’t look at her. From the way her voice got stuck in her throat, he know she was starting to cry.

Charlie was breathing heavily and having a hard time stopping his loud sobs.

He took his hands off his face to look at his mom. It looked like he had a massive puddle of sweet on his face, but it was just his tears.

Julie put her hands over her mouth. She was always used to Charlie being so strong. She couldn’t even remember the last time he cried.

But she knew this is where he needed someone to be strong for him.

She grabbed his hand and he held on tight.

They didn’t speak during the ride.