You’re A Wizard, Jack!
All three of us enjoyed Harry Potter, to Danny and I there was a limitation to our enjoyment, but to Jack, there was an underlying obsession that he secretly held to much of his security, especially for the movies. The past summer would be full of Harry Potter, but there was one instance that will stick with me for the rest of my life.
All three of us lived in the dark basement apartment at the top of Briggs Avenue on Mercyhurst campus for the summer, there was one other person in the building. I was taking a class and playing for an Erie based soccer team. Danny was also playing for the team but spent his days working for the maintenance crew that painted all the dorms. Jack was also a painter, but his summer would dramatically change 3 weeks into May. I had met Jack two years ago when I lived in Erie for the summer, but didn’t attend Mercyhurst. I must have only spoken three words to him that summer. After eventually transferring to The Lakers, it wasn’t until the spring and summer of this year that Jack and myself would become very good friends.
He had just come off an unbelievable fall season with the Mercyhurst mens soccer team. Acquired All Conference, All Region, and All American status within a year. It was safe to say that Jack was being heavily looked at and noted down for the future. As we entered the spring season, our coach quickly pulled a team together to play an under 19 team that was visiting from Canada. I put my hand up to play and Jack reluctantly put his name down because he didn’t have anything else to do.
With a very mediocre warm up, we kicked off. Twenty minutes into the game, Jack jumped into air, landing and twisting, immediately clutching to his left knee. I remember asking, “Are you alright mate”? With an aggressive frown he looked up at me, “Ive defiantly heard a bloody crack in there.”
Two weeks later, an 85 percent tear on his ACL would be discovered, his surgery set for the 17th of May. I could tell that he was distraught, but I knew he wanted to be left alone. As we began living together in the summer, we never really brought up his knee but he also began to heavily underestimate the operation. I knew next to nothing about the extent of an ACL surgery, but I was a little hesitant when he said he would be walking around within a week. A few days before the operation, we decided to start the Harry Potter movies from the beginning. We got up to the third instalment, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban the night before his surgery. We didn’t talk much about it, but I could tell he was nervous about the operation. Jack is a very strong individual with a hard personality, and I’m sure if had got sentimental with him, he would have told me to piss off. I think all I said was good luck before I went to bed, and he was gone in the morning before woke up.
At around 12pm, I get a FaceTime call from Jack, his surgery ending at 11:30. Opening it, Im confused as to why he has his phone on him. Up pops his head, still with a hair net on and in scrubs. Highly drugged and barely able to focus on the camera, he mumbles with a smile on his face, “You’re a wizard, Jack!”. To this day he has zero recollection of himself doing it, but it is something that will stay with me for the rest of my life.
