The Game Player Read Free

was almost crying.
    â€œIt’s not broken,” Danny said.
    Brian was at my side and he looked warmly into my eyes. “What happened?”
    â€œI heard it crack. I know it’s broken. I can feel the bone move.” I said that as I felt it for the first time. I had lifted my left wrist with my right hand only a fraction of an inch and I felt the immediate pain and strange movement of something sharp in my arm.
    Brian nodded and said to the blond boy, “Adam, get my first-aid kit and tell my mother to call his house. Is somebody there?” he asked me.
    â€œI think so.”
    The other boys were watching me with a mixture of curiosity and terror, except for Dan, who said, “It can’t be broken.”
    â€œDan, please be quiet,” Brian said firmly. He pointed to a bench at the edge of the trees. “Let’s move there so I can put a splint on it,” he said to me. We moved slowly towards the bench, Brian supporting me by putting his arm across my shoulders. He motioned Adam, returning with a red cross-emblazoned kit, to the bench. While he removed a splint from the kit and a cloth to be used as a sling, I watched a woman approach us from the house.
    Brian was carefully adjusting the splint when she arrived. “How are you feeling?” she asked me sweetly. “I called your mother. She’ll be right over and I gave her the name of a good doctor.”
    Brian put the sling under the splint and around my neck, saying, “Try not to move it, okay?”
    â€œCan I give you something?” his mother asked.
    â€œNo, Mom, he’s probably nauseous.” Brian looked at me for confirmation and I nodded.
    â€œI’m all right,” I said weakly.
    â€œYou’re very brave,” she said so simply that I was not embarrassed.
    They slowly walked me to the house. I would feel faint for a moment and then suddenly exhilarated. The variations made the walk long and oddly beautiful. Brian seemed to know exactly how I felt. He would stop just when I couldn’t go on and start just as I felt better. By the time we reached the driveway my mother’s car pulled in wildly and she rushed out, obviously hysterical. She kissed me much too possessively and then settled down to watch Brian help me into the car while she got instructions from Brian’s mother about how to get to the doctor, turning down her offer of driving us there.
    It took a while to have the arm X-rayed and to go to the specialist who fitted me for the cast. I had discussed how it happened several times but it was only when we were home having tea and cookies and I felt very protected and happy that I mentioned what bothered me. After another telling of how Brian’s movements got me into such an awkward position, Mom said, “So it was a freak accident.”
    â€œThey way he came at me, Mom, it was unnecessary. It wasn’t exactly”—I searched for the word—“premeditated. But, somehow, he meant to hurt me.”

2
    The rent of land is established through the struggle between tenant and landlord. Throughout political economy we find that the hostile opposition of interests, struggle, and war are acknowledged as the basis of social organization.
    â€”Karl Marx
    I DIDN’T MIND having the cast except when I had to sleep. The only comfortable way to lie down was on my back and I had never slept in that position. Even that had its pleasures: I was not harassed about being awake late at night and I enjoyed sitting up until two or three in the morning, drinking tea and reading after the late movie on television. The broken arm also excused me from playing athletic games and that was a relief.
    My only concern was how far back this would set me in terms of making friends in the neighborhood. And the unpleasantness of the football game made me wonder if I cared to fit in, though I don’t think my rejecting the suburb kids was a luxury I thought I could afford. After