The Skating Globe

Skyler and Ricky sat on their beds criss-cross applesauce as grandpa sat down next to them. “Tell us a story!” yelled the kids in unison

“Alright, Alright”, said grandpa. “Settle in, get comfy,” He said…..”There once was a boy named Riley. He had friends and was very popular in school, but he was also an amazing skater. When Riley graduated, he got the chance to become a world champion skater. His friends though had planned their life together with him. If Riley took the skating job, he would never have time for his friends. The boy took days of thinking, but in the end, he chose skating over his friends. Riley took this skating job at the age of 17 and never finished school. He didn't really need to finish school since he was an amazing skater. He became a gold medal olympics skater. Riley had won so many prizes. By the age 30, he had won 3 gold metals and 10 silver ones.”

“Grandpa, did you know this Riley?” interrupted Skyler.

“Yes, sweety, but you musnt interrupt me while i am speaking if you want me to finish the story.”

Skyler responded with a “Yes grandpa,” as she squirmed into her sheets, waiting to hear what happened to Riley.

Grandpa continued the story where he left off…”As i was saying,” said grandpa. “He won lots of medals and soon enough he was known all over the town. He was skating in a big tournament one day and he tried the triple axel! It is one of the hardest moves to perform. When he went in for the jump, his ankle twisted and he landed as his legs smashed on the rink first and then his head came crashing. Something cracked and an excruciating pain came thundering through Riley’s leg. Had he broken his leg? thought Riley. His head hurt too and he was having trouble thinking straight. A crowd of people came rushing to his aid as Riley was lifted and brought to an ambulance. All at once people were touching him and giving him breathing things and checking his blood. Riley quickly fell asleep into this deep conscious state. As he dreamt, he saw a world the size of a globe. It was skating on ice in a big city and there were butterflies watching it and flying all around. As it skated and skated, it fell and cracked. Soon enough, Riley woke up with pain all over his body, especially his leg and his head.The doctors started asking questions. He tried to answer them to the best of his ability but he couldn't remember it all. The doctor told Riley he had a concussion and a slight brain damage. His head would be fine in a few months of rest, but his leg...his leg was broken. Riley wouldn't be able to skate for a really long time. His career was going downhill. Riley was a determined man and he was determined to get his life back where he had it and back performing in the rink again as a champion. He knew he could do it. He knew he could work hard. Riley tried to process all this information that was coming at him all at once. His injury and his life.

He was sure he could get it back on trail though. Minutes turned into hours and hours turned into days. As the days passed so did weeks and soon it had turned to months. After a month of being in the hospital and having so many tests taken and being in physical therapy for his leg, he finally was more hopeful that he was going to make it to the finals next year. The doctor came in on his daily check up with a frown on his face. Riley got anxious and scared for a second wondering what could possibly be the problem. His leg was healing well and his head was fine now. The Doctor sat down next to him on his bed and told Riley in a deep and soft voice that he actually had cancer in his lungs. Riley sat there again with deja vu as a deep concern and sadness washed over him. He sat there again not knowing what the doctor was telling him and what he had heard. The doctor explained that Riley could never skate again and would have to stay in the hospital for a longer time until the doctors could find a solution. Apparently the cancer was pretty bad. Every night after that, Riley had the same dream he had had in the ambulance the night it all started.

There was a world skating on ice in a big city, and as it skated, there were butterflies fluttering all around it. The world slid fast and crashed open on the ice. Every time he had the dream, it felt more lifelike and it got more painful to dream. Finally he told the doctors about it and they concluded that when he got his injuries, he must have been so traumatized that he had night terrors. The doctors quickly started trying to help him with theropoy. Apparently the globe in the dream represented Riley. The butterflies were his fans circling around him and the crash was his accident. It all finally made sense. As Riley understood more and more that he was never going to skate again, he started thinking about his career and how his life was going to be from now on. Skating was the only thing he knew and now it was gone. He hadn’t prepared for this and he’d never needed anything to fall back on in case he fell. He thought about it more and more and realized that the only solution he had was to finish school and pursue another career. Maybe he would be a skating physician to help other skaters out there. Riley started studying and studying. He had teachers come into the hospital and teach him. His brother, Kyle, was a teacher and was 9 years older than Riley, so he thought that he could have his brother help him study too. The time passed and during the time he had been in the hospital, he had met a woman named Bella. Bella also had cancer, but she had almost fought it entirely. Soon enough with all that time Riley had spent at the hospital, he fell in love with Bella. She was the love of his life. When the time came to take the final exams Riley studied and studied. Since his brother had helped him study for weeks, He passed all of them! Riley was now fully done with school, he could pursue a different career, and he was fighting cancer.”

“What happened to the girl?” asked Skyler

“Yeah, what happened to Bella?” repeated Ricky

“Well, they got married and had two kids. Afterall, they were deeply in love with each other,” said grandpa. “I better go now, you two get some rest.”

“Riley!” yelled grandma, “Your figure skating show is on tv”

“I’ll be right there!” answered grandpa with joy. Grandpa left the room, shut the lights off, and closed the door. Then he sat down on his old couch to watch his favorite show he watched every Friday. He smiled at the tv as so many bad memories came flooding in, but then came the good ones. The good memories were worth it all. Everything that he went through was worth it because of the good memories. Grandma brought in some hot cocoa and they sat there on the couch smiling as grandma leaned on grandpa's shoulder and they both fell peacefully asleep and grandpa went into the world where the globe was skating on the ice softly, but something was different this time. When the globe came to jump and spin, it landed. It didn't crash. It landed smoothly and peacefully then skated away.

THE END