Broken

The boy wanted to be an American Ninja Warrior.”I can scale this  wall”, he says to himself. He takes off, mindful of the debris under his feet, gravel, bottle caps, branches. A small pile of wet leaves in front of the wall, located just where he would push off and leap to begin his rapid ascent thwarts him. He slips, slides and bangs his right foot into the wall. A Sunday in bed, ice and Tylenol. A Monday at the hospital, x-rays, a 3 week boot. Lost youth.