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Cra(m)p!
The water rushed over his body as he parted the water with his hands.
He had been swimming the breaststroke for the past 30 minutes and he was bored.
He was bored of repeating the same movements over and over again.
Kick, push and take a breath.
“It’s been a long time since I last swam,” he thought.
“I should try the freestyle; it’s been a while since I last did that.”
He took a deep breath and pictured how it was like to swim the freestyle.
“Do I lock my knees or not? Oh heck, I’m just going to go for it.”
Like a baby, he focused his energy at his feet and started kicking. As he kicked, he propelled himself forward and continued to slice through the water with his hands.
A jolt of pain ran through his foot. What’s a little pain?
He continued pushing through the water and felt glad that he could still execute movement with the swimming style that he had not tried out for such a long time.
He kicked and kicked and created huge, lovely white foam in the water, surrounded by a vortex of bubbles.
Ooh. This is fun.
And in a split second, that fun and happiness dissipated as pain surged through his foot.
Cramp! Oh crap.
At a time like this?!
Now?!
What is the world coming to?
Restricting the movement in his aching foot as much as possible, he swam to the edge of the pool and carefully climbed out.
As he removed his goggles from his head, he pulled out a few strands of his hair.
Ow, thanks.
So he hobbled towards a chair and sat down. But the pain wouldn’t go away. He shook and rotated his foot a little. Ain’t working…
Alright, drastic measures then.
He sat down on the stony ground and stretched out his foot, pressing the ball of his foot against the wall.
Push!!!
He pushed and pulled his foot countless times against the wall till the pain subsided.
He cracked a smile.
He felt like a pregnant woman in labour.
Well, you gotta do, what you gotta do.
Ah, relief.
If only all problems could be solved so easily.
We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.
– Thomas Fuller
Hail Mary.