Carma’s Corner: Three Seconds (continued)

In last week’s column, Nathan was in and out of consciousness; the extent of his injury has not been determined. When Nathan once again succumbs to the darkness of unconsciousness, the narrative begins telling of Nathan’s impending date with Gangucha, the greatest feared bull. Will Nathan’s training and experience aid him in his fight against Gangucha, or will Gangucha’s fight give Nathan something else to fight for? Cowboy up!

Three Seconds

He closed his eyes, released his hold on the chute, and tried to envision the ride.

****
A grinding noise suddenly pulls Nate from the world of darkness; he isn’t so sure whether the noise or the pain awakens him. A surge of excitement rushes through his body; he has pain. This is the first pain he has had since…he can’t recall the last time he had pain. He looks up, but sees nothing but a glaring light; he tries to look to the side, but his head doesn’t turn. “What is making that racket?” Nate wonders.

All of a sudden a shadowed, blurry figure stands above him blocking the penetrating glight. “Oh, Nathan, I didn’t realize you were awake. I’ll have one of the nurses get you something for pain.” As quickly as the figure appeared, he disappeared into the unknown surroundings. Nate lay quietly in silence; he feels numb, except for the excruciating pounding in his head. “Where am I again? What happened? Why do I have such a headache? Where is everyone?"

“While you are awake, Nate, I want to explain what I am doing,” the blurry figure said. “I’m putting a halo around your head and screwing in pins to keep the halo from moving. The halo is meant to keep you immobilized while your fracture heals.” Nate closes his eyes; he hears the words; he understands the words, but the effects of the words are not comprehended. He reopens his eyes and sees another dark figure standing by the first one; the second dark figure makes a few quick movements, and it isn’t long before Nate realizes his world is once again fading into blackness.

****
“All right, ladies and gentlemen, next up is Nathan Hendricks on Gangucha Fury,” the announcer said over the PA system. Nathan opened his eyes and took a deep breath; he pushed down his hat and gave a quick nod to the cowboy waiting to open the gate. Nate heard a slight creak in the gate, and in a second he was out in the ring. Gangucha jerked left, then right, then up, and then down; Nathan tightened his legs and squeezed his hand around the bull-rope. The beast twisted, turned, jumped, and bucked; every jolting movement jarred Nathan’s body, and he realized he wasn’t going to conquer Gangucha.

The bull-rope began slipping through Nathan’s fingers; he curled his fingers tighter, but in that instance, Gangucha lurched up and landed on his front haunches. Nathan felt the rope rip from his hands and his body launching through the air. The crowd was silent and a blur; Nathan saw everything around him in fast-forward, but he was moving in slow-motion. “Land well and run like hell” echoed through his head; there was no doubt that he was going to run! He landed with a loud snap in his ears; he tried to raise his head, but a stabbing pain pierced through his head.

Everything around him went into a tailspin. He closed his eyes, praying for extra strength to run. But strength didn’t come; movement didn’t come; he was stuck helpless in the middle of the ring. The pain intensified and throbbed down his neck. “What in the world is wrong with me?” he thought. He shifted his eyes to the side and saw three pair of cowboy boots running towards him.