WARNING: CUT DUE TO GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION. See the subject line.

The assignment piece was to write a short creative non-fiction essay that broke five of the traditional “rules” for writing. It was written on 22 Mar 2005.

When it happens, the immediate situation doesn’t send the panic through me. I don’t think of why my kneecap is sliding across my knee joint, and out of its track. I think of what is just to follow. I think of my setting. If I lie there, will I be noticed? Will someone come to help? Am I in the middle of the street, or on a sidewalk? Will my kneecap pop back into place when I hit the surface below me, or will I get to stoically slide it back in myself? Will there be an ambulance ride, morphine, and an enormous bill? Or will I be able to limp home?

This time, it was only a sublux. Kneecap out. Me on the sidewalk. Kneecap in. Five or so minutes groaning in pain and hugging the concrete. Then I was up and limping back home.