The broken leg

chapter 1- the fall

Dallas Tanen was college sophomore at Franklin College in Indiana. Growing up in the nearby town of Dayton, for a small-town boy like Dallas going FC was his dream. Dallas was your typical all american jock. Dark brown hair and chiseled features marked his handsome face. He was tall and for a swimmer had some serious muscle mass on his frame. Standing 6’1’’ and weighing 200 pounds he was lanky the other members of the FC swimming and diving team. Like most indiana boys Dallas loved to chow down. This corn fed boy always seemed to have an appetite. Dallas was an only child, and since his pop passed away he was the only thing his mother had left. His mother, Maureen, loved to cook. She was Always in the kitchen cooking up midwest favorites like broccoli chicken casserole, breaded pork tenderloins, cream pies or corn dogs. Dallas would’ve ballooned up if it weren’t for the swim team keeping his abs rock solid.

All this changed, however the summer before junior year. After the swim team had come in first place in their recent meet some of the guys went down to the quarry to swim. The boys were doing flips of the rocks, and pounding back the beers like there was no tomorrow. On what seemed like Dallas’ fifthteenth jump his leg slipped and instead of landing in the water, he landed in the bushes next the quarry. He was rushed to the hospital and luckily it was only a broken bone and doctor said it was a clean break. Unfortunately Dallas would be in a cast all summer.

Maureen Tanen wheeled Dallas into the living where she set up a Lazy-boy chair for him to live in for the foreseeable future. As soon as he got home Dallas popped a few of the pain pills the doctor gave him and motioned to his mom for something to drink. She rushed over with a mug sized glass of chocolate milk and in one full swoop Dallas drank it down. He let out a large belch. Maureen then returned to the kitchen and began to make Dallas a snack; four corn dogs with mayonnaise dipping sauce and another large glass of chocolate milk (an indiana staple). Dallas ravenously gulped each one of them down, and then using his fingers emptied the last of the mayo sauce. Before even finishing chewing he gulped down the chocolate milk and reached his arm out to his mother indicating he wanted more. This ritual continued on as Dallas grabbed the remote and turned on the television to football. An hour passed and Dallas was hungry again. This time his mother made him a fried baloney sandwich (triple decker of course), with fresh fried tater tots and more mayonnaise on the side for dipping and like always Dallas gobbled down the whole thing in minutes. After his binge he took a nap and slept until dinner. He awoke hungry as usual and to his delight found his dinner waiting for him on the tray. His mother had made a full 9x13 tray of tater tot casserole smothered in cream. Some corn fritters on the side and a bundt cake for dessert. Although the dinner was meant to be shared between the two of them Dallas quickly ravaged through the meal leaving only empty plates for his mother.