Chapter 6

Steven stepped over to the room’s one chair.They usually had dirty clothes layered on it but today it was clean.Conrad noticed that Steven’s work pants had green stains on one leg.It smelled like pepper sauce.

“When I was in high school,I broke my leg playing football.Junior year.We had a great season going,I was running over a hundred yards a game and then—wham!One fat linebacker from the Bulldogs,one bad tackle and my leg snapped like a chicken bone.”Steven’s voice shook.“Mom said she heard itfrom the stands.”

Conrad sat across from him on the bed.

“I was out of school for two months.It was bad,a compound fracture,where the bone pokes through the skin,ya know?”

“That’s what that scar is from?”Conrad had licked over the mark on Steven’s left leg a dozen times.“I shoulda asked.”