Page 9 of Beck & Coll
Much to my own embarrassment, in circles where people knew me, the word clumsy tended to be thrown around a lot. I was not trying to go tumbling down the side of a mountain.
“You’re doing good,” I whispered a bit of motivation to myself.
The next thing I knew, my left foot slipped out from under me. I was tumbling down the side of a mountain… just like I told myself that I didn’t want to be.
After you take somany people on guided hikes or any type of outdoor experience really, you develop a sixth sense about who might end up being clumsy and who might not.
Sometimes, the most unexpected people were sure-footed. But a pretty woman who was also clumsy? That was never a surprise. I tried to get in front of her obvious clumsiness by instructing her to stay focused. It didn’t work. It rarely worked. Some people were just destined to fall while hiking. Some people’s feet, balance, and/or depth perception were challenged.
Collins was wearing both hiking pants and hiking boots, which helped her situation. She probably also should’ve been wearing a helmet because her head hit the ground with adecisive thud. Sheended up in the brush with a gash in both her pants and her thigh. Things weren’t as bad as they could have been, but I was most concerned with the fact that her head hit the ground.
She sat up holding the back of her head, which had taken the brunt of the impact.
“Ouch.”
“Ouch your head, ouch your leg, or both?” I questioned.
“Both.”
I checked her head for contusions and bumps. There was no blood, and a lump hadn’t started to form. I checked out the cut on her leg.
Keep it professional, my dude. I counseled myself as I handled her leg.
“I’m gonna do what I can out here on this mountain to your leg injury,” I told her as I removed the first aid kit from my backpack. “But to clean it thoroughly, I would either need you to be wearing shorts, or you’d have to take off your pants.”
She giggled lightly through whatever pain she was experiencing. “Being in my panties on the trail couldn’t be that much more embarrassing than falling down it.” She covered her face with her dirty, gritty hands. “I can’t believe this happened. I was paying such close attention.”
She probably had been paying attention, but at some point, her mind probably wandered. Next thing she knew, her feet were in the air, and her back was on the ground.
“Yeah.” My response was noncommittal, while I tried to stay detached as I did a cursory job of bandaging her juicy ass thigh. “When we get back to your cottage, I’ll have you throw on some shorts, and I can decide if you need stitches or anything.”
I finished placing the bandage inside the hole of her pants, chastising myself for the way my mind kept ruminatingon just how smooth and flawless the tiny slice of thigh looked. “You think you can stand up?”
“I kind of have to be able to, right? I mean, we’re barely halfway down.”
She was right, but if she couldn’t put weight on her leg, I wasn’t going to force her.
“Can you put weight on that leg?” I helped her to a standing position.
“It hurts,” she admitted. “But it’s not excruciating. I can make it down.”
And she did make it down. Once we made it back down to the base of the mountain, I followed her back to her cottage for a closer inspection of her leg.
As soon as we got into the cottage, I sent her off. She made a beeline for the bathroom, then went into her bedroom to get out of the ruined pants. Once she came out of the bathroom, I went in. I used the facilities then washed my hands.The entire time I was in there, I coached myself.
Just assess the actual damage of the fall.
Just assess the actual damage of the fall.
Just assess the actual damage of the fall.
We met in the living area. She was wearing shorts that left a lot of her thigh meat on display. It was a fight to keep my eyes where they were supposed to be, but professionalism was important to me. As was the fact that I wanted women to feel safe booking a wilderness experience with me. They wouldn’t feel safe if I acted like a creeper motherfucker who couldn’t stopleering at them. I put my eyes on her injury and assessed the actual damage of the fall with practiced self-discipline.
“It’s not as bad as it could’ve been.” I moved closer to her then looked into her face. I took out my pen light and shined it in her eyes. She followed the beam of light like I asked her to.
“I know I touched it at the fall site, but I wanna make sure you’re cool. Do you mind me putting my hand on your thigh?”
She seemed surprised that I’d asked. “Nah, I don’t mind.”
