Ways of Getting Lost Without Trying

The fall happened so fast that it seemed more like the ground came up to meet him.

It was on the playground during recess.  Scott daydreaming about nothing in particular when suddenly he was flat on his front, his stinging palms saving him from a broken nose and busted teeth by mere centimeters.  Despite being prone to tripping over things, he was not clumsy in general and had fast reflexes, which is the only reason his face hadn’t been mangled.  The problem was that he dragged his feet.  His right leg was the one affected by his condition, it was called cerebral palsy, but his aunt always called it his condition whenever she spoke to anyone on the phone about him; even though the limp was only on his right side, it caused him to shuffle both feet as the unaffected leg compensated for the other.  He was supposed to do daily exercises and focus on heel striking whenever he walked, but he could barely concentrate in class much less every time he took a step. There had been a lot of teasing about the way he walked when he was younger, probably still was, but at some point Scott had learned to tune it out.