For Trifecta Writing Challenge: the word is LUCKY 3: producing or resulting in good by chance : favorable
Diego raked the grass clippings into a mound the shape of a makeshift armchair. He would have liked nothing better than to give it his weight, loosen leg muscles that pulsed like microwaves. With four more lawns to mow, weed whack, and leaf blow, he had no time to rest.
He scooped up clumps of wet grass, tossed them into the green plastic bin at his side. His movements were adroit, long practiced. He heaved the bin to his muscled shoulders. Slogging to the truck his right leg buckled. He fell, and the bin sailed off, its contents strewn in a serpentine flow.
“Hey, man, you ok?” Carlos shut down the mower, but stayed where he was, in the center of the vast lawn.
“Yeah, I just tripped. No big deal.” Diego pushed himself up into what resembled a downward dog yoga asana. Still his right leg refused to join forces with the left.
“Get back to work. Nothing to see here.” Diego dragged his leg behind him to retrieve the bin.
“Diego, tell me what’s going on, man. You’ve been falling too often for it to be an accident.”
“I’m just clumsy. Got a lot on my mind. My mother is sick. Gotta send extra money this month that I don’t have.”
He spent it on lab tests. With no health insurance he was forced to pay out of pocket. The diagnosis wasn’t good: multiple sclerosis. Maybe it could be managed, but not without costly medication, and continual monitoring. Even if he qualified for insurance he could not afford the premiums.
His leg behaving he shouldered the plastic tub.
When he thought about it later he saw the German Shepherd emerge from the hedge. He remembered the crack, and the searing pain when he hit the turf.
He remembered his clients mollifying him, “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of everything. You’re lucky only your leg was broken.”
“That was lucky,” he remembered saying, only half conscious, “you’ll take care of everything.”
