some things

I turned off the alarm and looked at the time: 5:45AM. I laid my head back on the pillow. It was too early to be up, especially on a dark, cold Buffalo winter morning. I pulled my covers tight. I wanted to stay in bed. I knew I could not though. I had to be at the stadium by 6:30 to cover football conditioning. I closed my eyes to enjoy the warmth of my bed for one final moment. It was wonderful.

I opened my eyes again to glance at the clock. 6:30AM. I had fallen asleep. I was late.

I showered and got dressed as quickly as I could. I drove to the stadium. The athletic training van was gone. I had missed it. I continued on to the training facility. Everyone was already inside when I arrived.

I hurried inside. Nick, the athletic trainer for the football team, was standing near centerfield. He looked angry. I quickly made my way over to him. I apologized for being late. It was then that I noticed that the other student scheduled for that day was not there. He was also late. I felt bad. Nick had to do the pre-practice prep alone. I apologized again.

Nick anger subsided as practice progressed. I spoke to him after the practice had concluded. I apologized again. I did feel bad. I was very late and the other student skipped the practice altogether. This made more work for Nick.

Nick told me to stop apologizing. He then told me that he would inform Karl, clinical director for the AT program, that I was late. I went to class.

I ran into Karl in the Kimball Tower parking lot a few days. He asked why I had failed to meet with him as Nick had instructed. I was confused. Nick never instructed me to meet with Karl. He may have implied it. He told me he would inform Karl, which he had apparently done.

I explained to Karl that Nick had only told me that he would let Karl know about my tardiness. He never directly told me to meet with Karl. Maybe it was implied, but it was not stated. That was the reason I had not scheduled an appointment with him. I had no idea that I was expected to.

While I thought that this explanation was fair, Karl strongly disagreed. He refused to entertain the idea that I was telling the truth. No, in his mind, I was lying in some cunning attempt to avoid discipline by admitting wrongdoing. The rest of the conversation was trying to defend my honor. I failed. Karl had already decided that I was deceitful and conniving. I could not convince him otherwise.

Karl still expected me meet with him formally so that I could hear it all again. I did. Karl again refused to consider possibly that I had been telling the truth.

Shortly after the meeting, I ran into the student who had missed the football session. He told me he forgot about it. I told him what happened with Nick and Karl. He told me that Nick had told him to meet with Karl to discuss missing the practice.

“Did you?” I asked.

“No,” he told me.

“Has Karl said anything to you about it?”

“No.”