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Peja's Wonderful World of Makebelieve Import
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Published:
2020-11-04
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1,145
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1/1
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8
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The Storm Drain

Summary:

This is a little distraction for Winnie in the form of a Judson owie and also fits the bill for the challenge issued of using a personal injury and giving it to one of the three AI characters. Yes, I really did this at the age of 11.

Work Text:

The Storm Drain
By Lyn


Judson walked down the gangplank, the duffle bag slung over his shoulder, and turned left at the bottom. He leisurely strolled along the pier, not hurrying in the muggy ninety plus degree heat. It felt a bit like walking with a wet blanket draped around your body. Judson tried to counter the heat by dressing in baggy shorts, tennis shoes and a loose fitting cotton button front shirt which he had left unbuttoned half the way down.

His casual dress and demeanor was misleading, for in the duffle he carried a priceless artifact he and his team had recovered just two days prior and which he now was delivering to their client, a wealthy philanthropist who would send the artifact on to a museum to be studied and displayed.

He had left the dock area and was making his way along a narrow street when it happened. He was passing a doorway when he suddenly felt himself pushed hard enough for him to hit the ground with a resounding thud, his head bouncing on the brick road hard enough to temporarily stun him and keep him from immediately reacting as a booted foot kicked out, catching him in the stomach and knocking the wind from him. In less than a second Judson found himself lying in the narrow street, with the duffle bag gone, staring after a running form dressed in khakis and a white t-shirt.

But Judson recovered quickly, shaking the stars from his head and dragging in a deep breath. He staggered to his feet and began pursuit. He managed to keep his prey in sight for the first three blocks, but the kick to his stomach had taken more wind out of Judson than he had first thought and it was hard to catch his breath. The thief was getting further and further ahead of him. But rounding a corner, he saw the perfect solution.

A bike.

Judson paused long enough to snatch up the mountain bike from where it rested against a wall just outside a small café and hopped on. As he began peddling the owner came running outside, shouting obscenities as Judson pulled away.

"I'll bring it back," he called over his shoulder, then began pumping the pedals, needing to make up some ground on the quickly disappearing bandit.

The thief made a turn, and Judson easily followed now, rounding a corner and on to a wider paved street with high curbs and deep drainage ditches on the sides. By now Judson was less than half a block behind. Judson pushed himself up off the bike seat and pedaled even harder, gaining even more ground as the thief glanced over his shoulder and turned another corner, dropping the duffle as he did so.

Seeing the bag dropped Judson braked the bike, wanting the artifact back more than he wanted to catch the man who stole it. But he had braked hard, not realizing that the road at the corner had a thin coat of sand scattered around it. The bike skidded out into the middle of the street, as Judson went tumbling off it and skidding in the opposite direction.

When he finally came to a stop, only Judson's upper half was visible, the lower half having slid into a storm drain leading to the sewers below, his arms splayed out on the pavement as if they were holding him back from completing the fall.

~~adventure inc.~~

Judson limped up the gangplank. His clothes were disheveled, his hair messed. He made his way carefully down the stairs leading below deck, and shuffled to his room, leaving the door open as he sank carefully on to the bed. He was allowing himself to lay back on the softness of the bed when Mac opened the door to her room next to Judson's. She glanced in through his door as she began to move down the short hallway, stopping after only a few steps and turning back.

"What happened to you?" she asked as she entered the room, heading directly to Judson's private bath.

"Fell down a storm drain," Judson grumbled over the sound of running water. Then Mac emerged with several damp washcloths and sat on the edge of the bed.

"You fell down a storm drain?" she said sarcastically, taking in the damage. Judson's leg was scraped from shin to thigh, sand and dirt embedded in the torn flesh.

"Yeah, when I fell off the bike." Judson grimaced as Mac pushed his shorts higher up his leg and began cleaning the dirt from his leg. There didn't appear to be any deep gashes, but the abrasions would no doubt scab over and the leg would be stiff for a few days.

"Off a bike? Okay Judson, spill it," she demanded, her eyes not leaving her work. Rolling over to his side to give Mac better access, he told her about the theft and his subsequent pursuit, ending with the bike skidding out from under him.

When his story was met with silence, he looked over his shoulder at Mac. The woman had stopped in her cleaning and her shoulders were just beginning to shake in silent laughter. But the silence didn't last long as her peals of laughter broke free and carried out of the room.

Moments later Gabe's head popped into the room. "Whoa..." he said as he spotted the scrape, entering the room to get a closer look. "That's a beaut! How'd you get it?"

"He fell down a storm drain!" Mac blurted out in between laughs before Judson even had a chance to reply.

"A drain? Like the kind you find at street corners? Where the water runs down?"

"Yes, where the water runs down," Judson replied, then told the story once more. Before he had even finished Gabe was rolling on the floor.

"It's not THAT funny!" he exclaimed as he threw a pillow at the cackling youngest member of his team. Mac was finally getting herself under some control, the last remnants of her laughter coming out in a hiccup.

"Oh, I'm just glad you managed to stop yourself from falling all the way down!" Gabe exclaimed, still laughing. "Can you just imagine the newspaper headlines?" Gabe raised one hand into the air and moved it in front of him as if placing his next words on to a marquee.

"Famous Adventure Explorer Lost In Sewer After Bicycling Accident."

The room erupted in laughter. Judson's groan could barely be heard.



END

Sidenote: Yes, I fell partially down a storm drain when my bike skidded out on some sand. I swear my sixth grade teacher was keeping a list of all my injuries that year. I'm extremely clumsy and that must have been my awkward year.