Sports, Music, or Both

Sports, Music, or Both

     Bionna sat up in her bed screaming. As soon as she woke up she stopped her screaming. Slowly, she looked around the near darkness of her bedroom. Just then her bedroom brightened up when her parents came running into her bedroom asking her what was wrong. Was she having another nightmare?

     Trionne went over and sat next to her daughter Bionna on one side of her and put her arm around her. Bionna’s father sat on her other side with his arm around her. Snuggling Bionna gently, Obbon and Trionne started rocking her slightly forward and backward to calm her down.

     It hadn’t worked yet. She still had a scared worried look on her face. Slowly, Bionna glanced at Obbon. “It wasn’t a nightmare. But it was a very bad dream.”

     “I know why you keep having these bad dreams,” said Trionne as she looked at her daughter. “You do this every time you have a big game coming up or you’re about to do something with your music.”

     Bionna glanced at her mother. Her scared worried look was no longer there. Now there was anger on her face. “This time it wasn’t about sports or music.”

##

     After staying with Bionna until she eventually fell asleep, Obbon and Trionne started walking back to their bedroom. As they did that, they talked about Bionna. “We need to do something about Bionna,” said Obbon. “She shouldn’t be talking to us like that.”

     Trionne looked at Obbon, but they kept walking. “She’s thirteen. Of course, she’s going to talk to us like that.”

     “I don’t care how old she is,” said Obbon. “She shouldn’t be acting like this. Especially, she shouldn’t be doing it to you.”

     “That’s normal for a girl her age.” Trionne and Obbon got to their bedroom and entered through the sliding door. “Besides, we already know why she’s acting like this. She spends too much time with her sports and music.”

     Obbon and Trionne started getting undressed. A clicking sound meant their door was closed and locked. “She will outgrow it,” said Obbon. “They always do.”

     “Too bad we can’t say the same for her love of sports and music.” Trionne was the first one who got undressed and got into their bed. Obbon was right behind her. “We need to do something to stop this love of hers. I’m just not sure how we can do this yet.

##

      “We want Bionna to be a professional at something other than sports and music,” said Obbon in between bites of breakfast. “And we only have seven more years to get her interested in anything but sports and music.”

     Trionne joined Obbon with a plate of her own. She also started eating her breakfast. “Getting her interested in some other profession won’t be easy, especially on a day like today. Doesn’t she have another big game today?”

     “Bionna does,” said Obbon after eating another bite from her breakfast. “She’s getting ready for it right now.”

     “Doesn’t she have something to do with her music in a few days too?” Trionne finished her breakfast and placed her plate in a messy sink.

     Obbon finished her breakfast too. He walked toward the sink with his almost empty plate. “She does, and I think it has something to do with a stage performance.”

     “That’s what I have been trying to say.” Trionne and Obbon walked out of the kitchen together. “I don’t know what we are going to do, but we must get her interested in something besides sports and music. Almost anything is better than sports and music.

##

     Bionna stepped out into the outer circle ring of the Power Ball field. She looked up at the Opening right above her after she stopped with the rest of her team in blue and red uniforms. Their opponents stood opposite them and wore green and blue uniforms.

     The rest of her team separated into the three other circle rings in that Power Ball field, three per ringside. Their opponents did the same thing. Bionna stood alone under the Opening until she started floating up toward it. Only to stop slightly in front of it when she got there.

     Four balls came down from the ceiling in front of the six combatants in the large center circle. Each combatant could use any part of their body to advance the balls to the opening on the other side of that field, but they couldn’t use their hands.

     Between the center circle and the outer ring were two thinner rings with twelve combatants. They could only use their hands or feet depending on which circle they were in to advance the balls to the Openings. The only ones who could use their whole body were the Opening Protectors.

##

     The four balls used in that Power Ball game were flying everywhere: Being kicked, punched, caught, etc. Aiming them from both sides toward the two Openings. Bionna was Protecting one of those Openings. Using her body to block the different balls heading toward her.

     Bionna was blocking most of the balls trying to go in the Opening she was protecting. A few were getting past her. Each one caused a point for the opposing team. So far, Bionna hadn’t blocked, head bounced, or caught seven balls. The opposing team had nine balls they had missed.

     Two of the balls were about to hit Bionna on her right lower side and the upper front of her body at the same time. Knocking her away from the Opening she had been protecting. Bionna fell to the hard metal floor after passing out. She hit it with a loud cracking sound.

     A cracking sound echoed throughout that room. The ones watching that Power Ball game heard it too. They reacted to it by heading toward the Protective Shield surrounding that game. That game was over. Everyone was now looking at Bionna, and she looked dead.

####

     Several hours later, Bionna was being rushed to the nearest hospital in an ambulance. After getting there, she was examined by a room full of doctors and nurses. Running around frantically checking her out. Bionna still hadn’t come out of what happened to her at the Power Ball game.

     It took almost another hour before they were done with their examination. Now they had to tell her and her parents the results of that examination. Obbon and Trionne sat on both sides of her bed. They had been by her side ever since she had been brought into that room.

     Suddenly, Bionna opened her eyes. She looked at her legs and feet. “What has happened to me? Why can’t I move my legs or feet?”

     Obbon and Trionne got up and went to both sides of their daughter. Bionna sat up as best she could on her lower arms and elbows just as a doctor came into her room. “I don’t like to give out results like this.”

     “There is no easy way to say this, but it’s not good news,” said the doctor. “After checking you out, it doesn’t look like you are ever going to be able to walk again.”

##

     Bionna looked like a stiff laying in her bed. Her arms were by her sides and her legs were next to each other. She just lay there staring at her ceiling. Bionna’s eyes were open, but she wasn’t seeing anything. Her parents were looking at her through her slightly closed door.

     “That’s all she does,” said Trionna. “Ever since we brought her home from the hospital a few weeks ago, she doesn’t do anything but stare at her ceiling. Except for eating and sleeping a little, she just lays there.”

     “I wanted her to do something with her life other than sports or music, but I didn’t want this to happen.” Obbon couldn’t look at his daughter anymore. He started walking away from Bionna’s bedroom.

     Trionne ran to catch up to Obbon. “It’s not your fault. If it is, then it’s my fault too. I also wanted her to do another profession besides sports or music.”

     “At least we don’t have to worry about her becoming a sports professional.” Obbon stopped and looked back at the door leading into Bionna’s bedroom. “I’m just not sure if we don’t have to worry about her music profession yet.”

##

     “What am I going to do now,” asked Bionna after getting up on her lower arms and elbows. Bionna looked at her legs and feet. “I can’t do any sports without my legs.”

     Bionna tried to move her feet, and they moved a little bit. “It’s just the bones in my legs that have shattered. A thin membrane connects my feet to the lower part of my body. That’s what the doctor told us.”

     “I still have the use of my feet.” Bionna laid back down on her bed. She started staring at her ceiling again. “I may not be able to play sports anymore, but that doesn’t mean I can be involved in sports.”

     Suddenly, Bionna started smiling. “I still have my music. Been thinking about making music my profession lately anyway, but it doesn’t look like I have any choice about it anymore.”

     Bionna wasn’t smiling anymore. “I just don’t how I’m going to do that yet. After all, I need my legs to do most of my music. Unless I treat it like a sports profession. I could be a teacher of music. That’s not all I can do, though. Could also write music too.”

##

     “I know I have seven more years before deciding what I will do for the rest of my life, but I have already decided what I will start my five years of training to do before I become an adult.” Bionna started eating her breakfast.

     “I’m just happy you came out of your bedroom to eat with us instead of us bringing your breakfast to you.” Trionne placed a plate in front of Obbon. Then she sat down to start eating her breakfast after she placed a plate on their kitchen table.

     Bionna didn’t stop eating when she looked at her parents. “I didn’t only come here to eat breakfast. Also, I came to tell you what I will be doing the rest of my life.”

     “You still have seven more years to decide what you want to do with your life.” Obbon stopped eating and looked at Bionna. “Why have you decided now?”

     “Because I need to start training for it now,” said Bionna as she continued eating her breakfast. “I have been doing it for the last four years too, but I still have a lot to learn about the music profession.”

##

     Bionna controlled her electrical wheelchair over to her desk. Once there, she turned on her computer. After she brought up a document titled ‘Sports or Music’ on her computer she started entering more information into it. “I’m coming up with the part of my life that I don’t want to write about.”

     “The near death of me.” Bionna started typing away on her computer keyboard. “My life started when I almost died during the Power Ball game.”

     “I had a lot of time to think about the rest of my life while I was recovering from losing my legs. Of course, I can’t physically play any sports anymore, but I can use what I have already learned from sports to help me with my music profession.”

     Bionna stopped typing to read what she had written so far. She started shivering in fear when she started reading the part about her almost death. “A musical about sports and music.”

     “Only it won’t be a typical musical about love and romance between a boy and a girl who fall in love because of the connection between sports and music. It will be about sports: before, during, and after the sporting event.”

     “Did you say something Bionna?” Bionna heard her father ask. “Thought I heard you talking to yourself again.”

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