The Anthology Project

Jessica’s Story

Chapter 7. Bangers in Bangkok

We were playing Gaelic football one Monday evening in Bangkok. We never really got used to Ger’s country accent rising above the noise of the Khlong boats in the heat. But it was a fully immersive, no thoughts allowed hour of focus that Rebecca really cherished. You couldn’t take you eye off the ball, or your ear off the coach. All go for 1 hour then home on a motosai. On the evening in question, we ended the session with a scrimmage, men and women on mixed teams. Rebecca was mid-field or forward and ran to catch an ambitiously high and long ball from the other end of the field. It hit her with full force and even though she caught it, something was off. Her finger started throbbing and by the time we got home, it was purple. Cue uber ambulance. Not a real service, but how else do you get to the hospital? I have a snapchat from that evening of us in the elevator, me singing “Broken or Sprained, Broken or Strained” like a third-rate gameshow host. In the ER, we sat nervously in an empty wing. There was so little going on, they almost rolled her in a wheelchair. We texted Hannah a photo of the room and she approved of the sophisticated equipment. A missed drop of blood on the floor reminded us this was a serious place. After a brief x-ray and more ‘Broken or Sprained’, it came back….broken! She had a funny cast on for ages and her finger was never the same. It lurched off on an angle from that day forward. A few months after she died, I broke my small toe on a piece of furniture while roaming about the house with insomnia. It felt right somehow. I hope that toe is never the same.