"Don't look down on a gold medalist, Arnold,"gloated Hubert.
"But i am still a better skier,'' he gestured Hubert to sit down, ''i lets you change my ski mine. Mine is much more stable.''
''Hubert did so without anymore words and they skied down the slope.
Arnold sped down the slope deftly and zoomed past Hubert.
And he was found buried under the snow, the skies flown meters away from him, and his joints of legs twisted in awkward angles.
Arnold was panting hard. His body was soaking wet. His knees buckled and he kneeled with his palms on the floor. Drops of perspiration dripped on the floor from his chin.
He discerned a towel hanging from his vision. He looked up, and saw Hubert holding the towel. He snatched it and blotted his face. He reclined to see his legs. They were all swollen.
''What is the timing?'' Arnold asked.
Hubert looked at the stopwatch. ''Errr....It's still the same... Below your expectation.''
Arnold gnashed his teeth.
After the accident two years ago, Arnold's knees and ankles were severely injured and had to go for an operation. Even after the operation and being hospitalized, doctors strongly discouraged him to pursue his profession as extreme sports could strain the joints of his legs and degenerate them. This sounded extremely despairing and distressing to a sprinting athlete. His dream was shattered. His purpose of life was lost. Some people came to console him. Hubert came to apologize to him - as his skis that Arnold wore broke during the slide due to its inferior quality which led to the accident. However, no words came from him. He didn't even try to recognize them. He spent the days lifelessly breathing out his anguish planted deep in his heart.
Depressing days went invariably, until he realised that the national sprinting competition was coming in a year. He was intensely mortified by himself as a silver medal he had won at the competition of the year of the accident. And determined to win a gold medal next year before quitting his profession.
Coaches and athletes were astounded to see Arnold back at the training. His doctors warned him that he may not able to walk when he was injured in extreme training.
Arnold was incensed by himself that he could not break his own record. He trained so hard and wildly that he was thought to be mad and was distanced.
Hubert offered him a hand to stand up but he stood up without holding his hand. Hubert companied him tentatively into the resting room.
Arnold saw a range of Hubert's health pills and drinks on a table in the room.they were all sponsored products. He contemplated them. He pondered what would have happened if Hubert had never existed. He would have all the fame and success. The next day, Hubert gave him a bottle of nutrient pills as a form of gift. Arnold was grateful and vowed he would win the race in front of him.
Days passed and they trained laboriously. However, one had to stop . One month before the competition, Arnold collapsed in pain and passed out.
Arnold cupped his face in his hands in despair and wept in a ward. His coach excluded him from the athletes' namelist. Doctors asserted that his walking life would not be able to depend on his own legs only.
Hubert visited his ward and promised him,''I will get a gold medal for you.'' Before he left, Arnold gave him a bottle nutrient pills as a return present. "Good luck,'' Arnold said to Hubert as he was handing him the bottle.
On the competition , working on his pair of crutches, Arnold wobbled to the grandstand of the sports stadium. The race commenced and Arnold came in first as expected. His name flashed on the display board as the first finisher.
There was a break before the award ceremony. Arnold stared at Hubert's name on the board and waited. It seemed that the ceremony was delayed and there was a little hubbub in the stadium. Umpires and staffs scuttled from place to place in a muddle.
Arnold saw Huber's name disappear from the board. After a while his name flashed again but at the bottom of the list of the athletes, with a word in brackets : DISQUALIFIED. Arnold smiled.
After the award ceremony without Hubert, Arnold went back to his waiting room and waited for him.
On a table, he saw a gold medal. Beneath it was a paper with words written on it :
Arnold,
I'm sorry. I couldn't keep the promise. Something
unexpected happened. I'm in a state of confusion.
But i won't forget the promise. I hope this can make
up to you. You can have the medal. I hope what
happened is not the worst of what i am thinking, right?
Wish me Good Luck. I will see you when things
get better.
From Hubert
Arnold scrutinized the medal. It was from the last national competition. Fiddling with the gold medal, he grinned in radiance. When he spotted the flask of pills that he had given to Hubert among other products, he started to chuckle which soon developed into a raucous deranged laughter.
