Chapter 14 Chapter Fourteen

The thought of going home to apartment B-203 always made him feel mixed feelings.Apartments are ordinary, a drop in the ocean of cookie-cutter urban complexes.But finding Wynwood Apartments is not easy, and even the clear signage can be confusing.The surrounding buildings make the roads dense like cobwebs, and the road names are also very clever, such as Changqing Road, Lumeng Lane, and Baiyang Street.After taking one or two wrong turns accidentally, an unremarkable residential area with 12 small three-story buildings appears before your eyes. His house is in the second building at the entrance of the community, and the Washtenau Party Store is across the street, which is very convenient.Meyer's grocery store is also just a few miles away, where he makes regular big purchases.The usual little things can be bought at the party store.

Perry went out hungry.The party store had a nice deli section, so he went and bought a mustard sandwich and a half-dozen of Newcastle beers. He drove the car into the parking lot of the community.If he had really been a professional football player then, he would be living in a villa by now, away from the ragtag crowd in Islanti City.He hated himself as a loser but always wanted to be dissatisfied. He always felt that he should live better. Although this apartment was not bad, it was still a damn low-rent house after all. Seven years ago, no one would have imagined that he would be in such a poor state now that he could not even live in a villa.That year, "The Titans" Perry Darcy, a sophomore at the University of Michigan, was elected to the top ten All-Star guards along with top Ohio State guard Corey Kripewitz.Krippiewitz went to Chicago after the first round of the draft, and his annual salary of $2.1 million, not including his signing bonus of $12 million, is completely different from Perry's pitiful $45,000 a year.

But Krippiewitz is not as sharp as Perry on the court, which is recognized by everyone.Perry is a monster, a defensive player who dominates the game with absolute strength.The media gave him many nicknames, such as "The Beast", "Original Savage", "Poison Fang" and so on.Of course, Chris Boorman of CNN seems to have the upper hand in this naming war, and the name "Titans" has been called by everyone until now. Alas, but that damned malicious block changed everything. The whole knee was badly damaged, and the fatal blow destroyed the antiphospholipid antibodies, contused the medial collateral ligament, and nearly destroyed the entire knee.The kneecap was also severely damaged, resulting in a fractured fibula and a shattered patella.A year of prosthetic surgery and rehab hasn't made him as strong as he once was.In fact, he couldn't even walk briskly.In the arena where he has fought, any opponent who wants to break through his defense has suffered from him.And now what is the difference between him and a cripple?Can no longer catch up to running backs, can no longer avoid interceptions by blockers.

Because of the lack of the energy release that football brought him on the field, Perry's ferocity almost reached the point of swallowing him.Thanks to Bill, a good brother, who helped Perry adjust gradually.Bill stayed with him for the next two years, helping Perry reason and drawing attention to his bad temper. Perry yanked on the Ford's handbrake and jumped out of the car.He is a Michigan native and loves the cold weather.But the community in winter looks gray, desolate and lifeless.Everything is gray and white, lifeless, as if the color has been sucked away by a force from the fairy tale world.

He put his hand in his pocket and found the crumpled brown medicine bag.The itching was so unbearable that he went in and bought a cortisone while passing the pharmacy a few blocks from his apartment.Buying medicine made him feel subdued, as if buying a dose of anti-itch medicine made him appear incompetent.Although he knew that this idea was stupid, he couldn't help but think about it. He didn't know what kind of "peerless proverbs" his father would say when he saw him buying medicine.For example, "You can't stand a few small rashes? God, boy, you are so mad at me, it seems that you need to be disciplined and disciplined."The next step is a fat beating, whipping with a belt, slapping the mouth, or directly punching.

oh!dear dad.The embodiment of compassion and stalwart!Perry shook his head, trying to clear his mind.My father died of cancer a long time ago, and he deserved it.Perry never had to have anything to do with this man again. There was a layer of ice on the ground of the parking lot, which looked hard and solid.Perry crossed the parking lot, took out his key, opened the dented door, and entered.He took the letters, mostly advertisements, and his home was on the second floor.The lump on his leg from climbing the stairs rubbed against his jeans and itched—as if someone had pushed a burning briquette into his skin.He tried to ignore it, at least he had to be a little self-disciplined, and then entered the house.

The layout of the house is very simple: the living room is at the entrance, the kitchen is on the left, and the bedroom is on the right.There is a small dining room next to the corner of the kitchen.The place is small, with a messy computer table, an old Apple computer on the table, a small round table and four chairs, and there is almost no extra space. The bedrooms are reasonably spacious and comfortable.Not much furniture, just a big old-fashioned sofa with a broken coffee table in front of it; a coffee table next to the sofa with a lamp; I like to lie on it and watch a football game.On the right hand side of the door, facing the sofa is a leisure area with a 32-inch flat-screen TV and a Panasonic stereo system, which are Perry's only valuable possessions.The company provides a mobile phone with a network cable for dial-up Internet access, so there is no need to install a landline.

There are no plants or decorations in the room.However, the wall behind the TV displays Perry's various honors.On the shelf are his high school MVP trophies and his much-cherished freshman Gator Football MVP trophy.Medals line the walls: "Top Ten Defensive Player of the Year," the Detroit Free Press' "Mr. Football" title in high school, and so on. There are also two commemorative plaques hanging side by side, highlighting their special status.One marked a turning point in his life: an acceptance letter from the University of Michigan.Even though he knew what was due would always come, he felt a giddy burst of joy when he received it.Another he loves to hate: His snarling, sweat-soaked face under the helmet landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated.In the picture he is tackling Jervis McClatchy of Ohio State, who is trapped in a circle of dirt and grass-stained arms, unable to move.The cover read: 'The Titans' Strike: Perry Darcy and the Werewolves lead Michigan to Rose Bowl.

It's easy to see why he loves the cover—what athlete doesn't dream of being on the cover of Sports Illustrated?At the same time he hated it because, like many football players, he was superstitious.Many suspect that there is a mysterious curse on the cover of Sports Illustrated.If your team is so invincible that they get on the cover, you're bound to lose the next game.Or, you're a top guard that no one has been able to match for decades, and you're on the cover, and your career will be over soon.He still can't get rid of this ridiculous idea. If he hadn't been on this cover, he should still be running on the field now.

His house was modest and cramped, but it was a veritable luxury apartment compared to his childhood home.He cherishes this small world very much.Sometimes, although there is a trace of loneliness, it is extremely free.No one paid any attention to his whereabouts, no one asked if he brought home a girl he knew from a bar, and no one complained because he left a smelly sock on the kitchen table.And no one lost his temper with him inexplicably.Although he would have lived in the villa, which is where the stars of the national football team should live, but this is his own home. After graduating, he found a job in Ann Arbor, where his alma mater is located, a small town that he had been deeply attached to since he was in college.Born in a small town like Sheboygan, he has an innate distrust of the city, and he is very uncomfortable with the high-rise buildings and noise in metropolises such as Chicago or New York.However, after the cowboys in the countryside have seen the world of feasting and feasting, it may be difficult for them to integrate into the boring life of the small town.Ann Arbor is a college town with a population of only 110,000. Life is easy and comfortable, which is the best of both worlds for Perry.

He threw the keys and mobile phone on the kitchen table, then threw the briefcase and coat on the broken sofa, took out the medicine bag from his pocket, and walked into the bathroom.The rash was so painful that it was as if an electrode plate was embedded in the skin, and if a current of 10,000 watts was applied, it would kill him. First things first, tackle that damn rash above the eyebrows.He put down the medicine bag, opened the medicine cabinet, and took out a pair of tweezers.He liked to flick the legs of the tweezers, hearing them hum like a tuning fork, before leaning over to the mirror.Of course, the weird rash was still there, and it still hurt.He'd watched Bill squeeze his rash: the whole thing took about 20 minutes.Bill's technique is delicate and cautious, so the whole process is safe and sound.But Perry obviously didn't have that kind of patience, but the guy was pretty tolerant of pain.He took a deep breath, clamped the little red bump with the mouth of the tweezers, and pulled it violently.The rash had been ripped off flesh and blood—the wound was burning and painful.Blood trickled down his cheeks, he took another deep breath, grabbed a ball of toilet paper and pressed it to the wound.He stared at the tweezers in the other hand and pulled out a small piece of meat, but what was wrapped in the meat?Is that a hair?But it wasn't black, it was blue, a deep, dazzling blue. "What a fucking weird thing." He put the tweezers under the faucet and rinsed them, then took out the Band-Aids from the cabinet, and there were only four left.He tore off a piece and stuck it on the bloody wound.The pain is not terrible - no man can bear this kind of pain.But to itch, not everyone can bear it. Perry dropped his pants and sat on the toilet.He took the cortisone itch reliever from the brown sachet, squeezed a big dollop into the palm of his hand, and rubbed it on the yellow bump on his left thigh. But he immediately regretted it. The contact between the ointment and the skin made him feel hot pain, and it felt as if the skin was gradually roasting under the flame of the nozzle of the welding machine.He couldn't help jumping up suddenly, almost screaming.He calmed down slightly, and took another breath slowly, trying to relax himself. The pain flared up suddenly, then stopped abruptly in an instant, and seemed to subside completely.The small victory made Perry smile contentedly, and he slowly spread the medicine around the lump. He finally smiled in relief, and applied the cortisone more carefully to the other bumps.After the success, the seven rashes disappeared without exception. "The Brave Seven Flood Dragons," Perry muttered, "Now you can't show your power, can't you be blessed?" After subduing the seven small lumps, he felt dazzled for a while, feeling as if he was overwhelmed with joy, but the ensuing exhaustion overwhelmed him.The tingling was driving him crazy, keeping his nerves tensed, but now the string snapped and he felt like a sailboat that stopped sailing when the wind died down. Perry left all the undressed clothes in the bathroom, and walked back to the bedroom wearing only a pair of shorts.His large bed filled the small bedroom, with the edge of the bed less than 18 inches from the wall, leaving only a little space for a single wardrobe and a small nightstand. Perry buried himself in the big comfortable bed and wrapped himself in a blanket, the cold cotton giving him goosebumps.The bed warmed up quickly.At 5:30 in the afternoon, he had fallen asleep with a smile on his lips.