Elsie “It's a unique opportunity, and given your history with sports medicine, one I think you'd be perfect for,” the woman in a power suit told Elsie. “So, are you interested?”Nikki Roberts asked the question with the same seriousness in her tone that she'd been using for the entire interview. When Elsie had scheduled this interview for a potential new patient, she hadn't quite been counting on this. This lady meant business.Elsie paused for a moment. What she knew so far about this “opportunity” baffled her. An unnamed patient was coming to her tiny town in Iowa for ACL reconstruction phy

Elsie “So tell me, Ollie, how did this injury on your right leg happen?” Elsie asked, holding the clipboard in one hand and her pen in the other. “And also, what other injuries do you have, if any, that I'm not seeing here?”“I was in a car accident a couple of weeks ago,” he said, pushing his blonde hair off of his forehead.“I'm sorry to hear that,” she said. “Car wrecks can be traumatizing in more ways than just physically.”Ollie shrugged. “I'm just glad it wasn't worse. I walked away with just a black eye, a cracked rib, a torn ACL and fourteen stitches. But I'm just happy to have walked away at all, honestly.”

Ollie Oliver hobbled across the house, distributing his weight between his left leg and his crutches. His knee was a bit sore from the massage. He hadn't told Elsie that, though. He didn't want to look weak in front of her.He approached the window above the kitchen sink and looked out, watching as she got into her car and backed down the long driveway. His eyes on the window, he opened an orange bottle and popped two pills into his mouth. He watched until she disappeared from view, then he made his way to the living room, where he plopped down on the overstuffed leather love seat.“That was... interesting,” he whis

Ollie Oliver was laying on his back, looking up at the ceiling. He was on the floor of the makeshift gym in his temporary home and Elsie was standing nearby, counting out his movements. He was in pain and beyond exhausted. A part of him felt like passing out would be a better alternative than staying conscious, but there was no way that Elsie would let him quit. He loved that about her.“How is this so hard?” he asked, through gritted teeth. “I'm hardly doing anything. This shouldn't be so difficult.”“Just keep going until I tell you to stop,” Elsie said.

Ollie Elsie touched Ollie’s knee. “Okay, take a rest on this leg and do the same thing with the other one so you’re even.”Ollie did as she asked, relieved to be using his good leg once again. It made him feel like he still had strength left in his body.“That's really nice of you to look out for your brother,” she said, leaning against the machine while facing Oliver. “It's admirable.”“Not really,” Ollie said, with a sigh. “He's my brother. That's what family does for each other. I'd have given him my right