Dave Casler
PO Box 98
Ridgway, Colorado 81432
Young Adult Novels by Dave Casler...
I've been told by publisher after publisher that there's no market for Young Adult novels. I think they're wrong! So I'm putting my novels on-line for you. Forget the publisher! Read to your heart's content--it's free! And, I'd like to hear from you, too! Contact Page.
You're reading About Dan. Be sure to check out About Phillip here.
Dan is a normal kid who loves his soccer. Except everything goes wrong. Everything.
About Series Home
About the About Series
Index to All Chapters
Here are all the chapters, disguised as asterisks. Hover your mouse over an asterisk to see the title of the chapter. Click on the asterisk to go straight to that chapter.
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(About Dan Home) (Last) (Next)
Time to Go Home
It was Thursday and time to leave the hospital. Dan sat perched in the wheelchair with all the uneasiness of a teenager getting his first traffic ticket. He brooded by the window. Rain dropped at an angle; people matched the angle with their umbrellas and newspapers as they ran to and from the entrance. He mused; rain always reminded him of his childhood in northern England.
Did he have everything? The soccer magazines. Check. His soccer uniform—he wouldn’t let the hospital throw it away. Check. And his shoes? He'd spent several weeks’ earnings on those shoes; so what if they were streaked with blood? His scriptures were zipped in their little carry bag. He smiled; he hadn't unzipped the bag the whole time he’d been there. Lisa brought them on Sunday and he'd professed to be grateful. The flowers were pretty limp but the room still smelled like Home Depot's garden department.
He'd had many well wishers. Even Coach Johnson stopped by. Dan appreciated visitors, except one: his mother. She hovered close and nagged him non- stop. She complained she wasn’t getting her work done and reminded him that she made the living in the house and no one was paying the bills if she wasn’t at work. And Dan wasn’t responsible enough. Dan would see now what life was like without soccer. Dan spent too much time running around. Dan watched too much TV. Dan didn’t work hard on his homework. Dan shouldn’t have a car. Dan didn’t do his chores. Dan should stop playing computer games. Dan wasn’t old enough to go steady with Lisa. And above all, why did Dan insist on having anything to do with the Mormon Church?
Mostly, he just let her tirades wash over him like ugly mudslides, too tired to respond. She’ll eventually change the subject, he thought. Dan pushed back when she was particularly insufferable. The nurse had asked them to quiet down. On Tuesday, his mother announced she had to get back to work. He could hardly contain his glee.
Ed Cook, his dad, whom he rarely saw, showed up saying he’d read about the accident in the paper. It was uncomfortable at first. His dad was starting to share some interesting information with him when his mother came in and threw him out. The nurse had to intervene. Dan squirmed around in the wheelchair to double-check his wallet. Yep, his dad’s card was safely tucked inside. I’ll get the rest via e-mail.
His mother was tending to paperwork and getting medications. He practiced moving the wheelchair around the room. His left leg stuck out like an arrow. He wiggled his toes, buried in the great mass of gauze; it hurt. The urge to rub, scratch, pound, anything, was nearly overpowering. His mood matched the rain.
He was wheeling across the room to turn on the room lights when he saw a figure in the doorway.