The one-hundred-meter hurdles final for girls was a moment away, and Rock watched from the edge of the track as entrants completed their warmup rituals. One commanded his attention—a tall and lean, long-legged blonde who stood near her blocks. He thought she looked like a winner and wished there were someone he could tell about her.
It was the Arkansas high school Meet of Champs, and Rock's cat Pam had also qualified for the final, but Rock was so enthralled by the blonde that the idea his fourteen-year old cat was about to hurdle for a state championship failed to register. He wasn't looking for her and didn't notice whether she was there or not.
Once the race started, it was clear that the blonde was outmatched by everyone. She looked nearly frightened as she approached the first hurdle, which she failed by more than a foot to clear. Her lead leg in fact went under the board and she crashed to the track in a jumble of flesh and wood and aluminum.
The leaders struggled, too. By the seventh hurdle, everyone had fallen and several had abandoned the race. The problem became obvious to Rock: the hurdles were set as if the race were for men, or perhaps even higher.
"These hurdles aren't set right," Rock said to a man beside him.
"Yeah, they didn't change them after the boys race."
"How could they miss something like that?" Rock asked.
A few minutes later, Rock walked into a large olive-drab tent and was startled to see Pam stretched on her side on a canvas cot. She shook uncontrollably under a blood-soaked quilt and gasped breathlessly. There were large raw patches on her, including one on the side of her head that oozed blood. She and Rock were the only ones in the tent, and Rock was immediately angered. How could anyone have left her alone in this state?
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