Tracy wasn't a health or exercise nut. At twenty she was, as far as she was concerned, quite fit and healthy enough. She did a reasonable amount of exercise to make sure she stayed fit and healthy, but she didn't go overboard with it.
There were some little things that could drive her out early for some serious jogging though. Little things like an extra slice of double chocolate cheesecake. OK. Maybe it was two extra slices, but they had been very tasty, and Tracy didn't really mind the jogging.
So this morning found her out bright and early, jogging along and wishing she'd taken just one more slice of that double chocolate cheesecake. If she had to work it off, she should have made sure she had something decent to work off. She trotted on round the park.
Now, while Tracy liked to jog, it wasn't quite enough for her exuberant spirits. Every so often she would settle down to a flat out run, pelting along until she was gasping for breath. Then she'd take a little breather and continue her jogging.
One of Tracy's running spots was coming up. At one end of the park there was a little copse that the jogging track passed through. Tracy like to imagine that the copse was occupied by bears and tigers and that she needed to go through it at full pace or be eaten. A bit juvenile, she admitted, but it was fun, so who cared.
Her starting point reached, Tracy took off in a flat out run, racing through the copse. First half was dead straight, then fast around the corner before the wild animals could leap out of ambush and head fast, fast, fast for the exit.
Unfortunately, on the present morning the wild animals did come out of ambush before she was past. Or rather, another jogger came around the corner just as Tracy hurled herself around it, knocking the poor man down.
It is a well-known fact that when a small object of a certain density hits a much larger object of the same density it is the small object that is going to bounce hardest and highest.
The oncoming jogger was knocked over but quickly scrambled to his feet. Tracy, however, bounced hard. Even harder than would normally have been expected as, by a stroke of ill luck, petite little Tracy rammed her tummy hard into her victims knee. The vicious blow in the solar plexus left Tracy totally winded. She bounced off the oncoming jogger, coming down hard on the edge of the track and curled into a ball, frantically trying to breath.
She was vaguely aware of a figure crouching next to her.
"It's OK girl," she heard a warm voice soothing her. "I know first aid. I'm just going to give your tummy a bit of a massage and you'll be right in no time. Um. I'm just going to have to loosen your clothes slightly."
Tracy felt a slight dragging at her clothes, then she was being eased onto her back and a hand was massaging her tummy, pressing up against her diaphragm, and she could feel that terrible emptiness slowly fading as her breath started to return.
