I'm sorry it hurts so much.

Here is a picture of running son's foot, as he unbandages it:
















Once he got it unwrapped, there was a five-inch long bruise along the outside of the foot which is at the moment purple and which will, no doubt, turn all the colors of the bruise rainbow over the next few days. (In consideration of the exquisite sensibilities of my readers, I am sparing you an actual photo of the actual bruise.) He rolled/sprained his ankle in basketball class and has been icing, elevating, and, as you can see, wrapping it.

He took off the wrap in order to take a shower, but the unwrapping was quite an ordeal. For some reason, he believed that athletic tape would not hurt to remove, but of course, there he was wrong. "Coach White told me I should shave it," he said, with an "as if!" snicker in his voice.

That was before the hurting started in earnest. "Do you think this is actually pulling out hair?" he said. I told him I thought so, probably yes. He had to rest in between pulls. After one particularly huge ouch, he said, "What IS hair, anyway? What is its alibi?" Such a good question.