The smell of burnt popcorn filled the room.  Brooke, Anna, and Dawn sat idly watching America’s funniest home videos.  “A warning to men, the next series of clips may be alarming, and scary.  Viewer discretion is advised.”  A man is seen walking on a balance beam.  He trips, and lands with his legs straddling the beam.  He falls to the ground in the fetal position.  The girls broke into wild laughter.  The next clip showed a boy in a batting cage.  He hits the final ball, and drops the bat.  The boy walks over the mound, and as he is walking, another baseball shoots out of the machine, slamming into his crotch.  He immediately collapses into the fetal position.  The girls continue laughing. 

“I never realized how funny it is to see a guy get hit in the nuts.  This is hilarious.”  Dawn said.  The next clip shows a man playing rough with a dog.  The dog bites down onto his crotch, and starts playing tug of war with his genitals through his jeans.  The man feels the dog’s teeth tearing into his testicles.  The man is screaming but there are girls behind him laughing, along with the woman holding the camera.  The next clip shows some people with a giant water balloon slingshot.  A man walks in front of the slingshot, and the people shoot a water balloon right into his crotch.  He is close enough that the cradle for the water balloons attached to the bungee cords actually slams into his nuts.  The man falls to the ground, and starts gagging.

The girls had a good long laugh at those clips.  They laughed so hard there were tears in their eyes. 

Later that night, they started talking.   “Donnie’s such a loser; did you know he tried to ask me out on a date once?  It was pretty sad.”  Brooke stated. 

“Oh my God, are you serious?  I can’t believe he tried to ask you out on a date.  Doesn’t he realize that you’re out of his league? What a loser.”  Dawn retorted.  

“I have a great idea.” 

“What?”

“Wouldn’t it be funny if I pretended like I liked Donnie, and then I tell him that I’ll kiss him, but that he has to close his eyes, ya know, and then when his eyes are closed, I’ll kick him in the nuts as hard as I can, and he won’t even see it coming or be able to block it.” The girls broke into giggles. 

“That’s so mean.  You should do it.”  Anna suggested. 

“My parents have a digital camcorder; I could bring it and tape the whole thing.  Then maybe we could send it into America’s funniest home videos.”  Dawn said. 

“Yeah.”  Brooke and Anna seemed to think that was a great idea.  “That would be cool if we won.”

The girls were excited to go to school the next day.  Brooke was a little nervous that she’d get in trouble.  Anna brought the camera.  Donnie was walking down an isolated hall, to the room he always went to at lunchtime, so he could be alone.  The girls knew he always went there because he was a loser, and didn’t have any friends.  They walked into the hall from the end that he was heading towards, and confronted him.  Brooke smiled, “Hey, Donnie, I’ve been thinking about you.  You’re actually kinda cute.”  She giggled a little after saying that.   Donnie thought she was messing with him, so he just looked down, and barely acknowledged her statement.  Brooke walked right up to him so they were face to face.  “Do you want to kiss me Donnie?”  Donnie looked into her blue eyes, and couldn’t lie. 

“Yeah.”  Donnie answered. 

“Ok, just close your eyes.”  Brooke suggested.  Donnie closed his eyes.  Dawn had been attempting to conceal the camcorder while it was running before, but now she held it out in the open so she could get a good shot.   Brooke backed up, eyeing her target.  She had a huge smile on her face.  The other two girls were trying to stifle their laughter.  Their hands covered their mouths.  Brooke didn’t want to waste any time, she drew her right leg back to gain momentum, and then swung it forward like a swinging pendulum, snapping the ball of her foot out directly into Donnie’s testicles.   She could feel the bulge of his balls even through her boot.  Immediately after the kick, Donnie’s eyes shot open.  The girls started cracking up.  Donnie was shocked, and embarrassed for falling for it.  He didn’t feel any pain for a few brief seconds, but then it came on all at once.  The pain was overwhelming, and it pulled Donnie to his knees.  Brooke was pointing and laughing.  “You didn’t really think I would kiss you, did you Donnie?  I don’t kiss poor ugly losers like you.” Dawn had the camera catching every moment.  Donnie’s face was bright red.  He felt the searing pain emanating from his testicles, through his thighs, up into his abdomen, and in his bowels.  He gradually moved from his position on his knees into a fetal position on the ground.  The girls kept laughing.  Donnie began to feel nauseas, and the laughter was starting to stress him out.  Tears began rolling down his face.  He was gasping for breath, and sweat was pouring from his face.

“You got him good, Brooke, that was awesome.”  Anna stated.  Donnie was feeling a little bit light headed.  He felt like he might lose consciousness, and that terrified him.

“Leave me alone.”  He muttered.  The girls paid no attention.  They kept taping him and laughing for about five minutes. 

“We better go, before someone sees us.”  Anna suggested. 

“Ok let’s go.”  Brooke agreed.  Before leaving she leaned in close to Donnie. “Sweet dreams loser.”  The girls laughed as they walked away.

“I can’t believe you actually did that, that was so great, Brooke.”  Dawn commented.

“It was funny seeing him all curled up trying to protect himself.”  Anna replied.

“Yeah, that was fun; I wish I could do it again!”  Brooke exclaimed.

Meanwhile, back in the hall, Donnie lay in misery.  His left testicle didn’t really hurt anymore, but his right nut felt more painful than anything he ever felt before in his life.  He felt like he was bleeding internally or something.  He started to get really worried.  Donnie knew he would have to get up, and at least make it down to the nurses office if he was going to get any medical attention.   He pushed his hands into the floor and lifted his torso up off the ground.  He lifted himself to his knees.  He pressed his hand against a locker for stability, and pulled himself to his feet.  His legs trembled as he tried to walk.  Standing up also made his dizziness much worse.  He felt like he would vomit, or black out.  He dropped to his knees again.  He regained his composure, and stood up slowly.  He managed to hobble down the hall.  He felt extreme anxiety at the thought of walking through the lunchroom, but that was the only way to the nurse’s office.   His legs were still trembling, and he still felt very nauseas.  He made it to the lunchroom doors, and felt his heart race as he reached to open them.  He pushed the door open, and his anxiety lifted slightly as everybody was going about their business, and didn’t even look when he opened the door.  The girls were in the lunchroom, and Donnie didn’t notice them, but they noticed him.  The girls snickered to themselves as they saw him hobbling through the lunchroom.  They were the only ones who knew why he was hobbling, but other people wondered.  Donnie had his eye on the floor, and never even noticed that he was going to walk right past Brooke, and the girls.  Anna and Dawn were sitting opposite each other at the end of a long lunch table.  Donnie was about to walk by that end.  Anna saw Donnie coming, and told Dawn not to look back.  She grabbed Dawn’s hand, looking away from Donnie slightly so he wouldn’t notice her face.  Under her breath she muttered, “When I squeeze your hand, stick your leg out and trip Donnie, he’s about to walk by.  Don’t look back.”  Donnie never noticed the girls.  As he walked by, Anna squeezed Dawn’s hand just in time, and Dawn stuck her foot out.  Donnie didn’t notice in time, and tripped.  He fell on his hands and rolled onto his shoulder.  “Oops, sorry, I didn’t see you there, Donnie.”  Dawn joked.  The girls laughed at him, and watched, as he shamefully pulled himself back to his feet and quickly hobbled to the nurse’s station. 

Donnie pushed the door to the nurse’s station open, and walked in.  The receptionist looked very interested in the magazine she was reading.  It seemed that she had not noticed Donnie.  Donnie cleared his throat to get her attention, but she did not look up.  After about two minutes she finally finished reading the article, and looked at Donnie.  “Can I help you with something?”  She asked, with an impatient tone in her voice. 

“Ahh, I need to see the nurse about something.”  Donnie sheepishly said. 

 “Well, what do you need to see her about?” 

“I ah, got kicked in the crotch, and it hurts really badly.”

The receptionist smirked, “Aww, you poor thing, the nurse will be with you soon, she’s filing some paperwork right now.  You can just take a seat over there.  I’ll call the attendance office and let them know you’re here.”

“Ok, thanks.”  Donnie hobbled over to the waiting area, and sat down.

Donnie waited there for twenty minutes before the nurse came out to see him.  His right testicle was burning.  The door swung open, and a woman walked through.   She walked up to Donnie.  “Are you Donnie?”

“Yeah.”

The nurse had a smile on her face, and she was clearly stifling her laughter.  “I heard you had a little accident downstairs.”  Her smile grew wider, her brow lifted.

“Yeah, a girl kicked me.  It still hurts really badly.”

“I see.  Ok, well come with me, and we’ll have a look at you.” 

Donnie followed the nurse, staring at her voluptuous ass.  She led him back into a private room with a hospital bed and a cabinet.  “I’ll leave you alone for a moment, so you can take your clothes off, and get into this hospital gown...”

“Ok.”  Donnie was nervous about taking his clothes off, but he did anyway.  He put the gown on, and waited on the bed.  His right nut was getting worse, he felt like it was bleeding or something. 

After another fifteen minutes or so, the nurse came back.  “How are you feeling now?”

“I’m in a lot of pain still.”

“On a scale of one to ten, where would you rate the pain?”

“Ten.  This is the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life.”

“Ok.”  The nurse said.  Her eyebrows rose while she said it as if she didn’t believe him.

“Lie down on the bed, and I’ll take a look to see if you need to go to a doctor.”

Donnie lay down on the bed, with his arms on his stomach.  The nurse lifted up his gown to look at his testicles.  “I know it hurts to get kicked in the testicles, but everything looks normal and healthy.  You don’t have any swelling or bruising.  There’s not any redness either, which is a good thing.  I’m going to feel them to see if there is anything unusual.”  The nurse grabbed his left testicle and rolled it around a bit.  The movement in his scrotum caused more severe pain in his right testicle.   “Does that hurt?” 

“My left testicle doesn’t really hurt.  It’s mainly the right one.”

“Oh, well, you should have told me that.”  The nurse switched the right nut in between her fingers and started rolling it around.  

“NNNggh, be gentle, that really hurts.” 

“Sorry, I just have to feel it to see if there is a rupture.  If there was a serious injury, then you would need to go the emergency room, so this is very important.  Just try to put your mind somewhere else.”  Donnie grit his teeth, and tried to ignore the mind-blowing pain.  He trusted the nurse though, and wanted to know if he was going to lose the testicle.  “I know you’re in a lot of pain right now, but I can tell you that you have nothing to worry about, your testicle is not permanently damaged.  You should feel better as the day progresses.”

“Thank God.  That’s such a relief to hear.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet.  You were probably pretty worried.”

“Yeah, I was.”

“One thing I will tell you though.  Even if there had been permanent damage, you can still function with only one testicle.”

“Oh, really.”

“Yeah, but two is better than one.”

“Yeah.” 

“I’m gonna get an icepack for you.  You can rest here until you feel like going back to class.”

“Do you think it might be possible for me to go home?”

“Well, the school only really wants me to send you home if you have something serious.  I think it would be best if you just rest in here.  That way you can return to class.  Sorry.”

“It’s ok, I guess.  It just hurts a lot.”

“I know, but I promise the ice will help that ok?”

“Ok.”    

“I’ll be right back.”  The nurse left Donnie alone again.  He lay there trying to take his mind off the intense pain and nausea.  Five minutes later, the nurse returned with an ice pack.  “I’ll put this on for you, so we can make sure it will actually help.”  The nurse lightly pulled up on Donnie’s testicles.  She pulled them up above his legs.  “Now, put straighten your legs, and keep them together so the ice stays in place.”  Donnie straightened his legs out.  The nurse let his testicles rest on his thighs.  She gently placed the ice pack down.  “Now, don’t move this.  I know its cold, but it will help with the pain.  I’ll be back in thirty minutes to check on you.  Ok?”

“Ok, thanks.”

“Would you like me to turn out the lights?”

“Sure.”

“Ok.  Now don’t move the ice until I come back.  Have a nice rest.”  The nurse left Donnie alone to rest.  The ice was hard to take for the first five minutes, as it felt like it was burning his skin.  It went numb after that though, and the pain in his testicle decreased.

Thirty long minutes passed.  The nurse returned.  “Hey, how are you feeling?”

Donnie woke up, as he had fallen asleep.  “Oh, ah, I’m feeling a lot better actually.” 

“Great, fifth period is about to start, so you can go ahead and get dressed, and get back to your classes.  If you start feeling bad again, just come back here, and we can get you some more ice.  I think you’ll be fine though.  Well, I’ll leave you alone so you can get dressed.  Feel free to get some water if you need to.” 

“Thanks.” 

“I hope you have a better time for the rest of today.”

“Thanks.”  The nurse left Donnie alone.  He sat up, and realized his testicle was still in bad shape.  The ice had numbed the pain, but he could tell something was wrong.  He didn’t bother saying anything to the nurse because he already told her he was ok, and it would be embarrassing.  He got dressed with some difficulty.  Donnie felt like going home, but he didn’t want to have a mark on his already poor attendance.      

He walked out of the nurse’s station with some difficulty.  He wasn’t hobbling as badly as before.  Donnie felt pretty dazed.  There were only a few hours left of school.  He made his way to his locker.  He gathered the books for history. 

As the history class began, Donnie started to feel the intense agony again.  He felt like he needed to vomit.  He tried to grin and bear it, but this pain was overpowering.  Donnie used deep breathing and meditation to take his mind off of the torturous burning.  He couldn’t pay any attention to what the teacher.  His face was drenched with sweat, and he looked pale.  The teacher noticed, and she was a little worried.  She walked up to Donnie’s desk.  “Are you ok?  You don’t look so good.” 

“Yeah, I’m ok, I had a little accident, but the nurse says I’ll be fine.  I’m just in a lot of pain right now.”

“Do you need to go back to the nurse’s office?”

“No, I’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

“Ok, but if you need to go, just let me know.”

“Ok.”

Donnie didn’t go to the nurse’s station because he was embarrassed, and he knew he would be fine.  He felt assured that the nurse’s diagnosis was accurate.  Her confidence in his well-being comforted him.  Donnie made it through his last two classes.  The pain had subsided to some degree, but it was still undeniably there.  He unlocked his bike, and slowly climbed on.  It was painful to sit on the bike, but he had no other way home. 

Donnie made it down the road a few blocks.  He started feeling really bad and nauseas.    He came to a stop, and climbed off his bike.  He collapsed to his knees, and started vomiting violently.  His body was trembling, and pouring sweat.  He knew something was wrong.  Donnie crawled through the parking lot of McDonalds, leaving his bike on the sidewalk.  He reached up to the payphone, and called 911.   An ambulance arrived within five minutes to pick him up.  He was going into a mild shock. 

Donnie finally arrived at the emergency room.  They took him back into an operating room.  One of the paramedics gave him a shot of painkiller.  He finally felt relief from the torment.  His heart was racing, because he was afraid that his ball was destroyed.   Donnie had explained everything to the paramedic.  A doctor came into the operating room very promptly after Donnie’s arrival.  She had some x-rays done on his groin.  After examining the x-rays, she determined that his right testicle had been ruptured.  It was too late to save it.  The rupture had cut off the blood supply to part of Donnie’s testicle.  The lack of blood and fresh oxygen had killed his testicle.  It was not completely dead, but the ruptured area had necrosis, which would eventually spread to the entire testicle.  The necrosis would spread if the testicle was not removed.  She returned to Donnie to break the news. 

“Well, Donnie.  The results of your x-rays are in.”  The tone in her voice indicated the news was bad.  “I’m really sorry to tell you this, but your right testicle has been ruptured.”  Donnie closed his eyes in fear.  The painkillers were working their magic, but he knew what this meant.  “If you had come in earlier, we may have been able to save it.  The blood supply to part of your right testicle was cut off when the testicle was ruptured.  This lack of blood has basically destroyed half of your right testicle.  If we don’t remove it, you could become seriously ill.”  Donnie just looked down.  He felt angry at the nurse, and at Brooke.  They had both fucked him over.  “Don’t be too upset over it Donnie, you can still function with only one testicle.  The surgery will be very fast and painless.  Recovery in this kind of surgery is also very rapid.”  Donnie sighed.  “I’ll get some release papers ready, and we’ll get you into surgery right away.” 

The surgery went very well.  It only took Donnie a couple days to recover.  He felt extremely depressed about losing his right testicle.  He felt hopeless.  He knew he could still function with only one.  He feared losing that last nut.  He considered wearing a cup to school, but decided against it.  Donnie was sad over his lost nut, but he got over it.

Donnie went on with his life.  He continued school, but never looked at any of the pretty girls.  He was even shyer now that he had this injury.  That kick damaged his self esteem more than anything else.  Nobody knew that Donnie only had one testicle, and he intended to keep it that way. 

Donnie’s mother was pretty upset about Donnie’s injury.  She felt so strongly that she had to talk to somebody about it.  She discussed it with another mother from the school.  This mother talked about it with her daughter to make sure she wasn’t involved in any cruelty to boys.  The daughter told her friends at school because she thought it was funny.  The friends told other people.  The other people told their friends, and it eventually spread around most of the school. 

As the word spread Donnie noticed people laughing at him.  He didn’t know why.  He was walking down the hall, and he saw some girls whispering to each other while looking at him, and then laughing and trying to look away.  Donnie started to worry that people knew.  His worries were confirmed when Brooke and the girls walked by him.  “Hey one nut” Brooke casually said as she passed.  Donnie felt humiliated.  He never wanted the news about his testicle to get around school, but now it was.  There was nothing he could do to change it. 

Donnie wanted to leave town.  He wanted to end his life at times.  He was embarrassed, and he felt like he was less of a man because of his loss.  Brooke and her friends made a lot of jokes, and taunted him.  Other girls made jokes as well.  Donnie became known as “one nut”.  He didn’t have any friends.   

The nurse heard about Donnie losing his testicle.  She was a little worried that he would sue, but she thought that if he was going to, he would have already.  Donnie never considered suing.  He didn’t really realize that he probably should have pressed charges against the nurse.  He never told his mother about the nurse.  His mother would have probably sued if she knew.  Although the nurse was worried, she thought it was funny that Donnie only had one nut.  She didn’t think it felt ruptured at the time of the incident, but she realized that she didn’t check that thoroughly on retrospect.  She just assumed he was overreacting.  One nut can function pretty much the same as two.  She knew this fact, and so she didn’t care, or ever bother apologizing to Donnie for her malpractice.

Brooke didn’t kick Donnie in the ball, now that he was half way to being a eunuch.   Despite her lack of compassion for him, she knew that if he lost his other testicle, she would probably get in trouble.  She wanted to kick him again, but never did. 

The rest of Donnie’s high school years were terrible.  He was constantly mocked, and some of the female teachers even laughed at the jokes.  He dropped out in eleventh grade, and got a G.E.D. 

After dropping out of school, Donnie got a job at a steakhouse washing dishes.  He was paid minimum wage, but he got 40 hours a week.  Donnie moved out into a small studio apartment.  He had a very tight budget. 

BUDGET

Monthly income 940

Expenses

Rent 300

Electricity 60

Phone 35

Groceries 400

Extra money 145

He only had 145 dollars to spare every month, even though he worked his ass off for his job.  His only hope was that he would soon get a raise.  Donnie had developed a habit of smoking ganja.  In an average month he would spend 80 dollars on the green, leaving him only 65 dollars.  Those sixty dollars would go towards various things.  He usually saved it to make larger purchases, such as a television, furniture or glass bongs.  With around 2000 dollars extra every year including tax returns, and two extra paychecks, he would have his apartment furnished in around 5 years.  He didn’t have the discipline to save up large amounts of money, so in his first year, he only bought a TV and a beanbag.  He had a shitty bike that he bought at a garage sale.  That’s how he got to and from work.  His job was bad because he worked split shifts every day.  He worked 11-2 and 4-9 five days a week.  His days off varied.  He usually had Tuesday and Thursday off, but not always.  It was a thirty minute bike ride to work, so an eight hour day turned into a ten hour day.  The bike ride got him in good aerobic shape, but he wished he had a car.  That was a dream that would never come true, because even if he saved to buy a car, there’s no way he could afford the gas and insurance unless he started making a lot more money.  He should have quit and found a better job, but he thought no matter where he worked he would start at minimum wage.   He was worried that another job would be worse.  He thought the time he served at the steakhouse would get him promoted.  The work was fast paced, stressful, and dirty.  He was the only dishwasher when he was working, and there were a lot of dishes.  If it was ever slow, the manager, Joni, would find some dirty cleaning job that needed to be done.  Donnie worked there for a year without getting a raise.  He was a perfect employee.  He never missed a day, even when he was sick.  Joanie just didn’t care to give him a raise.  He was a good dishwasher, and she wanted him to stay in that position.  He was cheap labor, and she knew that he had low self esteem, and would take the meager wages.  What’s a high school dropout worth anyway?

The toilet in the women’s bathroom had problems with backing up.  It was always Donnie’s job to clean up the mess.  The toilet backed up about once a week.  Whenever he had to clean it, he fell behind on the dishes, and Joni always pressured him to hurry up and get them done.  Sometimes he got held over late at work by thirty minutes to an hour.  He never got paid for the hours over forty, even after working a fifty hour week.

Brooke moved out after finishing high school.  She needed a job, and she always wanted to be waitress.  She applied, and was hired at the same steakhouse Donnie worked at.  The first day on the job, she saw Donnie.  “Heeey, I didn’t know you worked here?” 

“Oh, hey, yeah I do.”

“That’s so cool.  You’re the bus boy? That’s great.”  Brooke said with a condescending tone.  She giggled a bit, and went about her business. 

Donnie still hated Brooke for what she did to him.  He thought she was a snooty bitch, and he still wanted to kill her.  He fantasized about murdering her at times, but he could never kill anyone, the fantasies were nothing more than fantasies.  Brooke took to serving quickly.  She was cute, so she got really great tips.  She had the same base wage as Donnie, but after tips ended up making anywhere from twelve to twenty dollars an hour. She didn’t pay taxes on the majority of her tips because she didn’t report them. She worked the same hours as Donnie, but had Thursdays and Fridays off.  Her budget was much looser than Donnie’s, and she had a car.  She lived in a one bedroom apartment and had really nice stuff.  She had around 600 dollars extra each month.  She decided to take some management classes at the local community college, to try and become assistant manager at the restaurant. 

Brooke treated Donnie poorly at work.  Donnie resented the waitresses because they were lazy, but made a lot more money than him with tips.  Brooke would show off, and make Donnie feel even worse about being poor. 

“You really need to get a car, it’s so convenient.”  Brooke said to Donnie.  Donnie didn’t even respond because it pissed him off.  “Riding your bike to work can’t be good for your family jewels.  “Oh, sorry, family jewel.” She busted up laughing.  Donnie started trembling with anger, but continued doing his job.  “Too bad you don’t get tips.  If you did, you could probably afford a car.”  Another waitress walked in.  “I don’t think you could handle being a waiter though.  People wouldn’t want to eat after looking at you, would they one nut?”  Brooke laughed along with the other waitress.  Brooke had spread the word with the other waitresses about Donnie’s one nut.  Donnie tried to ignore them, but he wanted to cry. 

Brooke said hurtful things to Donnie all the time.  She always talked about how much money she has, and how great it is having a car.  She would mention these things to Donnie to make him feel bad.  

It was really busy this one night, and Donnie needed help with the dishes.  He was falling behind.  Brooke came in, distressed at the lack of clean dishes.  “I need some dishes now, there are customer’s waiting.”  Brooke insisted.

“I’m going as fast as I can, we’re really busy tonight.”  Donnie explained, under obvious stress.  “If you’re not doing anything, why don’t you help me?”  Donnie said this out of anger; he knew she wouldn’t help him. 

“Because it’s not my job!"  I’m busy helping customers, and I need clean dishes!  If you don’t hurry up, I swear to God I’ll kick your last nut up into your throat!”  Brooke was pissed.  Donnie was even angrier, and after she said that he was very tempted to walk out.  He continued working, and didn’t respond to the threat.    One of the loads of dishes finished, and Brooke quickly grabbed the ones she needed, and walked away. 

Donnie was riding his bike home that night.  A car drove by, and out of the window a giant convenient store cup full of soda flew.  The soda exploded right into Donnie’s head, knocking him off his bike, and soaking him with sticky soda.  He had drinks thrown at him in the past, but they usually missed.  He landed on his right side, and his right arm and leg were bruised and cut up a bit.  He didn’t have any serious injuries.  As the car drove away he thought he heard the laughter of Brooke and another waitress.  He wasn’t sure though.  After getting over the shock and pain, he managed to get back on his bike and ride home.  It was already cold outside.  The soda made him even colder.

One day Donnie’s alarm clock stopped working.  He stayed up pretty late the night before, so he didn’t wake up on his own.  He woke at 10:50 and looked at his alarm clock to see the time.  He saw it was blank.  He started to panic, and grabbed his watch.  He realized he was going to be late.  He got ready as fast as he could, and was out the door by eleven.  He didn’t think to call in and say he would be late.  He arrived at 11:20 dripping with sweat from riding his bike so fast.  Joni had already called a backup to do dishes.  She was waiting when Donnie arrived.  “I’m sorry I’m late, my alarm clock died, and I didn’t wake up on time.”

“Oh, its okay Donnie, we don’t really need you anyway.  See, Javier is already here to take your place…In fact; I think we will do just fine without you for the next two weeks.  You could use a vacation couldn’t you?”

“I can’t afford to take time off; I won’t be able to pay rent.” 

“Well you should have thought of that before you came in late.  You’re lucky I don’t fire you.  Go see Brooke; she has a job for you to do before you leave.  After you finish that, you can go home.  I’ll call you when we need you again, okay?”

“Ok.” 

“Have a nice vacation.”  Joni giggled.

Donnie walked out into the dining area.  Brooke walked up to him.

“Hey, Donnie, the toilets backed up again.”  Brooke told him, while smiling.

“You want me to clean it?”

“Mm hmm.”  Brooke sadistically replied.  She smiled and walked away.

Donnie was stressed.  He was thinking about the budget, and wondering how he would get by this month.  He went into the women’s bathroom, and there was disgusting shit all over the floor.  He spent an hour cleaning it, and then went home.  Throughout the next two weeks he was called in three times to clean up the bathroom.  He never got a paycheck for those weeks.  After two weeks, he was called back into work.  Brooke told him if he was ever late again, he would be fired.  Brooke had been promoted to assistant manager while Donnie was gone. 

Donnie rode by a park every day on his way to work.  One day on his way to the second part of his shift, he felt the urge to take a piss.  The park had a bathroom, so he decided to stop there.  There was a girl’s softball game going on in the park.  Donnie liked baseball, and he thought the girls looked hot, so he thought about watching the game for a bit because he was early for work.  He walked out of the bathroom.  A softball slammed into Donnie’s crotch at a speed of what had to be at least 50 mph.   Donnie was not expecting that, and he had no time to block.   He was suddenly overwhelmed with excruciating agony.  He hadn’t taken any serious hits in the groin since high school.  He felt like his testicle had been hit by a car.  He thought his life as a man was over.  His testicle felt like it was turned to jelly, and his dick felt like it had split like an overcooked sausage.  This burning was worse than the time Brooke kicked him in High School.  He couldn’t really focus on anything but the pain at this point, but he could hear the girls from the baseball teams laughing.  One of the girls ran up close to him.  He didn’t realize why until he saw her pick up the ball.  She stared at him, laughing for a minute or so, and then ran back to the field.  The game went on as Donnie lay on the ground, feeling like his genitals had gone through a meat grinder.  After ten minutes he looked at his watch.  He knew he had to leave at that time if he didn’t want to be late for work.  He could barely fathom riding his bike, and he knew he needed to get to the hospital if he had any hope of retaining his testicle.  He considered skipping work and going straight to the hospital.  He decided to go to work instead.  He planned on telling them what happened, and then going to the hospital.  He got onto his bike.  As he began to peddle, the pain grew worse.  His suffering was unfathomable.  He somehow managed to ride slowly to work, and actually made it there just in time.   He walked into work, and back into the kitchen.  He knocked on Joni’s door.   Brooke opened the door.  “What do you want?”  She asked in a bitchy tone.

“Is Joni here?”

“She’s on vacation, so I’m filling in as manager.  Why?”

Donnie was silent for a moment.  He didn’t know what to do.  “I need to go to the hospital.”

“Oh my God, what happened?”  She truly sounded concerned.

“I had an accident.”  Donnie didn’t want to tell her.  He felt humiliated.  He really hated her, and he couldn’t believe it had come to this.

“What kind of accident?”  She sounded a little less concerned at this point.

“I was ah, using the restroom at the park on my way to work, and, um, there were some girls playing baseball, and I, uh, got hit with a baseball really hard, uhh, in the groin.” Donnie was looking at the ground while he told her this.  He was embarrassed, but he had to go.

Brooke’s eyes widened, she rolled her eyes a bit, and said, “Ohh kay?”  Her tone sounded like she didn’t understand why this was so important.  “How bad does it hurt?”

“It hurts extremely badly.”

“That sucks Donnie; it’s too bad we don’t have anyone to fill in for you today.”

Donnie’s voice began to tremble.  “I need to go Brooke.  I only have one testicle.  I lost the other one in high school when you kicked me.  The doctors told me then that if I would have come in earlier they could have saved it.  My testicle hurts worse now then it did back then, so I know I need to see a doctor.”  He started to cry a little.

“Well, if you need to see a doctor, then you should go.  If you leave though, I’ll fire you.  Joni told me to do that if you’re late, or if you call in sick.  Your testicle is more important than your job though, you should go to the hospital.  Of course, you only have to work until nine tonight, and I know Joni was thinking about giving you a raise soon.  It’d be a shame to throw all of your years working here down the tube, especially if you might not really even need to see a doctor.”

“I’m sure I need to see a doctor.  Can you call Joni and ask?”

“Ok, sure.”  Brooke walked back into the office and closed the door.  She came back out a few moments later.

“Well, I wasn’t able to get a hold of her, but I left her a message.  She’ll call back soon.  Until then, get to work, or leave.  It’s up to you.”  Brooke was grinning, and chuckled a bit after saying that.  She walked into the office.

Donnie felt like he was going to vomit.  The pain was hardly bearable.  He desperately needed to leave, but realized that in doing so, he would be giving up his job.  He didn’t think he could find another full time job.  With great hatred and resentment for Brooke, he decided to stay.  He found some ibuprofen in the medicine cabinet at work and quickly took three pills.  He made it to his post at the dishwasher, and there was a load of dishes waiting.  It was challenging to stand.  He was dripping sweat, and his head was swimming.  The pain was so great it was making him delirious.  His decision to stay at work may have been different if he wasn’t in such a state.  He just wasn’t thinking clearly.  His hands shook as he began working on the dishes.  He tried to work fast, but it was hard to stay conscious. 

As the evening went by, the ibuprofen alleviated some of the inflammation, and he found it a little easier to work.  The pain was still there, and he still wanted to vomit, but he wasn’t feeling so delirious or light headed.  As his head cleared he began thinking about leaving again.  He decided to stay with the logic that it was already 6:30, and he only had 2 and a half hours left.  Despite his efforts, and the fact that it was a pretty slow night, the dirty dishes were slowly outnumbering the clean ones.  Brooke left the office to check on things.  She walked up to Donnie, and saw that he was falling behind.  “You better hurry up Donnie; we need more clean dishes out there.”  She ordered with a sense of urgency.

“I’m going as fast as I can.  I’m still in a lot of pain.”

“Well, shake it off, and get these dishes done.  We don’t pay you to slack off.”

Donnie welled with anger after she said that.  He would have stabbed her with one of the butcher knives at that point, if he was just slightly more psychotic.  He was just silent; he couldn’t say anything without bursting into tears, or calling her a fucking cunt. 

At around 8pm Donnie vomited in the garbage.  Nobody was around to notice or care.  The ibuprofen had worn off and the pain was now worse than before.  He only had one hour left, but he was almost certain he wouldn’t make it.   He started feeling feverish.  He felt like he needed to lie down, but he continued to stand.  His whole body was tremoring slightly.  He put a load of dishes in the industrial washer and collapsed to his knees.  He was breathing heavily, trying to compose himself enough to finish the hour.  He heard the office door open.  He could hear Brooke walking his way.  He pulled himself up to his feet.  He felt very dizzy and light headed.  He continued working on the dishes, in a daze.  Donnie’s face was pale and dripping with sweat.  “Oh my God!"  I can’t believe how far you’ve fallen behind.  I’m gonna have to talk to Joni about this when she gets back.  This is just unacceptable.  Am I supposed to feel sorry for you or something?  You got hit in the nut, I get it.  That’s no excuse to slack off.  There’s no way your nut still hurts, it’s been like four hours.  If you don’t get these dishes done by nine, then you’ll stay here until they’re done, and I’ll have an extra job for you, so hurry the fuck up!” 

Donnie became stressed as 8:50 rolled around, and he had a lot of dishes left to do.  He knew he wouldn’t be done by nine, and he knew that all his overtime was unpaid.  He thought that he better stay because it was almost over, and he really couldn’t afford to lose this job.  The agony got worse every minute that passed.  At nine o clock, Donnie was nearly finished with the dishes.  There were only a few left when Brooke walked up to him.  “Mmm, not done yet I see.  Well, that’s too bad.  You were so close too, poor Donnie.  Is that nut of yours still bothering ya?”  Brooke giggled.  Donnie swallowed, trying to hold back tears.  “I could cut it off for ya, if you want.”  Brooke laughed.  “You’re such a loser…hmmm, what should I have you do?  I know!  As soon as you’re done with the dishes, I need you to clean all the garbage cans inside and out.  I want them to be spotless, and to smell good.  Then I want you to clean the black gunk off the bottom of all the sinks and the dishwasher.  After you finish all that you can go home.”

“I can’t stay here any longer.”  Donnie cried.  “I could barely make it through the day, I have a fever, and I’m in severe pain.  I need to go to the emergency room.  I can’t stay here.  Please let me go!”

“I already told you, you can leave if you want.  You just can’t come back.”  Brooke giggled.

“I need this job Brooke.  I don’t even get paid when I work overtime.  Can’t you please have mercy on me, and let me leave Brooke?  Please?”

“You are such a little baby.  Pwease Bwooke wet me go, pwease?   Am I supposed to feel guilty for what happened in high school?  That was a long time ago, it was an accident.  It’s so fucking lame the way you’re using that against me now.  Either do your job, or go home.  I guarantee you Joni will hear about this.  If you stay, she might let you keep working here, but if you leave, I promise you’ll be unemployed.  Ok?”

“Ok” Donnie said under his breath with great disgust and resentment.  He felt hopelessness consume him.  He finished the dishes.  He started on the garbage cans.  He took the liners out, and poured bleach in.  The then used the spray nozzle from the dishwashing sink to spray down the inside.  It took time to clean the insides of the garbage cans because there was food gunk stuck to the sides.  The reeling agony and dissociation grew stronger.  Around ten he was finished with the garbage cans.  Brooke was surfing the internet in the office.  She had been doing this all night excluding the times she came out to check on things.  Donnie started scrubbing the bottoms of the sinks.  He was using a scouring pad.  There was so much crap on the bottom of the sinks; he thought it would take all night to finish.  He was working on the first one for an hour, and only finished about a quarter of it. 

Brooke walked into the kitchen area where Donnie was.  He didn’t notice her come in.  She watched him lying on the floor with his head underneath the sink, and his legs lying on the ground.  She quietly crept up next to him.  When she got close enough, she lifted up her right foot, and slammed her black boot between Donnie’s legs with as much power as she could manage.  The toe of her boot made direct contact with his nut.  He didn’t expect it to happen, and he tried to jump, but slammed his head into the bottom of the sink.  It wasn’t hard enough to knock him out.  The pain became a piercing fire in his brain.  He thought he was going to die.   Brooke started laughing her ass off.  She leaned over so he could see her face from underneath the sink.  She was grinning.  “I’m getting bored, so you can go home now.”  Donnie just lay there, unable to speak, and barely able to breathe.  “Come on! Let’s go!”  Brooke dragged Donnie out from underneath the sink.  As she dragged him out, he turned over and vomited.  “Ewww” She pulled him to his feet and walked him out of the restaurant with his arm over her shoulder.  “Since you didn’t finish your job tonight, I expect you to be here tomorrow morning at 8 when Manuel gets here to start the prep.  You need to have the sinks clean by 11.  You better clean up that puke too.”  She walked him out the door, and dropped him to the cement.  “Goodnight.”  She coyly said as she giggled.  She walked away, swinging her hips sexily. 

Donnie lay on the cement, drained and delusional.  He felt like he was disappearing.  ‘This may be the end’ he thought.  Darkness. 

Donnie lost consciousness.  He was passed out on the sidewalk next to the door.  Hours passed.  People drove by, but they didn’t look closely enough to notice him.  Donnie woke up from the chill in the air around midnight.  He felt the same agony in his groin.  His testicle felt broken.  There was a payphone nearby.  He crawled over to it, and called 911.  He felt a sense of déjà vu as he told the operator the situation.  The ambulance arrived and took him to the hospital.  They took x-rays just like before.  Donnie felt a sense of dread.  He knew the news couldn’t be good.  The x-rays revealed that Donnie’s testicle was basically pulverized.  When the baseball hit, it had a major rupture, and as the evening went by it began to loosen up.  The insides started to separate.  When Brooke kicked him, his ruptured nut basically turned to jelly.  The doctor informed him there was no way to save it, but if it wasn’t removed, it would become infected.   Donnie’s hope was lost, and his life as a man was over.  He was put under, and awoke the next morning with an empty sack. 

It was around 6am that he woke from the surgery.  He was hoping to be hospitalized for the day, because there would be no way for Brooke to argue with him not coming to work.  The doctor did not feel he needed to be hospitalized, but recommended resting for the next few days.  They wrote a note for him to get out of work.

Donnie forgot that he was supposed to be to work at 8 in the morning.  He took the bus to work to get his bike, and took another bus home to his apartment.  He called in sick at 10:30.  Brooke answered.  “Hello?”

“Hi, Brooke, this is Donnie.  Is Joni there?”

“No, Joni isn’t here.  Where are you? You were supposed to be here at 8.”

“Ah, I forgot, but…I can’t come into work today.  I, ah, have a doctor’s note.”

“What happened?”  Brooke laughed a little.

“I had to have surgery.” Donnie muttered.

“What kind of surgery?”  Brooke innocently asked.

“My last testicle was destroyed, they had to remove it Brooke.”

Brooke started laughing.  “Oh my God, I’m sorry for laughing, that must really suck for you.  I can’t believe you lost the last one.  I’m sorry, but you have to admit, it is kinda funny.” 

“I don’t think it’s funny at all.”  Donnie angrily replied.

“Yeah, I guess you don’t see the humor in it yet, since it just happened.  Anyways, it’s nice that you got a doctor’s note and all, but it’s a little late to call in, when you were supposed to be here at 8.  I guess if you get here by eleven, and bring the doctor’s note, I’ll let you keep your job.”

“I just had surgery.  The only way I can get there by eleven is on my bike.  I can’t ride my bike!” 

“Why don’t you call a cab?”

“I don’t have the money for a cab!”

“Well, that sure does suck.  It’d be a shame if you gave up this job after all the sacrifice you’ve made.  But, that’s the breaks I guess.”  Brooke giggled.

“Fine, I’ll ride my bike.”

“Good luck, hope your stitches stay together.”  Brooke laughed and hung up.

The note excused Donnie from work for one week.  He didn’t really feel up to riding his bike to work, but he already lost his nuts, and he didn’t want to lose his job.  He mounted the bike, and it was pretty painful.  The surgery area was very sensitive, so riding the bike was very difficult.  He pedaled as fast as he could.  The pain and drowsiness was slowing him down.  He made it to work on time with the note.  He walked back to the office where Brooke was working, and knocked on the door.  Brooke opened the door.  She smiled widely, “How was the ride?”  She asked, snickering a bit.

“It was hard.  Here’s the note, now I’m taking the bus home.”

Brooke looked over the note.  “This looks legit, so I guess you can keep working here, but I need you to work today.” 

“You told me if I brought the note, then I could be excused from work!”  Donnie exclaimed.

“Not exactly."  I told you, if you brought the note you wouldn’t be fired for not showing up this morning.  I never said you would be excused from work for the rest of the day.  In fact, I expect you to stay here between lunch and dinner to finish your job under the sinks.”

“You can’t do that!  I have a doctor’s note!”

“That doesn’t matter, it’s not like working here will be a strain on your groin.”

“I can’t believe this.  How would you like it if I press charges against you for kicking me last night?”

“I never kicked you, you got hit with a baseball, remember?”

“This is crazy.  I’m going home because I have a doctor’s note.  If you fire me I’ll sue.”

“Oh really?"  Haha, you’ll sue?  What are you going to sue for?  You have an attendance problem, and that is why we are firing you.  There’s no law against firing you for missing work, even if you do have a doctor’s note.  I’ve heard enough of these threats.  Are you leaving?  "Yes or no.”

Donnie thought about it for a moment.  He thought there must be a law against them firing him for missing work, Brooke had to be wrong.  He really didn’t think he could handle another day at work, but he did have the next day off.  “Fine, I’ll stay.” 

“Good choice nutless."  Get to work.”  Brooke laughed, and waltzed back into the office.

Donnie couldn’t believe this was happening.  He thought he was going to get to go home, but now he was stuck at work all day.  He was tired, and sore.  He felt woozy, but managed to do his job.  Two o clock rolled around, and he was ready to go home to eat lunch.  He was never allowed to eat at work.  He finished the last dish and started getting ready to leave.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“I’m going home until dinner.”

“Oh, did you already finish cleaning the scum off the bottom of the sinks?”

“Oh, I forgot.”

“You better stop forgetting things, or you might be out of a job.  You already have an empty sack; you wouldn’t want an empty bank account to match, would you?”

“No.”  Donnie looked down.

“I didn’t think so.”  Brooke laughed.  “Get to work.”

Brooke walked away, leaving Donnie alone in the kitchen to finish the sinks.    Donnie felt a severe depression filling him.  He scrubbed the bottoms of the sinks without hope.  He thought about leaving, but didn’t.  He was getting hungry, and tired.  His scrotum was aching more and more.  He finished the sinks right around 5, just in time to start the next part of his shift. 

Brooke arrived around 5.  She looked around under the sinks to make sure Donnie had finished his job.  Some of the sinks were still a little grimy underneath.  Some of the grime was impossible to get off.  She walked up to Donnie who had just started doing dishes.  “There’s still some grime on the bottom of the sinks.”

“I’m sorry, I did the best I could, I was working the whole time.”

“Well, I guess you’ll just have to come in tomorrow on your day off to finish the job.”

Donnie started crying, but tried to hide it.

“What’s the matter?  Are you getting an infection in your stitches or something?  Maybe you should go back to the doctor and get another note.”  Brooke laughed.  “I expect you here at 8 tomorrow morning, and you’ll stay until the sinks are all shining, even if it takes until closing.”

This was Donnie’s breaking point, he’d taken too much, and he couldn’t take any more.  He walked away quickly.  He unlocked his bike, and walked to the bus stop.  He didn’t say a word to Brooke.  Brooke laughed to herself as he left.  She found somebody to cover his shift, and she was excited about firing Donnie. 

Donnie arrived home around 6.  He went to bed right away.  He was anxious about losing his job, but he swore there must be a law against firing people who have just had surgery for missing work.

Brooke called and left a message on Donnie’s answering machine.  “Hi Donnie, this is Brooke.  I was just calling to tell you that we were able to find somebody to fill in for you.  He’s actually going to be taking over for you.  Don’t bother coming back to work; you won’t be on the schedule anymore.  And, I talked to Joni, and we’re both pretty sure that you’ve already received your last check.  If we missed something, just call and let us know.  We’ll check our records, but I’m sure they’re probably right.  Anyway, sorry to hear about your little friend, I think that was your last one wasn’t it?  Oh well, I guess you’ll have to get used to being alone.  Good luck getting another job.  Feel free to use us as a reference, of course we will have to tell them about your attendance problems, but I’m sure that’ll be fine.  You should have no problem getting a great job at McDonalds.  Anyway, you’re probably trying to sleep right now, so I’ll stop bothering you.  Sweet dreams.”

Donnie tried calling the bureau of labor and industry, but they told him that there weren’t really any laws against employers firing people for calling in sick.  He tried to get another job, but had no luck.  He ended up moving back in with his mother, and doing housework for her.  His life went on like that.  His life was sad and pathetic and just seemed to drag on and on.