IJ study archive

Gately's football past: the asset comes back depreciated

quote

When he finally returned for his sophomore year of class and junior year of ball at seventeen and 284 lbs., Gately was enervated, flabby, apparently narcoleptic

Context

The prospect returns as a wreck of himself. The body that clocked a 4.4 forty in seventh grade comes back "at seventeen and 284 lbs.," "enervated, flabby, apparently narcoleptic" — "a huge confused kitten out on the field," so alarmingly off that the coach sends him for P.E.T. scans fearing M.S. The athletic asset has been quietly repossessed; landed here is the ruin as a body failing its function. (The Substance mechanism driving it — the oxycodone need-schedule — is addiction-recovery's, NOT built; cross-ref, no duplicate blockquote.)

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