A few laughs burst out immediately.

“Dude, he ate it!”
“Didn’t even try to catch himself!”
“Old fossil shouldn’t be out walking around.”

Raymond didn’t respond. He couldn’t — the fall had knocked the wind from his lungs. The mud embraced him, cold and slick, seeping through the worn threads of his jacket.

For one long moment, he stayed on the ground, eyelids fluttering.

Then he planted both palms in the muck and pushed.

Slow.
Painfully slow.

His body trembled with the effort. His bad knee screamed with the familiar ghost of the injury that had ended his final deployment. Dozens of medals later, nothing hurt him quite like that moment.

He made it halfway upright.

Then a sneaker slammed into his hip.