Lame

lame
verb, transitive. To make a person or animal lame.
adjective. Of a person or animal, unable to walk normally because of an injury or illness affecting the leg or foot. Of an explanation or excuse, unconvincingly feeble.

John set forth on his usual early-morning walk, determined to put in his thirty minutes. By the time he met Rick at the end of Rick's driveway, he was limping.

"What's this?" Rick asked, looking at John's right foot.

"Evidently," John stopped and raised the painful foot off the pavement a little, "I have lamed myself."

"Stone bruise?"

John shook his head. "That was what I thought at first. I was walking on that gravel side road just before the pain appeared, so it kind of followed. I've had a stone bruise before, and it always healed within two or three days. This pain has gone on for a week, and it seems to be getting worse. I did some research on this kind of thing online, and it seems to be plantar fasciitis."

Rick's frown became more pronounced. "I've heard that's a long-term thing. Did you run across any quick fixes for it?"

"No, unfortunately." John turned toward the stop sign at the end of their cul-de-sac and gestured for Rick to walk alongside him. "All the credible medical websites advise using the painful foot as little as possible; maybe ice packs. My brother says to roll a tennis ball under the instep, to stretch those ligaments and tendons. I think I'm just stuck like this for awhile." He turned his morose gaze on his companion. "I'm sorry. To the stop sign and back is all I dare do. The last thing I want is to injure it more and make it worse. This really hurts!"

Rick stopped moving. "I don't want that either. Let's just stop."

The two turned and returned the few yards to Rick's driveway, John limping. At Rick's house, they stood for awhile and traded a few tidbits of personal news. Rick looked at his friend then with more hope. Do you have a bicycle?"

"I ... the household has one," John replied. "John Junior never took his when he moved out. He was leery about riding it in the city."

"It's big enough for you, isn't it?"

"Sure."

"Let's cycle, then, instead of walking," Rick suggested. He hesitated, looking tentatively at John to see how the other would react. "If you want to, that is. I exercise a lot more when I do it with someone else. We've been able to do this pretty steadily, and we've both lost a little weight. What do you say?"

John nodded. "That may be ideal. It's been fifteen or twenty years since I rode a bike, but they say you never forget how. You get yours out; I'll go get John Junior's." He turned and began limping more rapidly toward his house. "Hope the tires are still aired up," Rick heard him mutter as he moved away.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.