Almighty Coach

Duke Gale was sitting in his wheelchair and relaxing in the sun, his legs covered with a blanket.

Dai Li took a close look at Duke Gale. He maintained his face so well, that he didn’t look like a man aged 61. However, the grey in his dark-brown hair, and completely white hair on his temples, were telltale signs that exposed that he had experienced vicissitude.

Duke Gale had a low-pitched voice, but he was very talkative. He kept talking, his topics including almost everything. Dai Li even felt that he maybe had met a comedian rather than a noble.

Shouldn’t a man of nobility be quiet and calm? Why is he is such a chatterbox? Dai Li thought.

Duke Gale held forth for more than half an hour. In the end, it was Nelson who couldn’t bear the duke’s chatter.

"Sir, please let Coach Li examine you now," Nelson said.

...

Lying in bed, Duke Gale was massaged by Dai Li. He couldn’t help thinking of his past.

It was a clear memory for Duke Gale, one from his hunting days, back to a time when his hunting rifle discharged accidentally and hit a piece of stone. The fragment of stone splashed his horse, causing him to be thrown off by the astonished horse. His head hit a tree, making him lose consciousness.

When he recovered consciousness, he found he couldn’t move his body. He could only blink his eyes or make some muffled sounds. For a chat lover, that was nothing but torture from hell.

Ever since then, Duke Gale had started to receive medical treatment. Gradually, he could control his legs and say words clearly, then, finally, he regained his ability to speak. He thought that was a good beginning, and so he expected to completely recover soon.

But it was not as promising as that. A month later, he still had to lie in bed. One year gone, and he could barely stand up, even with the help of others. At that moment, Duke Gale finally realized the seriousness of his injury.

Gale felt a sinking feeling that he might no longer be able to stand up for the rest of his life. But he was not resigned to the fate of sitting in the wheelchair, being fed by others until his death. Instead, he sought help from excellent rehabilitation specialists from all over the world, trying every kind of therapy.

In the past ten years, he was trapped in the loop of hope-to-disappointment: he hoped to fully recover in the hands of one specialist and therapy, only to be disappointed in the end. He would then turn to a new specialist and therapy, with renewed hope, only to go through yet another failure.

However, those therapies did have some positive effects. For instance, now he could eat with a spoon, drink through a straw, and walk slowly (albeit unstably), aided by a walker or crutches, all by himself. However, such things were not his ultimate goal. He wished to walk as before, and dreamed of riding his horse to chase prey while out hunting with his hounds and rifle.

All in a mist of his own imaginings, Duke Gale could almost see his beloved horse and his butler, leading a group of hounds, all were waiting for him. Then, he fastened his paces, jumped on the horse, and rode far away.

Suddenly, Duke Gale realized that he had lost his action capacity. How could he ride a horse?

The duke fiercely opened his eyes, only to find himself alone, still lying on the massage bed of his room in the castle, as Dai Li and Nelson had left.

I dreamed again. Duke gale gave a long sigh. He looked at his half-paralyzed legs and felt lost all over again.

"You are awake, sir," his butler’s voice came from his side, "You fell asleep while Coach Li was massaging you. I didn’t want to disturb you, so I saw the gentlemen out."

"How long did I sleep?" the duke asked.

His butler looked at his watch and answered, "One hour, sir."

"Help me up first," Gale ordered his butler.

The butler immediately stepped forward and helped Duke Gale sit up, then he pushed the wheelchair from the side, helping the duke stand, then aiding him to the wheelchair.

With the assistance of his butler, Duke Gale made his first step. However, he felt the difference in his whole body by this single step.

"Maybe I should try to walk alone!" the adventurous idea popped in his mind.

"Thompson, just leave me alone. I want to walk by myself," Duke Gale turned to his butler and said.

After some seconds of hesitation, the butler nodded in agreement and couldn’t help but say, "Sir, I will stand by you. You can lean on me if you need."

Looking at the duke nervously, the butler let go of his hand slowly, but his arms were still in front of Gale, in case he might fall down.

Duke Gale took a deep breath and made the second step.

Lifting his foot, putting it down, and standing stably were all very simple things for common people. However, Duke Gale had spent seven or eight seconds to finish each move.

Such an easy action of walking made Duke Gale excited and astonished.

"I did it! I can walk with no help or crutch!" Duke Gale shouted out in excitement.

In the next second, he started to cry.

"Sir!" the butler stepped forward and held him.

"Thompson, don’t help me! Let me do this!" Duke Gale took a deep breath and said, "Thanks for your kindness. But I am fed up with being pitied!"

"Sir..."

Duke Gale straightened his back and lifted his chest. He looked at the wheelchair and crutches at his side, then suddenly burst into laughter.

"Thompson, do you know what hope is?" the duke suddenly asked.

The butler stared at Duke Gale blankly, and the latter went on, "As long as hope comes to me, I never mind whether it comes early or later!"

Pointing at the wheelchair, he said, "I think I will soon not need it anymore. You should prepare a walking stick for me!"

...

An afternoon tea party was held in the Buckingham Palace to celebrate the 65th Anniversary of the Queen’s access to the throne. All guests of this party were hereditary nobles of Britain.

There were many people with titles of nobility in Britain, especially since the end of the Second World War. This collective included scientists, politicians, stars and athletes. All these were given a medal and a nobility title that couldn’t be inherited.

In Britain, the hereditary aristocracy and others were quite different. The House of Lords in Britain had the seats for hereditary aristocracy, and was in Britain’s legislature institution. That is to say, the hereditary aristocracy in Britain could interfere with the legislation. In any country, those who could interfere with legislation must indeed be quite influential.

Meanwhile, the hereditary aristocracy in Britain was entitled to immunity in many aspects. For example, once an inherited duke died, his oldest son would inherit his title, as well as his property, without paying legacy tax. This is the immunity of legacy tax enjoyed by the hereditary aristocracy.

Those hereditary nobles have been amassing wealth all over the world since the colonial period, and their property is unable to count, even after hundreds of years’ accumulation. The legacy tax in Britain is 40 percent. Thus, it is clear that this immunity of legacy tax will lead to severe tax loss.

Governments of Britain have tried to reverse this trend, but failed due to the hereditary aristocracy having control of the House of Lords. For nobles, they also know that having controlling seats in the House of Lords means the defense of interests for all, and hence, they form an inner circle.

Those guests of the tea party stand a good chance of being relatives to each other. It’s quite common that the great-grandfather of one noble and the great-grandmother of the other are brother and sister. Such is the result of European aristocratic tradition, that noble marries noble. As a result, the number of nobles is so small now, that they all become relatives in the end.

They gathered here, never losing topics to talk about. For the high society of Britain, afternoon tea was a way of social intercourse. Naturally, they flocked into several groups, talking about everything with each other.

Carrying a walking stick, a middle-aged man in an exquisite suit came from afar. He had dark brown hair, half of which had bits of grey interspersed.

Why did he carry a walking stick? It was because the man walked so steadily, that he didn’t require the aid of a walking stick, but rather, used it like a decoration.

"That’s Duke Gale!" someone recognized him in no time.

"Duke Gale? It is him! He came!" the person next to that man cried out.

"Is it that surprising? Duke Gale is Scottish, but it is quite reasonable that he comes here, as today is the anniversary of her majesty’s accession to the throne," one beside him said.

"I mean, he walks here!" he explained at once.

At this moment, others had now seen it, too.

"That’s true. It is said that Duke Gale fell from his horse and was injured. He was given a tough brain operation and lost the ability of action. He had to sit on a wheelchair most of his time." A person made some introduction.

"Not bad. Duke could walk a few steps, if he held an arm support," the other added.

"Look at his steps. It seems that he doesn’t need it anymore."

"Yeah, even without a stick..."

"Duke Gale has recovered! My god! What a miracle! A man in a wheelchair for ten years, can now walk."

In the system of the hierarchy of Europe, the hereditary title of the duke is the highest. For instance, the eldest son of the prince of Britain, who is the second in line to the throne, is the duke of Cambridge. So, in such a noble gathering, a hereditary duke is the most honorable title among the non-royals.

Thus, the very appearance of Duke Gale had attracted all the people’s attentions. What made them more surprised, was the fact that he walked!

Everyone here knew about the accident of Duke Gale. In the recent ten years, every time he showed up somewhere, he had sit in a wheelchair. But now, all of them were aware of his recovery.

"Is Duke Gale really recovered? Last time I met him, it was at Her Majesty’s birthday party. I saw him still sit in the wheelchair back then. It was no more than a year ago."

"Duke Gale must have gotten new treatment, or he wouldn’t be so well, in such a short time."

"It is ten years since he got hurt in his accident. In my opinion, his body may have degraded. So, I think it is likely to be attributed to some advanced biological regeneration therapy. I have heard that some scientists of Northern Europe are working on it."

"Maybe it’s thanks to cloning ... Transplant some new organs, and then he can work and function again."

When it came to the topic of new therapies, such as biological regeneration and cloning, many eyes lit up, especially of those aged people present. They looked at Duke Gale greedily.

None of them were short of money, not to mention that they enjoyed the privileges that the common British couldn’t.

With money, status, and privileges, all these nobles wanted was to live longer, to feast longer. The older they became, the stronger that desire grew.

In the more developed countries, the rich were always afforded better medical treatment and thus, lived longer as a result. There were many aged nobles there, all gathered around Duke Gale at the moment.

Duke Gale felt good about being the center of attention. He was excellent when he was young, acquiring the most kills in aristocratic hunting matches. He was the envy of his fellows back then.

All that had gone away after that accident. He was not the envy of others any longer. On the contrary, he had become the target of pity. Now, he was once again surrounded by people, and became the focus of them again!

Before he got hurt, he used to be very talkative, and would visit social places quite often. However, when he was injured and became disabled, people talking with him dwindled. After all, who wanted to waste time on a disabled man?

Now, people were once again fond of listening to him.

Duke Gale was deeply contented. He felt that his life was colorful again.

It’s so good to live with hope again!