I slipped down a flight of stairs.
It was only about five steps.

Perhaps the wet soles of my shoes and the material of the stairs were a bad combination.

I ended up with a fairly impressive scrape on my leg, but my honest reaction was relief — “I’m glad it was only this much.”
Adding an injury on top of an illness would have made things unnecessarily harder.

Was it carelessness?
By the time I realized what was happening, I was already sliding, unable to react.
I couldn’t even think, “I should have been more careful.”

It had been a while since I’d felt disinfectant on a wound.
It stung.