Isaiah Thomas nervously stood at the door to the gym. This was his first practice with his new team, many of them hadn’t even seen him yet. They, unlike others, had no preconceived notions about him. He adjusted the straps on his footwear, took a deep breath, opened the door.
Isaiah waved hello as he walked in, drawing the incredulous stares of his new teammates. He stumbled a bit as he went over to a group consisting of Kelly Olynyk, Brandon Bass, and Jared Sullinger, who were laughing to themselves.
“Hey guys, ready to go?” Isaiah stood eye to eye with the Celtics bigmen.
“Yeah, we ready, are you? Those things don’t look, uh, suitable for heavy action.” Jared smirked as he looked Isaiah up and down.
“What are you talking about? I’m totally prepared, ready to make an impact for this team in the paint and on the perimeter as your new point-forward.” He swayed a bit, either to accentuate his point or because the foot-high cardboard stilts he was walking on made him unbalanced.
“I don’t know how you can be called a forward when you ain’t even close to six feet tall, man.” Kelly retorted.
“Again, I don’t know what you mean. I’m 6’11”. A totally normal height for a basketball player to be, I might add. You all might be just jealous cause I’m about to take all your jobs.”
Suddenly, Jared pushed the angered Isaiah in the chest. It was not a hard shove, more of a warning than anything, but it sent him tumbling to the floor with a crash. One of the green-painted “Equality Shoes” broke in half; the other stayed resolutely attached to Isaiah’s left foot.
“Not so tall are we now, punk?” The three Celtics laughed over the fallen form of their new point guard.
Isaiah looked sadly at his hands, which were cradling the remains of his destroyed shoe. “Look what you did, you idiot! I paid good money for these!” A tear leaked out of his eye as his tormentors walked away, shaking their heads in disgust. “I just wanted to be tall, like you guys! Was that so much to ask?” he called after them. Not receiving a response, he lay face down on the hardwood and wept in earnest.