Icon “C”

By Susan

Elliot was on his way home. It would have been an understatement to say that he was in a good mood. He was in high spirits. He could have embraced the whole world. Within the next three weeks his most ardent desire would come true at last.

Today was Friday afternoon, and was a warm and sunny day. Actually it was the longest day in the year because it was summer solstice. He would take his girlfriend out to a dinner tonight to the Atlantic Point, the most elegant restaurant in town. They would sit outside and enjoy the magnificent view over the ocean and the sun plunging in the water as a big red ball. It would be time to let her into a secret that he had been carrying around with him for about a week. And it would be time to carry out a plan that he had borne in mind for months. This was a secret, which he could never tell her though it was mostly the reason for his effusive joy. She must never find out the truth.

Susan’s story - part 4

by Susan

Whether to have a child or not was a difficult decision for Susan. On the one hand, she was conscious of the dangers involved, particularly the potential worsening of her eyesight.

On the other, she (and Charles) had long planned to have three children. This was an ideal that had sustained them both throughout their marriage and Susan's previous experience of childbirth was so positive that, deep down, she knew she wanted another baby.

Nevertheless, before she committed herself, she decided to seek further expert advice. Susan spoke to her local doctor and through him obtained an appointment with a consultant at London's major eye hospital.

In many ways, the tests proved as inconclusive as before. Yes, the specialist said, there appeared to be some connection between pregnancy, its immediate aftermath and the worsening in Susan's eyesight. The information received from her optician suggested this worsening lay in the range of about minus 5 dioptres over each three-year period during and after childbirth.

Susan’s story - part 3

Susan’s story - part 3

by Susan

To read the previous part click here.

Susan entered into her 30s with an extraordinary sense of optimism. She was the mother of a beautiful daughter, Emma.

She and Charles were happy together and loved each other, or at least that's how it seemed to her. Susan felt fit and healthy. Thanks to near-daily exercise with a personal trainer, plus her own gym workouts, her figure was svelte and trim.

Gradually, since she and Charles moved into the family home a few years earlier, she started making a few friends in the surrounding area. Her circle of friends was expanding and she was invited round for morning teas, took part as a volunteer in various toddler and then nursery groups. Everyone said that she was extremely good with children, and not just her own.

The only minor cloud on the horizon was Charles' totally unreasonable refusal to accept that his wife was severely short-sighted. Her last prescription, when she turned 30, was R-11.25, L-11.75, which meant she could not function effectively without either glasses or contact lenses.
But when she tried to talk to Charles about it, Susan felt as if she had hit a brick wall. He would point-blank ignore any remark she made about her eyesight. If he caught her wearing her glasses for any reason, Charles would either walk out of the room or throw a temper tantrum - and then sulk for the rest of the day.

Susan’s story - part 2

This is my next instalment. After packing the older kids off to school and my young one to nursery, I had a few hours of free time on my hands. Somehow, I felt an intense urge to write. It's almost as if by telling this story, part of me is becoming liberated.
Readers of this instalment can judge its merits. I'm off to pick up the youngest. Take care.

To read the first part: click here

Susan’s story - part 2

by Susan

The alarm went off at 7 am, but Susan had been awake for hours already. This was the most important day of her life and she'd had a restless night, waking and then falling back into a restless slumber. 
But the clock's buzzing did mean she had to get up. Susan was getting married today and there were still lots of things to do before the church ceremony started.
Wearily, she reached out to the bedside table and picked up her glasses. Slipping them on, she slid out of bed and reached for her dressing gown.
The gown didn't fit her very well any more - and it was one of those now-thoroughly unfashionable bobbly things, in faded pink. That was one of the drawbacks of sleeping at home on the night before the wedding: the clothes left behind after years of living away were unlikely to win many catwalk awards. But it would do for today and in any event, within a few hours Susan would be dressed up to the nines.

Susan’s story - part 1

By Susan
(saved and sent by Jules)

She was 15 when Susan first noticed her eyesight was becoming a little weak. At first it was fairly minor: a slight blurriness when she looked at things a little distance away, like a blackboard, or at the cinema, or watching television.
It was easy to compensate for. You just screw your eyes up a little, or move a bit closer to the screen, or sit nearer to the TV.
When it started, Susan just thought it was a bit of a nuisance. Few people at school noticed anyway.
And her mum only made a few comments: "Susan, what's the matter with you, get your head away from the telly, other people are trying to watch it."

But then things became worse. Susan noticed that if she was waiting for a bus she couldn't see the number until it came quite close. If she arranged to meet someone in town on Saturday, she wouldn't see them until they called out to her. Going into a café on her own became a bit of a problem, especially when lights were dim, making it hard to recognise people.

Edie

by BobD

This story is copyrighted. © This story may be copied and put on other sites

provided they are NOT sites that charge for viewing and this header is included.

BobD @ techie.com

Part One

       I’m a twenty-eight-year-old right above-knee amputee named Edie. I lost my leg to cancer when I was fifteen, and was devastated as you can imagine. I was and am a very active person, participating in all sorts of sports. I was participating in a summer girl’s softball league as I usually did when the cancer was discovered. As practice was starting that summer, I noticed that my right leg was very sore and sensitive just below the knee. I figured that I had bumped it without realizing it and had a bit of a bruise because I also noticed a darkish spot in the sensitive area. Of course I paid little attention to it and continued to practice with my team thinking that in a couple of days it would be all healed up.

Deirdre

This is one of my favourite wheelchair stories. Wulentee is a great writer and Deidre is one of the best written stories of the wheelchair genre.

by Wulleente

The rain drummed a steady rhythm on the roof, I was leaning against the window, absent-mindedly tracing the rains runlets with my finger. I stared out into the dark, watched the city passing by the city lights magnified and blurred by the raindrops. It had been a long day, and a dreary one. I felt someone watching me and noticed the cabby was giving me the eye via the rear view mirror. I pulled the old cardie closer around me, luckily I had had the time to change after work. Otherwise the look would have been more harmful. Usually I would have taken the bus, but on a night like this the way from the bus stop to my front door was just too far.

Finally we pulled into my street, the rain had slowed down but I knew I would be soaking wet by the time I finally reach my front door. The cab pulled over and slowly rolled to a halt. I watched the cabby rush out to retrieve my wheelchair from the boot. I observed how he fumbled with it and finally propped it open next to the rear door, which he opened for me.

Heaven for your average glasses fetishist - 5

Before you start reading this story you may want to read the part 1 here. 

ALISON AND RICK (yes, them again!)

by Specfiend 

Under the cover of darkness, two figures pulled themselves over a high wall around the back of the deserted warehouse, and sprinted across the vast grounds. "How do we get inside?" the girl hissed as they came to a halt at the door and tried to open it. Locked tight.

The man took several paces back from the building and glanced up to the next floor. "There's a window open there," he observed. "We can probably shimmy up that waterpipe - it looks pretty secure, it's not likely to give way under our weight - and get into the building that way."

The girl smiled. "Sounds good to me. Let's do it."

Allison & Rick - SuperHyperopicSuperheroes

by Specfiend 

(originally posted to Eye Scene 03 July 2001)

This is the next part of the story, began in "The Terrifying Test". Allison and Rick, now together and heavily bespectacled, are now working together to make the world a happier place for hyperopes - by creating as many hyperopes as they possibly can!

Jessica gets her just deserts

One miserable Friday morning, a girl was sitting in the university library with her boyfriend. In one of the small private study rooms, they'd been studying since nine, but now it was time for him to go to a lecture. He kissed her goodbye and hurried away, running late as usual.

She turned her attention back to the novel in front of her, part of her reading for her English Literature course. "God, these books make their print smaller and smaller," she said softly. Sighing in resignition, she reached into her bag, rummaged about and found what she was looking for. She slipped the tortoiseshell readers on her nose and sighed, this time in relief. She'd bypassed the local chemist on her way to uni that day, on a surreptitious mission to obtain a pair of specs without being seen by anyone she knew. She'd succeeded, and she knew she'd be safe wearing them here, in a private room where no one she knew was likely to come in.

Allison and Rick, The Terrifying Test

by Specfiend

(originally posted to EyeScene 28th June 2001 - last part posted 02 July 2001)

She entered the nightclub, narrowing her eyes against the smoke. She immediately spotted a good-looking man standing next to the bar, swigging from a pint of lager. He immediately spotted her to and, picking up his pint, he made a beeline for her...

After that, her memories were vague. She remembered talking to him, going to the bathroom to freshen up, coming back to find that he'd bought her a drink . . . Then nothing. Except a strange sort of pain in her eyes. As if someone was operating on them...

Jennifer…The Myopic Progression Continues

by Jennifer

The first part is here

Jennifer loved her glasses. Even with her very high prescription of -37.75 -2.50 X 90 in her right eye and -41.00 -1.50 X 164 in her left, she wore them proudly. She had always felt they set her apart from everyone else.

Jennifer’s myopic progression had slowed significantly to well under a diopter per year. She barely noticed the change, and was very happy with her present glasses. She especially liked the Zeiss Lantal version that was a full field lens. They were nearly 18 millimeters thick at the outer edges and a bit heavy, but Jennifer thought they looked incredibly cool. But out of practicality and comfort, she wore her myodiscs most of the time.

Jennifer still resisted having her eyes checked too often; she was still afraid of another big jump. But after two and a half years went by, she was again having trouble reading anything much farther away than the ends of her arms. Something had begun to change more rapidly. She returned to the optometrist fearing another huge increase.

Jennifers’ story

by Jennifer

Jennifer Cory Michaels was born at 11:20 am on July 6, 1967 in Mammoth lakes, California.

Jennifer’s father, Samuel Michaels was a Scottish bricklayer who was also a mathematical genius. But he liked laying bricks for a living better than doing math. He was immensely strong and would sometimes crush a brick in his hand to remind his fellow workers who was boss.

One day he showed this trick to Jennifer. She immediately wanted to be able to do the same thing. It didn’t work because she was only ten at the time, but she vowed to accomplish the feat sometime in the future. Her dad said he would buy her a bottle of hundred year old Scotch whiskey if she ever she did.

Jennifer’s mother, Sonya, was a Brazilian surfing champion. She was tall and slender with the sleek arms and legs of a powerful swimmer. After living in Mammoth, she became a world class skier. Sonya was also a great singer; Samuel thought she had the voice of an angel.

Paralyzed lovers

by Tatjd

It was a Saturday afternoon when Caitlin walked through the mall near her apartment. As Caitlin strolled from store to store, she reflected on her encounter of a few days ago. That had been at a different mall, further from home. She had taken her wheelchair out that time; wheelchairs and paraplegics had long fascinated Caitlin. By college Caitlin had realized that her desire was to actually need to use a wheelchair despite her very able and pretty body.