Rainy day encounter

by Amy C

I was listening to some vintage Karen Carpenter while puttering around my apartment – blind, of course! And her words just put me in a mood.

What I've got they used to call the blues:
Nothin' is really wrong;
Feelin' like I don't belong;
Walkin' around, some kind of lonely clown;
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

And that is pretty much how I feel. A storm front had cancelled my plans to go simming today. I don’t mind getting a little wet, but unexpectedly stepping into a deep puddle and filling my shoe with water and mud is not fun. Been there, done that – yuck!

The Fancy Dress Party

I must admit I love this story.

By ChrisB

The events I am about to relate came about as a result of a party that was cancelled. My wife Gen and I enjoy going to dressing up parties. The participants are really an extended group of friends some of whom have been involved with Amateur Dramatics (Am Dram) over the years and still liked an excuse to dress up. The parties were, I hasten to add, quite innocuous. The dressing up was just dressing up, Vicars and Tarts, Tramps, Pirates, etc.

The party in question was themed as Hollywood Heroes. My wife went to the costume shop in the next town and came back with something from ‘X Men’ and the Darryl Hannah character from ‘Kill Bill’ for herself. All yellow jumpsuit, boots, wig, but most striking of all, the eye patch.

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.

An Optical Gift

An Optical Gift

This story is purely fictional, any characters names, situations, events and problems described are purely coincidental.

by Bobby

I fell in love for the first time when I was 5. Really! It was in the kindergarten. I started kindergarten that year as my mom thought I needed to get used to a group of children before I would start elementary school. And .. I fell in  love with a girl the very first day. I still remember her name: Martina. She was cute. Tiny girl with red hair and small glasses on her nose. We played together.

Later in the first grade of my elementary school I fell in love again. I do not remember the name of the girl, but I remember her auburn pig tails, little nose and her glasses. She wore those glasses children used to wear in the mid sixties. Rather cat eyes, brownish. She wore a grey plastic patch over her right eye. I did not know why, but I liked that. I never spoke to her. I just looked. It took one year. Ten her family moved and I have not seen her since that last day.

The Cane

(Note: this story is based on a concept and a short story written by a woman known as ParaGirl. I have adapted the subject matter, and added a few frills. Cathy, this is in your honor and with thanks!)

by Amy Casseaux

The whole thing began with a big shot of irony, in that I saw it by accident. I was driving along through a neighbourhood and I passed by a garage sale when I saw someone handling a white cane - the kind that blind people use.
I circled the block, trying not get excited. When I came back around the cane was leaning, fully extended, against a table. I parked by the yard sign that said ESTATE SALE and got out, pretended to look at other items first before coming to the table which not only had the cane, but a couple of Braille books and a talking watch. Then I saw the label maker. Yes, it was Braille, too! I'd hit the mother lode!