Life on Wheels

Chapter 8: Moving On

Chapter 8: Moving on

          With everything that has gone on over the last few months, I decide I want a day to relax. There’s a beach a little over an hour away, and I think that would be a perfect way to just relax. I may even go in the water. I ask Gina if we can go, but she says no. It’s too difficult to go most places because of all the wheelchairs. She compromises, and says we can go to the pool, as long as her helpers can come.

There are only two of us in wheelchairs, so it should be OK. Not only is Kaya a double amputee as well, she also has severe cerebral palsy that affects her speech greatly.

We both have recently received new prosthetics. I only use them in the water right now, but I’m thinking about trying to get back upright, because the chair is pretty limiting. We get the OK from Gina to go, and we are soon loaded into the van.

          25 minutes later, we finally pull into the pool parking lot. It’s not just a pool, it’s a whole fitness center with a weight room and nutrition classes and therapy pools and so much more. I roll out of the van with my prosthetic on my lap. I roll myself into the center behind everyone else. We go into the family change room. As we all start to change, families of young children stare. When I get my top on, I look for an open shower stall or something to change my bottoms.

Once everyone is ready, we make our way to the pool. I wheel towards the pool transfer chair. A lifeguard comes over to help.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” she asks innocently.

As I struggle to move my weight onto my prosthetics, I feel them give out under me. The lifeguard catches me just before I fall into the water. Gina and the lifeguard help to get me onto the chair. I attach my prosthetics and release the air. The lifeguard guides the chair into the water, and I push off. I do my best to stay in one spot while the rest of my foster family are helped into the water. By now, Matthew has already jumped in at the other end.

          Things seem to be going alright until another family comes in. There are twin boys about 10 and a taller girl, probably 12. I keep my eye on them the whole time. When they get into the pool, I make sure I know where they are. At one point, I see Kaya surrounded by the two boys. I decide to swim over to see what’s going on. Kaya is crying.

“What’s going on?” I ask.

“Nothing, this baby just can’t get a sentence out,” one boy explains.

“Well actually, Kaya has cerebral palsy. It affects her speech,” I explain gently.

“Wow, the pool let a crip baby into the pool and she’s not even being supervised?” the second boy questions.

Kaya grasps the edge of the pool.

The boys’ mother has noticed the commotion and is coming over.

“Is there a problem girls?” she asks.

Kaya doesn’t say anything. One of the boys starts to back away.

“Yeah, actually there is. I noticed my sister here talking to your boys- we saw you come in- and I came over to see what was going on. One of your sons, the one in the orange trunks, claimed nothing was wrong. He then proceeded to say ‘this baby just can’t get a sentence out,” and then I explained to him that Kaya has cerebral palsy and it affects her speech. Then your other son said ‘wow the pool let a crip baby into the pool and she’s not even being supervised,’ that’s when you came over.” I explain.

Kaya breaks into tears.

“Wow I am very sorry Kaya that my boys were so disrespectful.” She turns to call her other son back.

“Logan get back here!” she screams.

“Kyson I think you have something to say to this girl,” she urges, staring at the boy in orange trunks.

The other boy approaches us. Both boys utter mediocre apologies.

The woman then exchanges information with Gina. I decide I want to go home. I know Kaya doesn’t want to stay here after what just happened.

Gina reads our minds and collects Matthew and Alia. Kaya and I get out. The other girl, Olivia, is much more involved with her Cerebral Palsy. She’s only 3, so even if she could, she wouldn’t be able to swim yet.

Bryan likes staying out of the pool anyway, so he was happy to sit with Olivia. She watches us, but she doesn’t show much facial expression so sometimes it’s hard to tell how she’s feeling. Anyway, we head home.

I lay awake for hours that night. I share my room with Kaya and Alia. I turn towards Kaya’s bed.

“Psst…. K, you awake?” I whisper.

I hear movement from Alia’s bed. I turn my light on. Kaya wakes up too.

“Guys, I can’t sleep. All I can think about is what happened at the pool,” I say.

“You know, Melissa, we’re going to face that wherever we go. All we can do is explain to people that it’s wrong. We can’t change the world, but by changing one person at a time, we’re getting a whole lot closer,” Alia says.

“You know, I may only be 10, but things like that really stick with me. Other people just don’t understand. The thing at the pool actually happens a lot more frequently than people think. And I know there are just as many times where I don’t catch people staring or snickering or pointing or sharing rude comments. It hurts,” Kaya explains.