Chapter 63 - August 14, 2012

Hi Everybody.  I was reading my last blog with my friend here.  I was talking a little bit about fear.  But I gotta tell this story.  I forgot to tell you in the last blog.  This story took place around high school time.  I had a summer job renting out boats.  It was a good job, but it was full of physical and mental abuse. Heh.  It was a tough job but good.  Anyway, there was this one kid that used to hang around all the time.  A little pudgy kid.  He used to constantly ask me questions.  He would just hang out all day long.  I had no idea where he came from or where his parents were.  It was a bit annoying, but I felt bad for the kid and let him just stick around.  Well, it was really busy one weekend.  Full of people.  We had one definite rule:  No swimming from the boats.  The reason why we were so strict was people died like flies swimming from the boat.  Anyway, this group of young boys came in and they tried to collect their deposit.  They were soaking wet and so was their deposit receipt.  It was obvious they were swimming from the boat.  I told them, "Look, you forfeited your deposit when you swam from the boat."  Well the head of the group of guys didn't like what I was saying.  He tried to force his way into my shed mumbling something about his money.  Then he tried to grab me and tried to pry open the door.  So being the young idiot I was I grabbed an oar and crushed his hand.  This did nothing but break his hand.  There was a moment of silence.  He looked at me and he took out a knife and he said, "OK, now I'm going to cut you good."  And then he tried to stab me.  Well, I wasn't that nervous.  At least I didn't show any fear because I had my police radio in the shed.  All I had to do was click it three times and the police would come.  I reached down for the radio and there was no radio.  Just a note saying, "Your radio is in for service.  I'm sorry.  Have a nice day."  Well, I looked up and there was obviously fear written all over my face.  The guy saw the fear in my eyes and he went crazy trying to attack me.  Everyone, all the kids/gang, they tried to attack me.  I yelled to the little pudgy kid, "Run, get out of here. Get help."  Well, I never saw a little kid run so fast.  The kid was like an Olympic athlete.  He ran down the beach and got the police.  They arrived very quickly.  The gang scattered except for the leader who was still trying to stab me through the wire.  Hey, maybe this is where cage fighting started. I could put that on my resume.  I'm a cage fighter.  Anyway, I went off on a tangent there.  The police showed up and the gang leader started running down the beach.  I've never seen this before, but one of the cops got out of the car, took out his billy club and threw it at the kid sideways.  It took the kid out by the knees.  It just dropped him in a split second.  Well the other cop cuffed the guy, brought him back to my shed. One cop said, "OK, let's go." I said, "Where am I going?"  He said, "You're gonna have to make a statement."  I said, "I'm not going anywhere.  I gotta stay here."  The cop said, "You're not going to press charges?" I looked at the kid. He was a mess.  I figured, the guy's got punished enough, so I said, "Nah. I'm not going to press charges."  The point is, try not to show fear.  Hell, my surgeon even showed no fear when he was talking about my operations.  It was comforting to see him so confident as he talked about draining the fluid from my brain and spine.  Just an observation.

I'd like to talk a little bit about incentive.  You see, we have three family dogs all Jack Russell size.  One of my occupational therapy guidelines is to eat a saltine cracker off of a plate.  This is so I learn how to pick up my food with the right pressure and feed myself.  Well, the family dogs all sit around me like wolves and they look at me, watch me try to eat the cracker.  Talk about pressure.  Not only am I hungry, I'm trying to feed myself.  All they're doing is thinking, "I hope he drops it again."  Anyway, they're getting pretty fat.  I've been shaking a lot lately.  I've been going to the pool to combat my shaking.  It's really good therapy.  Feels great to be in the water.  They'll work on balance, walking, movement of your arms.  It's different but real good if you have a traumatic brain injury. I highly recommend it.

I'm gonna finish up by telling you about my photographic show.  It went real well.  I had great support from my friends and everyone in the town. It was a great turnout.  The gallery looked amazing.  I used to go there when I was a kid, and I'll tell you, they sure turned it around.  Good job, my friend the director who runs it.  She's done a great job cleaning it up.  Anyway, the show went real well, and my friend here who's typing this turned out to be my biggest fan, and I mean that literally.  She fanned me with a real fan. It was pretty hot and humid. I don't know if I mentioned this, but I hung the show at wheelchair eye level height.  It was a bit unusual, but I wanted to show people not only how I see things, but at which level I see things. Some of the people I go to therapy with at Helen Hayes, they showed up in their wheelchair.  I'm sure they will appreciate it and I'm sure anyone else in a wheelchair would enjoy this.  I hope you get to see the show.  The details are in a couple blogs back.  It's up until September 2nd.  Some friends of mine photographed it.  I'm under Brian D Nice on facebook.  Some photos are up on this wall.  I will also film it for those that couldn't make it.  But that will be later.  I hope you guys have a good week.  Talk to you next week.  Love, B. Nice