Page 21 of Justice for Daesha

“You don’t have to do anything. I just want you to see and if it really, really turns you off, then we’ll know, I can leave, and we can chalk it up to being incompatible. How’s that?”

“It won’t turn me?”

“Amos.” He stopped. “Don’t say that. You just don’t… Okay. Here goes.” She stood, unbuckled her belt, and then unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans. When that was done, she pulled them down mid-thigh. She was wearing boy shorts style-panties and he thought they were adorable. As soon as she sat down, she slipped her shoes off, then worked her jeans down the rest of the way.

And there it was. And it was impressive. Amos had never seen a prosthetic limb like it. It looked positively bionic. “Wow. That’s quite a feat of technical engineering.”

“Yes. It is. And expensive too.”

“I bet. So does it have those nerve sensor things?”

She shook her head. “No. Those are electromyographic sensors, and they’re working on them for upper limbs now. They haven’t started working on the lower ones yet. Plus in order for one of those to work, I’d have to have reinnervation surgery, and I’m not sure I’m willing to do that for something that might not work that well. They already use me as a guinea pig for a lot of the beta testing, but having surgery to beta test something isn’t a thing I’m signing up for just yet.”

“Don’t blame you on that one at all,” Amos said, and he meant it. The idea of her having surgery for something that might not work, and knowing that going in, didn’t seem very smart.

“So, are you ready?” she asked, slipping her hands around the band above her mechanical knee.

Amos shrugged. So far everything was fine with him. “I guess so. Why not?”

“Well, okay.” He watched as she rolled down some kind of rubber sleeve. “This is a silicone socket. Once I get my stump settled in it, it kind of forms to my leg and it’s like it’s vacuum-sealed. I just… take this… right here… and it’s off.” With a little tug, the prosthetic came off in her hand. There was a little cloth cover under it, and she pulled that off too.

He wasn’t sure what he’d thought he’d see, but that wasn’t it. Her stump was just flesh, with an incision line in the bottom. The skin was kind of shiny, and that surprised him. “So why is it?”

“Shiny?” He nodded. “Because of the stress put on it and the way the skin was stretched.”

“Can you feel it?” He wanted to touch it, but not until she asked him if he wanted to. To him, that would be kind of like feeling up her tit without her permission. Just rude.

“Oh, yeah. Actually, I have phantom sensations. Sometimes I catch myself reaching down to scratch the prosthetic because my foot is itching. It’s weird.”

“Thatisweird, but I can see how that could be.”

“You can touch it if you want. People are curious about it.”

That was his invitation, and Amos reached over and cupped the end of her leg. It was smooth and warm, and there was nothing gross about it. It was hard too. “So there’s bone right under this?”

She nodded. “Yeah. They had to remove some of the bone so they could cover the end with skin. And it took a good while for it to heal. They didn’t start fitting my prosthetic until about six months after my surgery.”

That shocked him. He’d just assumed she got it right away. “Really? What did you use before?”

“Crutches. I hated them. I like the leg a lot better.”

“Does it have one of those blades for running?” Amos asked, fascinated by the whole thing.

“It can, but I don’t have one. I wasn’t a runner before, and I wasn’t interested in running afterward, so I didn’t need it. The kind of exercising I do is different. Mostly calisthenics and weight training.”

“Gotcha. I’m a runner?that’s why I asked.” She handed him the prosthetic and he sat and marveled at it. God, they were so different than when he was a kid! Back then they’d been just a basic plastic limb, sometimes with a jointed ankle.

“That thing was state of the art four years ago. Now they’re building me one with a microprocessor in the knee and ankle. It’ll be about sixty thousand.”

“Whaaaaa?” Amos was shocked. He knew they were expensive, but that was crazy. “Really?”

“Yeah. But it’ll be so much better. The toes will flex downward like a real foot, and the arch is flexible. It’ll take some getting used to, but I’m looking forward to it. Of course, I’ll have one of the prototypes. Honestly, they depend on me, on my training and my experiences, to help them fine-tune these. There are about five of us, amputees who’re also physical therapists, and we work closely with the prosthetics company. They know me well enough to know that I know what I’m talking about, and I know them well enough to make recommendations to them about what a particular client needs. It works out great. Sometimes the VA gets calls to send me to other locations so I can consult with other therapists on other amputees’ cases. I love that part. I’d like to help as many people as I can.”

It was all amazing to Amos?the prosthetic, her job, and the dedication she showed to making people’s lives better. God, if he could just close the case and get justice for her sister, he’d feel like he’d done something spectacular with his life. Somebody needed to pay back that brave woman for all the years of heartache and pain she’d had, and all the giving and sharing she’d done. A question drifted across his mind as he handed the prosthesis back to her. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“What was a defining moment in your life? A moment that made a difference for you?”

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