Page 38 of Saving Veronica
“It is. I called Norm when I went to get the truck at the hospital. He said to stop by. I’m going to get out and get your chair for you.” He exited the truck, and in minutes was opening the back door to the truck.
Slowly, but steadily, Ronnie inched her way to the door and Gerald picked her up and put her in the wheelchair. Maggie walked by their side while Gerald pushed her. They looked up when they heard a dog growl. Gerald stopped, but Ronnie studied the huge dog, and held out her left hand.
“Aren’t you a pretty lady?” she asked in a soothing voice, and was surprised when the dog looked back over her shoulder, and she received a nod from a man behind her. Ronnie saw at least thirty men standing there. The dog came over to her and sniffed her hand, then her tail wagged so hard her whole body wiggled. Ronnie laughed as she rubbed the black and tan German Shepherd. “I saw a boy as pretty as you a little while ago,” Ronnie said, and suddenly a man squatted down next to them.
“Do you know if he’s fixed? I’m asking, because Molly here has such unusual coloring, I want to breed her, but only to a black Shepherd. And they are pretty hard to come by.”
“I can look into it for you. I’m Ronnie by the way.” She held out her left hand and shook his.
“Norm. I heard you need a scooter to zip around a college campus.”
“I do,” Ronnie said, and saw Norm was trying not to look at her leg. “Go ahead, inspect my hardware.” She grinned when Norm’s cheeks turned pink.
“I don’t mean to stare, but when your grandfather showed us the pictures of your injuries, we couldn’t believe them.”
Ronnie called them over and told them all about her injuries and let them check them out. At one point, one of the men said, “I thought your grandfather said you didn’t like pink.” He pointed to her chest cast that showed through the large neck of the shirt she wore.
“I don’t, the Ortho doctor thought because I was female, I’d like pink. Wrong. Pink is just eww.”
Everyone laughed and then Norm walked away and gave a whistle. The men moved to each side while someone rode out of the shop on a two-tone-blue scooter.
“Grandpa, take me over there.” She pointed to the scooter and watched as Norm reached down with his left hand and flipped a switch, and grinned when the steering controls went forward. Norm hopped off and started going over the features. “The steering column moves, not the seat. All the controls are on the left side and there’s a special ledge on the right for your leg. It won’t slip off.”
“Can I get on it?”
“Sure, do you need any help?”
“I need to be able to do it myself,” Ronnie said, and studied the scooter. She told her grandfather where to put her wheelchair and then she removed the arm on the left side of the wheelchair. She looked up and grinned. “I know you’re supposed to mount a horse and bike from the left, but I don’t think I can swing my leg over or under, so I’m going to go in on the right, and swing my left.”
“Go ahead,” Norm said, and inched closer to catch her if she needed it. He noticed that Gerald and Stan did the same. It surprised them she didn’t have any problems. Once she was settled in, Norm went over the controls and how to lock her right leg in. They watched as she drove around the parking lot, and she grinned when she heard the beep for when she backed up.
“That is so cool,” she said, and went around the lot again.
“Nothing holds her back does it?” Stan asked Gerald, as they watched her zip around.
“Nope,” Gerald said with pride. He turned to Norm and said. “Ready to settle up the bill?”
“No bill,” Norm said, and took Gerald into his office, and told him why he didn’t want to charge Gerald.
“Bonnie’s death had nothing to do with you, Son,” Gerald said, after he heard the whole story. “I hate to speak ill of the dead and my daughter to boot, but Bonnie was messed up when she hooked up with Ronnie’s father. He convinced her they could do everything on their own. She gave birth to Ronnie at the age of sixteen. They couldn’t make it, but instead of coming home, where they had the help, he robbed a convenience store and went to jail. When she had nowhere to turn, she came home. I was stationed in North Carolina at the time, and Maggie’s parents lived over in Elk Junction. Her father had a heart attack and her mother needed help. Maggie packed her and Bonnie up and came here. I was then sent to the Gulf War. Even on the other side of the country, and locked up, Ronald Parker had some type of hold over Bonnie. When he got out, she bundled up her and Ronnie, and went back to North Carolina. When Bonnie was here, she hooked up with some bad people, sorry,” he said, when he realized he was talking about Norm’s brother.
“Don’t be. We knew he was bad.”
“She hooked up with him when Parker was in jail. After he was released, she went back, taking Ronnie with her. They seemed to be making it when they hit hard times again and he went back to jail. She came back home, but he was in a fight in jail and ended up dying. When Bonnie found out, she hooked up with the bad crowd again, took up with the drugs, and ODed. You couldn’t have been much older than ten when all this happened.”
“I was ten when Jimmy died. I’ve always felt guilty that I wasn’t able to help him, so let me get rid of some of my guilt by letting me donate that scooter to Ronnie.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“Then, thank you,” Gerald said, and shook Norm’s hand. “I think we should get out there and see what type of damage Ronnie’s doing.” They stood and before they left the office, Gerald stopped.
“The day we found Ronnie at the bottom of that ravine, it was her twenty-sixth birthday. Maggie and I were planning a surprise BBQ for her. As you can guess, it didn’t happen. Labor Day is three weeks away. I’m going to throw her another party that Saturday. It will be a combo birthday and welcome home party. I’m inviting you and your buddies out there to attend.”
“Cool, I’ll throw it by them. You ever roast a whole pig?”
“No, I’ve only done brisket, pork shoulder, burgers, chops, and chicken.”
