Page 5 of Texas Daze (Texas Montgomery Mavericks)

“Yeah, aren’t you tiredofthat?”

Joe’s head jerked. “You calling me acripple?”

Eli shrugged nonchalantly. “Hey, apparently that’s whatyouwant.”

“If I could get out of this chair, I’d kickyourass.”

Eli leaned close. “Oh yeah? Then get out of that chair anddoit.”

“You’re a bastard, Dr. Boone.” Joe swung his arm across the stumps that used to be his legs. “How the hell do you proposed I do that, asshole? Walk on mystumps?”

“No, I propose you learn to walk on artificial legs, unless you like riding around in a chair the rest of your life, and given that you’re sixteen, you’ve got a long life ahead.” He gave Joe a pass on the cussing. Hell, truth to tell, he’d probably be as angry as this kid. Life suckedsometimes.

The teen scoffed. “Right. Like any girl is going to date a guy withfakelegs.”

This time, Eli scoffed. “Give me a break. I guess you haven’t noticed that we’ve been fighting a war for over a decade. Many of our brave men and women who once would have died due to injuries now make it home missing a leg or arm or more. They have found love and families and great lives. In fact, I read a story just the other day about a double amputee being sworn in as a new deputy with the Whispering Springs Sheriff’s Department. So, if all these other folks have learned to walk, run, have families, how are you so special that you can’t too? Or do you enjoy being… what was it you said?” He snapped his fingers. “Oh yeah. A patheticcripple.”

Joe’s face reddened in anger. “Fuck you.” He grabbed the wheels of his chair to roll away but Eli grabbed the chair’s handle to stop the teen fromleaving.

“Let me help you. I can. Before I came here, I did years of work withamputees.”

The teen’s whole body sagged. “You don’tunderstand.”

“Tryme.”

For a minute, the kid said nothing, just stared at the floor. Then he met Eli’s eyes. “I was somebody. All the guys envied me. I could date any girl I wanted. There wasn’t anything I couldn’t do.” He shook his head. “Now, I can’t even stand up to takeapiss.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” Eli pulled a rolling stool over and sat. He hated when people stood over him to talk. It always made him feel diminished somehow, which was why he always sat in treatment rooms when he interacted with patients. “You can stand and piss if you want. You can walk, if you want. In fact, you can run again. But all that is uptoyou.”

“I hate thosefakelegs.”

Eli nodded. “Yeah, I’m glad we’ve gotten past the wooden peglegtoo.”

Joe looked at him, and for the first time, laughed. “You’recrazy.”

Eli grinned. “Seriously, the new legs we have today are incredible. Of course you’ll have to learn how to walk on new legs, but you’re young and healthy. Your muscle tone is still excellent. How about this? When’s your next physical therapyappointment?”

“Wednesday.”

“How about I let you talk to some of the war vets who live here and have faced exactly what you’re facing? They can tell you the real truth instead of getting all your information from a two-legger.” He pointed to his own legs. When Joe hesitated, Eli added, “Do this for me. If you decide to stay on wheels instead of prosthetics after you talk to some fellow amputees, I won’t bug you about it again. Yourdecision.”

The teen was too young to spend the next sixty years in a chair, especially since there was no need. Eli knew some very persuasive vets. If he couldn’t get Joe up, then those vetscould.

When Eli got up to the third floor the following Wednesday, Joe was surrounded by five amputees. Four of them were vets. One of the guys had lost a leg in a motorcycle accident. Eli had asked him to come because he figured Joe would identify with theaccident.

But it wasn’t just Joe caught up in the men’s conversation. Many of the other physical therapy patients listened as they worked out replaced knees or rehabbed from some other surgery. The unit was loud, laughter mixed with groans andgrunts.

Joe’s face was a combination of awe, fear and maybe, for the first time, hope. The motorcycle rider had his wallet out showing pictures of his new baby. Not to be outdone, a couple of vets were waving and bragging about theirchildren.

Yes, this was what Joe needed to see. Normalcy. Men having great lives, great wives, children, jobs and hobbies. He needed to understand that life went on, with or without his legs and it was up to him to grab on and ride it like the badasses standingaroundhim.

One of the vets announced he was late and had to get home before his wife hid his leg as punishment. Joe looked stunned. The other guys cracked up. Then comprehension dawned on Joe’s face and helaughed.

While they were saying their goodbyes, Eli checked with the head of the physical therapy unit to see there was anything that needed his attention. There wasn’t and this was why his buddy had hired Sandra Boggs. She ran the unit with militaryprecision.

Joe was still smiling when Eli rolled thestoolover.

“What’d you think?” Eliasked

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