Challenge accepted! I used the girls from the story I am writing on a website I can't mention, but I think several people know it. I only spent an hour or two on this, and made it up as I went along, no outline or plan. It's basically just a first draft, but I hope it is enjoyed.
A Day Out
Hi there, I'm Leigh. Some of you might know me from the story I am writing about my life, but for those who don't, here goes. I have a thing for braces, orthopedic and orthodontics, along with casts, and so do my friends. In fact, I have voluntarily allowed my legs and spine to become weak through long-term immobilization, and I now wear HKAFOs and a Milwaukee brace. My friend Judy has done the same; she wanted to be like her sister Collene, who was crippled by polio. They wear KAFOs and Milwaukee braces. Also, our friend Rebekah wears HKAFOs and a back brace like mine, but only for the pleasure of it.
We also all wear orthodontic braces, good old-fashioned bands; we love how they look. All of us needed braces, but we also desired many extras unnecessary for treatment, and we all have quite a mouthful of appliances. I think currently we all have upper and lower expanders, tongue cribs, headgear, and splints to protect our teeth and jaws from the forces applied by our Milwaukee braces. We are all braced beauties, especially the young sisters Collene and Judy.
All of us girls live near each other. In fact, Rebekah and Judy live on what was once part of our property, and Collene is on the other side of the creek. This allows us to spend time together, and Judy has become like a daughter to my husband, Joel, and myself. Living nearby and also being physically handicapped, we often do things together to help each other out. With our husbands off on an ice fishing trip for a week, we are left to fend for ourselves. Today's simple mission is grocery shopping.
With Joel being in the bus repair business along with Rebekah's husband Paul, we have a very nice little paratrasnit bus we use for outings. Right now, Rebekah and I have large plaster casts on our left arms that also cover several fingers and our thumbs. We didn't break anything, but we are wearing them in support of Emme, who did break her wrist. Since we can't use our crutches, we are confined to our power wheelchairs.
Judy is staying with me, and Collene is with Rebekah while the guys are away. With our heavy plaster casts, we can't don and doff our orthopedic braces or our headgear. I hear the distinctive sound of Judy approaching my bedroom now—her heavy, braced footsteps and clicking of her crutches—and she gently knocks, and I ask her to enter.
Judy looks ravishing as usual in her brown leg and back braces, cute little Mary Jane shoes, blue knee-length skirt, and white blouse. Emerging from her slightly parted lips—parted by the splint she wears—is her facebow, which is connected to black high-pull headgear straps. She smiles, and her bands glisten in the early morning sunlight streaming through the window.
Judy approaches me in bed, removes the special braces from my legs and back that I sleep in, and helps me get into my HKAFO-Milwaukee brace. We all have many sets of orthopedic braces with leather and even metal in various colors. I chose to wear my favorite braces today, the ones with purple anodized metal and pink leather. Judy then helped me dress in an outfit similar to hers, but with high block heel boots on my leg braces since I won't be walking today; crippled girls can dress sexy, too, you know. I transfer to my power chair and wheel to the bathroom.
There, Judy helps me clean my teeth and all the appliances in my mouth. It's a challenge to keep my large, bulky expanders and tongue crib clean. However, I love all my appliances since they give me such a strong lisp. I then put my splint in my mouth, which snaps in place with small magnets, which causes me to lisp even more. Judy then carefully slips my facebows into my mouth.
Judy asked me which color interlandi straps I wanted to wear, and I said pink. She carefully places the headgear behind the occipital pads of my Milwaukee brace and attaches it to my facebows with two elastics on each hook. I wheel out of the bathroom and quickly do my hair and makeup, and we are ready for the day.
We get on the small paratransit bus to head down to pick up Rebekah and Collene. The bus even has hand controls, so Judy can easily drive it. Rebekah and Collene are waiting on the porch for us when we arrive. The ladies are dressed nicely, and Rebekah is in her power wheelchair wearing her double-faced interlandi headgear like mine. Collene is just wearing a single facebow with a cervical strap. When they greeted us, the sun reflected off their bands, making their smiles sparkle. The girls got on the bus, and we were on our way to grab a bite to eat.
We live in the country, so it is about a thirty-minute drive to town. Riding into town on the bus is always fun, with much animated conversation. It's great that we can all ride together, especially when some of us can't drive due to being immobilized or when several of us are in wheelchairs. On this trip, we talked about the casts that Rebekah and I are wearing and also about something Judy desires to try—she wants to have her jaw wired shut around a surgical splint just to see what it is like.
Well, we just arrived at the Egg Basket, one of our favorite places for breakfast. Judy and Collene got Rebekah and me in our wheelchairs off the bus—it's amazing what those girls can do while wearing their back and leg braces—and headed inside to eat. Once we got a table, we discreetly removed our orthodontic splints and set them aside. We usually don't remove our headgear to eat since we have all had it wired in at some point and are used to carefully eating with our facebows in place. Of course, we get a lot of funny looks and stares from other patrons, being as heavily braced as we are and all speaking with heavy lisps.
Just before we finished eating, a young family passed our table, and the little boy said, "Look at those ladies; they all have cages on their bodies and are wearing metal muzzles." The mother said, "Quite, Ashton, that's not nice. Those ladies are wearing medical braces, not cages and muzzles." We all looked their way and smiled—our very metallic smiles—and both parents turned red with embarrassment. We are used to comments from children, and it doesn't bother us.
With our meal complete, we took turns going to the bathroom to quickly brush our teeth before returning our splints to our mouths. Then, we got back on the bus and headed to the shopping center to get groceries for the week. Once we got there and got off the bus, we split into two groups. Rebekah and Collene would go to Trader Joes while Judy and I would visit Whole Foods; it's so convenient that they are in the same shopping center.
Judy used one of the motorized shopping carts, and we got to the task at hand. We quickly filled the basket with all the items on our list for all the great meals we have planned for the week. Once at the checkout stand, Judy realized we had forgotten cornflakes for the baked chicken dish that Collene wanted to make. I quickly wheeled to the cereal aisle but found the cornflakes to be on the top shelf. I was just getting ready to go find help when a man about my age came around the corner.
He was an average-looking man, dressed in business attire and carrying a shopping basket. There was nothing remarkable about the man except that he was wearing blue reverse pull headgear, the kind with two metal bars to the side and a strap around his head. Seeing me looking up at the boxes that I could not reach, he said with a lisp and hardly moving his jaw, "Can I help you, miss?" As he spoke, I could see several elastics between his upper and lower arches and the bands on his teeth. I replied, "Oh, yes, please. Can you reach that box of cornflakes, 365 brand?" He reached up and handed me the box, which I grasped with my uncasted arm and placed between my cast and braced body.
I thanked the stranger, and he asked, "Patient of Dr. Joe's?"
"Why, yes, I am. He does great work, doesn't he?" I cheerfully replied.
"Yes, he does. He might be a little old-fashioned, but my wife and I have had no pain at all with our braces. In fact, her braces are like yours, with two facebows and bands, just like when we met in college. When I saw her once again in braces and headgear, I fell in love with her all over again. She, like you, wears them well." The man said with a metallic smile.
"My friends and I all love his work and are very happy with our treatment and new smiles. Thank you once again for assisting me, and good luck to you and your wife on your orthodontic journey." I looked up at him and smiled with my mouth slightly agape. I'm sure he could see my tongue crib, splint, and expanders.
"It was nice to meet you, miss. Maybe my wife and I will run into you again. She would probably like to chat with you about orthodontics. Not too many people our age have braces, let alone complicated treatments like the ones we are undergoing." The man said before he walked away.
I quickly made my way back to Judy at the checkout, just as the last item was being scanned. I handed the clerk the box of cereal, and Judy paid the bill. A young bagboy, who couldn't take his eyes off Judy until he noticed her wedding band, carried our groceries out to the bus where Collene and Rebekah were waiting for us. Judy used the lift and got me and my wheelchair on board, then she took her place in the driver's seat, and we were on our way home.
The ride home on the bus was full of laughter and conversation, just like when we went into town. Once home, it took Rebekah and me several trips to carry in the groceries, one sack at a time, in our power wheelchairs. Collene made a pot of tea, Judy built a fire, and we just sat around and talked for the rest of the afternoon until it was time to make dinner.
Just an average day out for several heavily braced ladies.
