Here is another chapter. I have been working on other projects for a while and letting ideas percolate through my mind. This week, I felt like working on this one. So, here it is.


Chapter 12

I blinked my eyes as I woke up, this time enjoying the sensation of waking up blind. My hands rubbed over my body as I lay in bed, enjoying the feel of the fabrics covering my body. The thought of trying to describe the way that I was feeling being blind and the heightened touch, smell and hearing for the readers of my story gave me a thrill and I was tempted to have another shower to relieve the build-up of stimulation. The idea of writing about what I was experiencing was just as thrilling as actually feeling it.

I slipped my hand down to the floor and felt around for the shoes that I had left beside the bed, slipped them on and felt my way along the wall to the living room and my computer. The headset and mic were where I had left them and it just took a touch of the keyboard to wake up my computer. A few voice commands set up a new file for the next chapter and I began to dictate the chapter. The words seemed to just flow, and I didn’t realize just how much time had passed until I started to feel hungry and my throat felt a bit dry.

I was enjoying myself so much that I didn’t even consider taking out the contacts as I slowly walked to the kitchen to get something to eat and drink. The feelings of being lost in my apartment had disappeared, to be replaced by sensations that were kind of stimulating. The whole blind-date experience had become one that I was coming to really desire. After making a simple breakfast, I did my best to clean up the kitchen without being able to see what I was doing.

As much as I wanted to spend the day experiencing doing things while blind, I did have things that I wanted to do that required being able to see. But those things could wait for a while yet. First I had to brush my teeth and have a shower. I was getting better at walking around my apartment without being able to see. I used stationary objects to line myself up in the direction I wanted to go and held one hand in front as I walked. I had a picture in my mind of where I thought objects were and how I must look as I walked around my apartment.

The simple act of brushing my teeth took on a new meaning for me. I couldn’t see where the head of my toothbrush was, so I had to use my fingertips to guide the end of the toothpaste tube along the bristles. Then the action of brushing my teeth became a more sensual event. I’d never really paid that much attention to what I was doing when I brushed them before, but not being able to watch what I was brushing changed things. I never realized that seeing what I was doing while brushing mattered that much. It became an exploration of my mouth as the oscillations of the electric toothbrush began cleaning my teeth.

I brushed for a while, then used the tip of my tongue to check if there were any noticeable areas that I had missed. As I ran my tongue over my teeth, just how many imperfections there were became a bit more apparent. It could just have been that I was more aware of them because I couldn’t see, or it could be that I had never paid that much attention to them before. Either way, brushing my teeth would never be the same for me ever again. I spent more time brushing than I normally do, until I was satisfied that they were clean.

Finally, I slipped off my shoes and started the shower running, then found a clean bath towel by feel. I was about to slip out of my nighttime outfit, then the thought occurred to me to just wear it in the shower. I had worn it for a couple of days and it would be going into the laundry hamper, so getting it wet now wouldn’t matter. As soon as I felt the water cascade over me, I knew that it was a good decision. I also knew that all the shower would do was take the edge off, not completely satisfy me. That would only happen after I wrote another chapter for my story, one that would be just for myself, and maybe Robert, the name that I used for the character of my boyfriend in my story. It was the name that my boyfriend used when he was online in the chatroom.

The shower took longer than I had expected, and as expected, it didn't satisfy me completely. Slightly frustrated, I slipped out of my wet outfit and dried off, then located the supplies for my contacts and reluctantly removed them. They went into the cleaning solution, ready for the next time I needed them. It wasn't a question of if, but when I would put them in again.

The computer was asleep again, so I touched the keyboard, picked up my headset and began dictating the next chapter. The chapter was a dream sequence again and got very graphic very fast. I could feel myself blushing as I saw the words appearing on the screen, but that added to the excitement. The chapter flowed out fast and it was done in no time. Running it through the audio program to alter my voice went fast and then it was time to listen to it one last time. The urge to put my contacts in was strong, but I resisted, closing my eyes and putting my hands over them instead.

My hands were shaking as I sent a copy to my boyfriend's email account, adding that he should only listen when nobody else could hear it. As I sent it, my body began to shake and I had to lean against the back of the couch until my overstimulated body had the release that it so desperately needed. Finally, a smile crossed my face as my body was satisfied. Sending the email to my boyfriend and imagining his reaction had done what the shower hadn't been able to do.

I sat there until I felt able to move again. It was a shame that I hadn't worn my heels, but there was nothing that I could do about it. The bathroom needed to be cleaned up again and I hung my wet outfit over the towel rack to dry. As I finished cleaning up, I took a look at myself in the mirror. My hair had grown longer and the colour that I had added to it had faded a little and blended in with my natural colour. I made a mental note to pick up some more to do it again.

There were a few groceries that I needed to buy, so I dressed in clean soft clothes, just jeans and a T-shirt, and went out shopping. The place I typically went was a short distance, so I walked there. I was just about done shopping when my phone chirped with a text from ‘Robert’. When I opened it, I began to laugh when I saw “............pop…..pop…..pop” and a smiley face with crossed eyes. I knew what he meant.

My last stop in the store was near the hair care aisle and I saw that they had a sale on hair colour. My mental note from earlier popped into my mind and I decided that it would be a good time to pick up a new box. As I looked through the selection of colours trying to decide which one to get, an idea formed, and the more I looked at the colours, the more that I liked the idea. I picked out two boxes, one a couple of shades darker than my natural reddish hair, the second a copperish red a little lighter than my hair. The combination of the two would look nice if I just used them to add small streaks.

I spent the afternoon in my kitchen with a roll of tinfoil and the boxes of hair colour, dyeing small strands of hair. After I was finished drying my hair for the last time, I looked at it and couldn't see any difference as I ran the brush through it. Then I put it in a ponytail and hints of the added colour began to show through a little. Encouraged, I decided to braid it and that is when the true effect came through. As the last little bit of hair was put in place and I turned my head to tie off the end, the full extent of my efforts began to show. As the angle of the light changed, different shades were revealed.

I looked at my t-shirt and laughed. With all the water that had been sprayed on it while I had washed the dye out, it was plastered to my chest and it looked as if I had been involved in a paintball fight, with little patches of red dye all over it. I ran my hands over my chest before I pulled the shirt over my head, intending to throw it in the trash, then tossed it in the sink instead.

My stomach began to make noises, letting me know that it had been too long since I put food in it, so I put together a meal, still wearing just my bra and jeans. As I waited for it to finish cooking, I sat down at the computer and checked the chat room. My newest chapters had been read and listened to and the comments had been steadily coming in. Both of my boyfriend's accounts had sent me private messages complimenting me.

Robert had added a message that he hoped that I wouldn't be mad at him for sharing the private chapter with a friend of his. He went on to explain that she was someone that he had known for a long time and that he trusted her to not spread it around. She had really enjoyed it and had asked where he got it. He wanted to know if he could give her the name that I used in the chat room.

My body began to tingle at the thought of someone I didn't know listening to what I had recorded and enjoying it.

Reading A Story - 14

The morning of my 'date' with Robert, I was awake early. It wasn't deliberate, but I was too excited to sleep longer, so I got up and had a shower. I had plenty of time to get ready, so I shaved my legs, and other parts as well. The feel of the water cascading over my freshly shaved skin had a rather pleasant effect and I took the time to enjoy it and relieve a little bit of tension.

HotWheels and I had been chatting the night before and she had made a few suggestions about what I should wear. Rather than sheer stockings, she had suggested I wear heavier opaque thigh-length stockings with a pair of block-heeled, open-toed shoes that laced over my feet and had a bit of a platform. She had seen them in one of my pictures and said she liked the look of them, and that she had a pair similar to them that she found comfortable when she was walking with her legbraces.

The rest of my outfit consisted of a below-the-knee length jean skirt and a button-front blouse that I could leave partially unbuttoned to show some cleavage if I wanted to. I chose lingerie that was perhaps a bit sexier than necessary, but fit my mood very well.

Robert arrived in time for breakfast, just like I asked him to, and I had the table ready when he did. When he saw how I was dressed and what I had made, he took me in his arms and kissed me the way that I like. It was a good thing that most of it was in the oven staying warm, because it would have gotten cold by the time that the kiss ended.

After we finished eating and cleaning up after the meal, I went to brush my teeth, and he joined me in the bathroom to do his at the same time. It was a fun thing to do together, even though he seemed to spend quite a bit of time watching me brush. Because I was feeling playful, I made more of a production of it, exposing my teeth quite a bit and checking to make sure that no food was left stuck between my teeth.

It turned out that HotWheels was our first passenger of the day. When we arrived, she was waiting for us on her porch, with what looked like a downhill-ski bag and a second wheelchair. As we pulled up, she rolled down the ramp and waited as 'Chuckee' lowered the lift for her so that she could get into the van. After strapping her chair into place, which meant that his head was near her face, he brought the bag and the spare chair to the van and secured them as well.

When I asked what she had said to him while he was securing her chair, she said that it was private. She had a big smile on her face, and I saw that she had retainers running across her beautifully straight teeth. When she saw me looking, she explained that her lower jaw had been broken in the accident and that they had put braces on her so that they could wire her jaws together while the bones healed.

When they were satisfied that her jaws had healed enough to remove them, the orthodontist had asked if she wanted to have her bite fixed and have a 'Hollywood smile' or just have them removed. The insurance would cover the cost because it was considered as part of the damage from the accident.

After scrolling through her phone a bit, she sent me a file over the blue-tooth connection with pictures of what her braces had looked like after the accident. Her face had been bruised for a while, and the braces had been quite heavy-duty metal brackets with hooks on all of them. She had worn a pink splint with a hole for a feeding tube and the wires holding her jaws together had looked as if she had metal fishing-line zigzagging across the front of her mouth.

When I commented that she must have kept them on and had her teeth fixed, she smiled and said, "By the time that they took off the wires for the last time, I was ready to get rid of them, but Chuckee convinced me that I should wait a little longer and take the time to think about it. If I left them on for a while, they would act like a retainer, which I would have to wear all the time anyway, and if I decided to improve my smile, the braces would be there already. Besides, it wouldn't cost me anything with the insurance paying for it. The downside was that the insurance wouldn't pay for a less visible form of treatment with ceramic brackets or Invisalign. In the end, with quite a lot of encouragement from Chuckee, I did keep them on and get my teeth fixed. As you can see, it was well worth it. I still wear my retainers when I am not at work, and sometimes I wear them at work too if I am in the mood." She winked as she said the last bit.

Then she smiled at me and said, "It took me a long time to figure out where we met. It wasn't until you mentioned my legbraces and wheelchair that things started to fall into place. When Chuckee asked if you wanted to join him in the van, the final pieces fit together. I tend to notice what people are wearing on their feet, since I am close to that level, and I recognized the pair of shoes that you were wearing at the restaurant, in the pictures of your shoes that you sent me. That, combined with you writing stories, formed the complete picture."

"How would you like to spend part of your day with me while I am travelling around the hospital? I asked Chuckee what he thought, and he was thrilled with the idea. I would like to get to know you better, and being able to talk to you without the screen between us would be nice."

I looked at my boyfriend, and the smile on his face said that there was a little bit more going on than I was aware of. I was also curious about how he knew HotWheels and what their relationship was. Being with her for the day might be a good way to scope out the competition for my boyfriend, if that was what she was. It would be an interesting day, either way, so I accepted her invitation.

The first stop was at the physical therapist. She was still healing from her injuries, even though it had been several years since the accident, and she still saw the therapist a couple of times a month for a checkup. My boyfriend unloaded the wheelchair and the bag after lowering HotWheels with the wheelchair lift. I figured that I should make myself useful by pushing the spare wheelchair, but found that it was awkward to push it, with the back being so low.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught my boyfriend gesture to HotWheels and saw her nod. She said, "It would be easier if you were in the chair and just pushed it the same way that I do, using the wheels on the side. I always carry a spare pair of gloves with me, if you want to try it."

I hesitated for a moment, thinking about it. It was awkward bending over the way I was, and being in the chair to maneuver it made sense. Besides, how hard could it be, HotWheels did it all the time. I smiled and nodded.

She turned to Chuckee and said, "Can you get the gloves from the pocket on the side?" Then she turned her chair to face me and said, "The gloves are adjustable. Don't make them too tight, and having them fit snug is important to keep them from snagging on things." She took the gloves from my boyfriend and rolled up beside me as I sat in the spare wheelchair. "Let me show you how to adjust them."

With the gloves on, I made my first attempt at maneuvering the wheelchair, only to discover that it wasn't quite as easy as it looked. They both tried not to laugh as I spun in a slow circle. HotWheels said, "You have to balance the amount of pressure so that you roll in a straight line. Watch what I do."

I watched as she used one hand to roll in a straight line down the hall, then spin around and return. She used her whole body, treating the chair as if it was part of her. "I've had considerably more practice, but take your time and you will get the hang of it in no time."

I used both hands to get the chair moving, and she was right, by the time that we reached the therapy room, I was feeling comfortable in the chair, and while still not a professional, was able to maneuver easily. Even getting through doors was easy with most of them having power door buttons at a convenient height.

When we rolled into the therapy room, the therapist greeted us and asked, "Do I have a new patient today?"

HotWheels grinned and said, "This is my friend Irish Molly. She's spending the day with me, and we figured it would be easier if she just rode along rather than pushing the chair around." I grinned when she called me her friend. "You already know Chuckee. He's been here longer than I have."

After a bit of a chat about how she was doing, the therapy session began. Her flexibility was tested, both with and without her legbraces on. I understood why she wore jean shorts under her skirt when I saw her taking off and putting on her legbraces. I also got a good look at how the metal braces fastened to her legs. And I saw the scars around her left thigh. She noticed me looking, but didn't say anything.

The next part of her checkup involved checking her ability to walk. She rolled over to a set of parallel bars and pulled herself up between them. As she stood up, I heard the knee locks click into place, then watched as she lifted herself between the bars, swinging her legs forwards together until she reached the end of the bars. Returning, she moved from side to side, swinging one leg forwards, then doing the same with the other leg. The therapist had her unlock her knees and try it again, but her legs didn't have enough strength in them to support her for more than a step or two.

As she sat in her wheelchair again, I saw her grinning and the wires across her teeth sparkled in the overhead lights. "That's the first time that I have been able to walk that far with my knees unlocked. It's a good sign. My legs are getting stronger and my back is improving. I'll probably need the wheelchair for the rest of my life, but I won't be restricted to it."

While the therapist had been giving HotWheels her checkup, I hadn't just been sitting there, I'd been rolling around the wheelchair area, trying out a few of the challenges set up there. The ramps had been fun, though I had to be careful on the steeper ramps. I almost went out of control a few times as I was rolling back down. Opening doors had been a challenge, especially the doors that shut on their own. I got stuck partway through a couple of times, and Chuckee had to give me a hand getting out. It never occurred to me that all I had to do was stand up to fix the situation.

There were some things that I didn’t bother to try, such as the stairs and the curbs without the dips in them. Once HotWheels was done with her session, she joined me and showed me how to navigate a few of the more difficult obstacles. I watched as she went up the stairs backwards on two wheels and popped a wheelie as she went over the curb to floor level. I could see that she really treated the chair as part of her body.

Another person arrived for a therapy session, so we left, with Chuckee carrying the bag again. We had a little time before her next appointment, so we did a short tour of the hospital. We passed by the cafeteria, and the smells coming through the door brought back some good memories, and the same thing happened as we passed through the atrium with all the plants. I stopped briefly and closed my eyes to let the smell of the flowers waft over me as I smiled at the memories that being there brought back.

Chuckee had been looking at his phone off and on for a while, and he finally said that he had another patient to transport. I watched as he glanced at HotWheels and she nodded again. Something was going on that I wasn’t aware of. He turned to me and asked, "If it's alright with you, can I leave you with HotWheels for a while? I'll be back later to pick her up for the ride to her place."

She gave me a sparkly smile and said, "I would like the company, and you seem to be enjoying being in the chair. My next appointment isn't for a while yet and we can talk while I have to wait. We can have lunch after that."

I looked between them, then nodded my agreement.

Chuckee said, "I'll drop off the bag before I leave. It'll be waiting for you when you get there."

He went one way and we went the other, rolling through the halls and across overhead walkways between the buildings until we reached the building she had her appointment in. It turned out that she was having her legbraces adjusted and some new shoes modified to fit her braces.

What a wonderful chapter - I love the detailed description of the bracing experience.

Chapter 16

As we got closer to the atrium, I noticed that there were more people around, many of them with lunchbags. We hadn't been rushing and we had paused a few times to look out the windows at the views, sometimes of the water, other times of the mountains in the distance. I noticed that her legs tended to flop around a little without the braces holding them in place.

Before we arrived at the atrium, she stopped and lifted her left leg with her hands and crossed it over her right leg. When she saw me watching, she explained, "I haven't regained the same level of muscle control that you have. When I am wearing a skirt, it can be a bit embarrassing if I'm not careful. This way, I don't accidentally flash someone, though it can be fun when I am in the mood and dressed for it."

I began to do the same, except I didn't use my hands. She stopped me and said, "You're sitting in a wheelchair, do it the way that I did." I put my leg down, then copied the way that she had used her hands to lift her leg and place it over the other knee. It felt different to not use my leg muscles. The new position also altered the angle of how my body contacted the chair.

As we rolled through the atrium, I noticed that quite a few guys would glance at us and then look away, then look back at us. When we passed a reflective surface, I noticed why. With my legs crossed, I tended to lean forward a little more, and I was displaying a fair amount of cleavage. Everything was still covered, but I still had an enticing amount of chest showing. I also noticed that some of the inside of my right leg was a bit more visible above the knee than before.

By the time that we reached the cafeteria, I had discovered another effect from the altered body position. My hips were tilted forward more, and that, combined with my thighs pressing together, was producing a rather pleasant sensation between my legs. When HotWheels saw me blushing, she grinned. She had deliberately set me up again.

The cafeteria was divided into two sections, the larger section having a self-serve buffet-style counter, and a separate section that food could be ordered at the cash register and it would be brought to the table when it was ready. After ordering, I followed her through the tables until she found a table she liked. It had chairs on two sides, leaving space for us to roll our chairs underneath. She had me take the side facing the main part of the restaurant and the entrance door where my crossed legs would be visible.

While we waited for our food, we started talking. She could see that I had some things that I wanted to ask, but hadn’t been able to. Finally she said, "I'm going to tell you a bit of a story that will explain quite a lot. The less you interrupt, the easier it will be to understand what has happened. Make notes of any questions you have and I will do my best to answer them later."

I had left my things in the van when we had arrived because I didn't know how to carry everything. She had paid for my meal after I had explained what had happened. She handed me a pad and pen for the notes.

"When I arrived at the hospital after my accident, they kept me heavily sedated while they operated on me. When I woke up, my jaws were wired shut and my legs were in braces. They couldn't put casts on because of the pins and the swelling. I was paralyzed from just below my shoulders to my feet. I spent my first week flat on my back, heavily sedated to control the pain, staring at the ceiling. Every time that I needed an MRI, CT scan, or some other test done, I had to be moved around the hospital in my bed. The hospital has a coded paging system that they use to direct staff and volunteers to where they are needed. One of those is for 'Charles' to go to a room to move a patient. All the males that move patients around are called 'Charles'. The females are called 'Charlotte'."

"It is a system that works better than everybody having phones and pagers. Your boyfriend was one of the volunteers who took care of me. We spent a lot of time talking and we found that we had some things in common. I had lots of time and nothing to do, so he brought an old laptop and Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and hooked it up to the tv so that I could do more than watch tv all the time. He downloaded a couple of books for me, and all I had to do was scroll the ball on the mouse to read."

"One day I commented that I liked to read an unusual type of story, and that I couldn't find many books that fit into that category. My jaws were wired shut and I couldn't talk yet at that point, so he would hold the keyboard for me and I would type. When he saw what I wanted, he grinned and said that he would do what he could to help me. A few days later, he logged me onto a chat room with the nickname "HotWheels". Part of the chat room had stories for me to read."

After reading a few of the stories, I knew that he had made my days brighter and more bearable. I also noticed that one of the writers seemed to be writing stories that fit perfectly with what I was looking for. It took me quite a while to figure out that it was your boyfriend that was writing them. What finally exposed him was that too many of the things in the stories were just too similar to what I had said I was looking for, and some of them could only have been written by him because of what I had said."

"When I was having a bad night, I would lay there and think about the stories and what I would like to see in them. When he came in the next time, I would have a list of things for him, and a few days later, they would start to appear in the stories. I didn't ask him if he was writing them and let him keep his anonymity. I did leave very appreciative comments in the chat room, which I know he read. That is how I met your boyfriend."

"I spent a lot of time just laying in bed. My legs were both in braces and I had pins holding the bones in my left leg in place. My legs were swollen for quite a while, and they weren't a pretty sight, yet he never avoided looking at them, nor did he stare. He always treated me with respect, even when I was mean to him. And when I wasn't feeling good, that was quite often. Some of the other volunteers asked to not be assigned to me, so he became my assigned volunteer."

"Some of the stories he wrote had a dark side to them, and I started to call him 'Chuckee' when I was in a bad mood. The nickname spread around the hospital and they started paging 'Chuckee' when I needed to be moved. We both got a reputation from that."

"As my injuries healed and I was able to move around a little, he started to take me to different places around the hospital. He was also taking some training courses to expand his volunteer skills, so he included me in some of his training as a 'test dummy'. I got to see so much more of the hospital than most people ever do. And I got to see him experience some unusual things. I'm not going to tell you what they were, so don't ask."

I crossed out a couple of questions while she took a sip of her drink.

"My mobility slowly returned until I was able to move my toes again. I had the pins in my leg for a long time as they tried to lengthen it to match my good one. I had what is called an 'Ilizarov splint'. What it does is hold the ends of the bone just slightly apart as they regrow and fill in the gap. That is what the scars on my leg are from. I have a scar on my back from where they removed the bone chips from my spine. That one I have tattooed with a zipper. It only shows when I wear a bikini. And before you ask, I am not getting tattoos on my leg."

Our food had arrived, so we had been eating. Before she started, she had taken her retainers out and placed them on a napkin in front of her. She left them exposed where I could see them. They had wires that wrapped around the back of her teeth, along with a couple of wires that fit over her canines to support the retainer wires near the front. I also noticed that the wires had little bends in them that matched the contours of her teeth. They had an elegant look to them.

After our meal was finished, she continued her story.

"My first legbraces were assembled from parts off the shelf and didn't fit me properly, but they did what they were supposed to, which was keep my legs immobilized. It started above my waist and kept everything below that from moving. Once my back healed enough to be able to get around in a wheelchair, Chuckee included me in as much of his training as was safe for me. I had a lot of fun and learned a lot. By that time, he was driving one of the hospital vans and I got to ride along sometimes."

"When I was finally released from the hospital, I had a set of legbraces custom-made to fit me. I wasn't able to walk and they didn't know if I ever would, but I could get around in the wheelchair, as long as I took it easy."

"As my body got stronger and I was able to stand for short amounts of time, I got new legbraces and more comfortable wheelchairs. Before you ask, Mr. Shoemacher has built all my legbraces for me. That isn't actually his name, but that is what everyone in the hospital calls him."

HotWheels looked at her phone to check the time, then said, "How would you like to see another part of the hospital? We have plenty of time before Mr. Shoemacher will be ready for us. I need to brush my teeth before I put my retainers back in, and I have an extra toothbrush if you want to brush too. It's a habit I developed when I had my braces."

When I nodded, she led me to the washroom where we could clean our teeth. The counter was split into two levels, one of which was at a convenient height for us to roll the chairs under. I watched as she brushed her teeth, and after brushing her retainers as well, inserted them into her mouth again. She smiled at me and I saw up close just how well they fit against her teeth. “Okay, Miss Molly, ready for another adventure?"

When I nodded, she took off down the hall, leaving me to catch up. She never got far enough ahead of me to lose me, but never let me catch up to her. Eventually, she stopped outside a set of glass doors. When I rolled up next to her, she pushed the button and the doors opened for us. We rolled into a waiting room and she went up to the reception desk. The waiting room was empty except for us. After a brief conversation, HotWheels rolled over and said, "We're in luck, they can see me in a few minutes."

Excellent story!!! Lots of different things involved in this story. I like it very much! Thanks!

I, though, would never have the courage to hang out with people from the forum.

Yeah man, those guys are definitely a bunch of weirdos.

Chapter 18

HotWheels looked at the clock and said, "We have to get going. Mr. Shoemacher should be ready for us."

This time, when she raced ahead of me, I stopped and waited until she turned around, then lifted my leg and placed it over my knee again. Then I slowly pushed the wheelchair toward her, slowly rocking in my seat. She knew what I was doing and grinned at me, then waited until I caught up to her. By the time that we got back to Mr. Shoemacher, I had stopped once until my legs stopped shaking and I felt able to continue rolling.

He was waiting for us when we arrived, with the remains of his lunch on the table behind him. "Which of you ladies would like to go first?"

HotWheels looked at me, grinned and said, "I think Miss Molly should be first, and I think that she needs your help with putting them on."

I blushed a little as I shifted myself onto the bench after uncrossing my legs and waited for him to bring my legbraces over. He set them beside my legs, then lifted my foot and removed the shoe that I was wearing. As he placed my leg inside the legbraces, I pulled my skirt up so that my upper thigh was exposed and the material of my skirt was out of the way of the thigh band straps.

It felt different this time as he fastened the brace to my leg. This time it was supporting my leg in all the correct places and felt comfortably snug. He moved to the other side and did the same thing, removing my shoe and lifting my leg into the legbrace after waiting for me to adjust my skirt. Rather than pull my skirt down on the other side, I just pulled it up, leaving the extra material laying between my legs.

As he worked, he explained what he had done. When he had adjusted the struts for the ankle joints, he had replaced them with the same style of locking mechanism that HotWheels had on hers and the shoes that had been altered to fit her braces would fit on mine as well.

When he picked me up so that I could stand, I held onto him a little longer and gave him a hug, pressing my body against his. He was a little surprised by my actions and blushed a little as I let go. I held onto his shoulder until HotWheels brought the crutches over to me and I was able to use them to balance myself. After he did a check of my braces to verify that they fit properly, I said that I would stand for a while and that he should check HotWheels braces too.

She unfastened her skirt, then slid into the bench, slipping out of her skirt, leaving her in her shorts. She waited as he slipped her feet into her new heels and buckled them around her ankles. When he finished fastening the straps holding the braces to be legs, she used her hands to swing her legs off the bench and grasped her crutches. I watched as she leant forward and stood up, propping herself up on the crutches.

As soon as she was stable on her feet, he checked the fit of the knee and thigh bands and asked her how they felt. Before she answered, she crutched over to the full-length mirror. I noticed that her left foot lifted off the floor slightly before her right, and that her left heel was slightly higher when she was standing. She crutched back to Mr. Shoemacher and gave him a hug just a bit longer than the one that I had given him, and pressed her body against him as well, before kissing him on the cheek. This time his blush was a bit more evident.

To cover his reaction, he said, "I billed the alterations made to your old braces as repairs and the insurance company paid for it." Then he turned to me and said, "I should make sure that the alterations to the ankle locks are working right. Do you think that you can sit down on your own or would you like me to give you a hand?"

I shifted around a little, trying to figure out how to sit down, but after a few wobbles, decided I wasn't ready to try that yet. I smiled at him and said, "If you don't mind, I would appreciate your help getting into my wheelchair."

As he bent over to lift me, I put my arm around his neck and pulled his face against my chest. He hesitated briefly before picking me up and placing me into my chair with my feet sticking out in front of me. I didn’t remove my arm from behind his neck until I had squirmed a little, getting myself comfortable in the chair.

He did his best to act professionally, but I saw that he had to discreetly adjust himself before he brought the other pair of shoes over. He unlaced my shoes and removed them from my feet, then disconnected the locks holding the metal plates beneath my feet. As he slipped the new shoes into place on my feet, sliding the supports into the ankle joints, I knew that there was no way that I could walk in them. They felt very comfortable, but there was no support on the sides of my feet. When he released the knee locks on my braces and placed my feet on the footpads, I also noticed that my left leg rested just slightly higher than my right.

I rolled over to the mirror and looked at myself, then pulled my skirt above my knees to get an idea of how they would look with a shorter skirt. When I spun around in my wheelchair, I found that he had moved behind the counter. While I rolled over to HotWheels, I watched as she bent forward until it looked as if she was about to fall over and undid the knee locks on her braces, then sat down on the bench. It looked a little awkward, and she misjudged the height of the bench just a little, but she ended up where she was aiming. Then she slid herself into her wheelchair and positioned her feet on the footrest.

Mr. Shoemacher had placed everything but the crutches that HotWheels was using back into the canvas bag. She rolled over to the counter and placed them on top for him to add to the bag. I didn't know how we would be able to take it with us, but that was solved by the arrival of my boyfriend.

As soon as he saw us sitting there, side by side, a big smile spread across his face. I held my arms out to him so that I could give him a hug, and when he bent over, I pulled his face to mine and kissed him instead. The kiss lasted longer than he expected and not as long as I wanted.