The One Who Cared

This was one of those days when I wished I hadn't gotten out of bed, though I had to get up to run some errands I knew had to get done. My name is Mike, and yes, I am in a wheelchair. To some, it's nothing, but to others, it's a way to get their jollies and make jokes at someone else's expense.

My first stop was the laundromat. I went in, and just about everyone inside stared at me. I wanted to shout to them to stop, but thought it best to keep to myself, so I did. I went up to the counter to let the lady running the place know that I was there, and was met with only her stares, so I just went on my way to do my wash.

After leaving, I was just so irate, that I decided to skip the rest of my errands and just go to the park. I thought maybe going there would be a little better, but boy would I be wrong. At least at first, I'd be met with one of the cruelest events that anyone could have done to them.

As I was approaching a bench to sit on, I was about to do a wheelchair transfer from my wheelchair to the bench, when a group of rowdy teens came up behind me. At first they began to hoot and snicker at me, to which I was able to ignore, but then they began the real trouble.

One of the teens came up behind me, knocking me out of my wheelchair by tipping it forward, luckily I was able to catch myself before my face met the sidewalk. I looked up to see the teens pointing and laughing, I went to push my chair into them, but they only blocked my attempts.

After a few minutes, the teens finally got bored with me and left. I climbed back into my chair, just sitting there with my face buried into my hands. As I looked up, I noticed I wasn't on the sidewalk, but on a fleshy surface.

I looked around to see what looked like fingers towering over me; I was in a giant hand. I turned to look behind me, where I was met with a face that completely filled my vision, two warm, yet enormous brown eyes looked at me, though I had to turn my head to see both.

I lowered my head, though more in sadness than in fear that this giant would harm me. The next thing I felt was something touching my back, I looked up, only to see that the giant was rubbing my back with one of his immense fingers, trying to comfort me.

"Who are you?" I asked.

I expected to hear a booming response, but was surprised, when in a soft whisper, I heard the giant reply, "I am merely a friend."

Whatever fear I had now, had quickly vanished. I suddenly felt an up and down motion; the giant was now walking. I looked down to find that I was at least 350 feet off the ground, making this giant at least 400 feet tall.

The giant caused a great quake with each thunderous step he took, leaving crater-like footprints in the earth below. After a few minutes of walking, the giant had brought me to a beautiful valley, with the greenest grass and the purest, clearest water I had ever seen.

The giant then slowly sat down, then as if he knew I had been in a wheelchair all my life, he carefully sloped his hand into a ramp like shape, allowing me to safely roll my wheelchair off his palm to the ground before him.

I turned to look up at this giant, what a sight he was. He had short brown hair that was cut close to the scalp, and a neatly trimmed beard. He looked down at me, with only a kind, gentle smile that instantly made me feel that I knew I was with a friend, I would soon learn, that while this giant was indeed my friend; he would show me that he had a protective side, a protective side unlike any I had ever seen before.

As I sat at the feet of my giant friend, I heard voices coming up behind me. I stayed close to the giant, who looked down at me and smiled; then as the voices got closer, he lowered his hand and instructed me in a gentle voice to roll in.

I rolled my chair onto his hand and he slowly brought me up to safety. As I looked downward, I saw the same teens who had caused trouble with me just moments ago, they were looking for me again. I looked up to the giant, who looked down at me reassuringly.

"They cannot harm you as long as I am here." the giant whispered.

As I watched the giant, he seemed to be watching the teens, who were still looking for me. They saw the giant looking down at them, but didn't seem phased by his presence.

"Bring that twerp down here so we can beat him up!," one of the teens shouted.

"You will do nothing of the kind," the giant replied, his voice more like a rumble now.

Then as I watched the giant, he pointed a finger at them, then before my very eyes, the teens simply vanished into thin air.

"Where did they go?" I asked.

The giant replied softly, "They have been sent back in time to before they came to the park, their train of thought has also been changed so they will not harm anyone ever again."

The giant then began lowering me to the ground. As I rolled off and turned around, the giant was on one knee, smiling at me.

"It is time for me to go, little one." the giant whispered.

"Why? what have I done wrong?" I asked.

"You have done nothing wrong little one, I must be off to help those who are in need." the giant said softly. "You will no longer be troubled by those who are prejudiced against you, for they will see you as they should."

With that, the giant disappeared. The giant was also right about what was to come; no one gave me trouble after his visit, it was as if the giant himself had changed my life. People were nicer to me, no one laughed at me or stared, even the teens who had given me trouble before had changed their ways, all because of one very large, very special friend.

THE END--added 10/21/06