Love tale

My name is Sara, and this is my story. I was born in San Francisco, grew up there in the summer of love as a free spirit, flowers in my hair, loving life and meeting like minded people at free concerts in the park, not a care in the world. My parents were loving and supportive and steered me in life with their values. I had a lot of friends, mostly girls, occasionally boys, but nothing serious. I thought that those days would never end.

But then they did.

‘They ended with a bang. Specifically, a car crash. A drunk driver slammed into us, my dad and mom were in the front seat, and I was in the back, just looking at the beautiful old ladies as we went past. Ginger bread houses, Victorian, lovely. And then, a loud noise, screaming, pain, and then nothing, until I woke up in a hospital, with nurses and doctors hovering over me, Only I couldn’t see them, only heard and felt them as they probed, touched, cared for me. I couldn’t see anything, but I could smell things, antiseptic, Clean, hospital smells. Then I fell asleep again. Eventually I woke up and could stay awake, and I learnt what happened, and I learnt what was happening to me. My parents, my beautiful, loving parents, were dead, and I was blind and paralyzed, destined to live in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. Oh, there was a chance I would gain mobility again, with physical therapy, and lots of effort and luck. But my eyesight, not so much, maybe just luck. The doctors were sympathetic, and said it was possible to regain my sight, but not to expect too much. I was released into the care of my aunt, who loved me and I loved her. I worked and worked on my physical therapy, and slowly, very slowly, my body started to recover, but even though I could kind of walk, I used a walking stick to help with my balance. I could walk a little, but besides being wobbly and ungainly, after a short walk I was hurting, and exhausted. So any long distance or time away from the sanctuary of my aunts home, I retreated to the wheelchair. This was my life. Friends were sympathetic, but slowly they drifted away, and stopped calling or stopping by. I became very lonely. I was depressed, but I tried to keep a smile on my face and a sweet attitude when around other people. But I never met any people, they shied away from me. The cripple. They might catch what I had, they were uncomfortable around me.

my name is Michael, and this too is my story. I was born in Africa, and grew up in a small town, but spent all my free time in the bush, tracking, hunting, fishing. I loved it. The African bushveld was so raw, so beautiful, so dangerous if you didn’t know what to do. When I was 17, I enlisted in the military, to defend my country from terrorists who had declared war on the government and were trying to overthrow it and turn the country into a communist, Marxist government. Things were going great, we were keeping the terrorists at bay, until the helicopter I was riding in was shot down and crashed. I was one of the lucky ones who survived. Although it didn’t feel like I was lucky, I was injured enough that the military discharged me. My worst injury was my face. It was burnt all over my face, one ear was torn of and the remains melted into a blob. My eyebrows never grew back. I was a hideous monster. Kids on the street shied away from me, infants started crying when they saw me. I stayed inside most of the time.

The war ended, and the government forces lost. Most of us left the country, as I did. Most went to South Africa, but I knew it was just going to happen there too, one day, so instead I went to a distant relative who lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, and started a new life there. But except for no war happening in the states, I didn’t think it would be any different for me. People would shy away when I approached, kids would still be scared. And no woman would ever be interested in me. This is my life now.

One beautiful sunny day I went for a walk in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, wanting the open spaces away from the crowds. It was beautiful there with Bison roaming in a large pasture, and ponds with birds flying overhead. It seemed like I was far from a city, not in the middle of one. All of a sudden, I saw a woman stuck in a patch of mud just off the asphalt trail, and it was obvious she was in distress. I approached her, and asked if she needed assistance. She looked up at me, and besides noticing that she was incredibly beautiful, I noticed that she didn’t shy away in revulsion at my disfigured face. Her eyes were a vid blue, her hair golden blonde. Her lips were paper thin, and naturally pink, no lipstick, a natural woman. I started to stutter, “I’m Michael. I was walking along, and it looks like you are in trouble. Can I help get you out?” The woman smiled, and said “ oh, yes please. It seems I’ve got stuck in the mud. This cursed wheel chair is not a 4 wheel drive! I’m going to complain most strenuously to the manufacturer “. “ oh, by the way, my name is Sara.” Sara stood up and stretched out her to shake mine, which I hurriedly did, and she then stepped away from the wheelchair, and I easily pulled it out of the mud trap, and wheeled it to the asphalt. Sara walked over to me when I told her it was free.she put her hand out and touched me. I realized that she was blind. I guided her to the chair and helped her sit down. How the hell did she get here if she was blind? As if she could read my mind, she offered “ my aunt dropped me off at the start of the trail, and she will be waiting for me at the end. I do this all the time, but it is the first time this has happened.” “Well, I think I better escort you to the end, just in case you get stuck again. Would you mind?” I hoped she would agree, I wanted to be with her, and talk to her. God, she was so beautiful. “sure” Sara said, “that would be nice. I would love the company, and besides, you have a wonderful accent. Where are you from?”. “Africa, I’m a colonial Brit, actually my ancestral lineage is Scottish”. But I live here now. Not in the city, but in the East Bay.” We walked along the trail, and I was in heaven. And it looked like Sara was enjoying the moment as well. Before I knew it, the end of the trail came, and the parking lot with an older woman waiting. “Sara, over here.” the older lady shouted, and we both moved towards her. “Oh auntie, this is Michael, my knight in shining armor.He came to my rescue when I was stuck in the mud.” As the introductions were done, she looked me over closely, and I was self conscious of my scarred up face. Sara was obliviously chattering away, and I became aware that she was inviting me to join her and her aunt for tea at the Japanese tea garden. I was captivated by her, and didn’t want the day to end.

That chance meeting led to a close, loving friendship that flowered into a love relationship where we saw each other every day, and if we couldn’t be together we spoke on the phone for hours. I know I thought about her from the time I woke up til I went to sleep at night. And she told me she thought about me all the time too. It was amazing. I thanked my lucky stars that I bumped into Sara that fateful day at the park.

Sara was also very glad that she had gotten stuck in the mud that day, and that Michael had come to her rescue. He didn’t run away screaming because she was handicapped or blind. She loved him, and knew that he loved her. She hoped that this feeling and moment would last forever. She was so happy, the happiest she had ever been.

sara was so excited! At the recent doctor visit, she past every test given to her with flying colors. Her physical therapy and hard work was paying off. She was able to do things that she couldn’t do before, and the doctor was happy for her. She was walking more and more unaided, and without pain. And she wasn’t exhausted afterwards. What with Michael being in her life, and her improved mobility, she was coming back to a normal life. She couldn’t wait to tell Michael. But that would have to wait. She still had an appointment with her eye doctor, an appointment she had made because of some pain and vision abnormalities that was happening over the last few days. She wanted to see Michael so bad, but he was out of the country in South Africa seeing his family and attending his mothers funeral. She had passed away peacefully in her sleep 5 days ago, and Michael had flown there immediately. He wasn’t scheduled back for 2 days.

The eye doctor visit was equally exciting. He told Sara after extensive tests had been done that it looked like she was regaining some, if not all of her vision. It was the best news in her life. She rushed home, and called Michael on the phone. It went to voicemail. He wasn’t there. It was so frustrating! She couldn’t leave a message, it had to be her telling him and him reacting to her. Hurry up and get back to your family house, she said to herself. I’ve got exciting news. I can’t wait to see you with my eyes. I bet you are as handsome as your accent is, and you are as as chiseled and rugged as your personality and attitude. Oh, hurry up and get back into my arms. I love you.

Michael got back to the house, and heard the voice message from Sara. That was a pleasant surprise, she sounded so excited. I wonder what’s going on. Michael dialed her number, and connected immediately with Sara. Gosh, she must have been sitting on the phone. “Hi sweetheart. what’s going on? You sound so excited” “oh Michael, I have such good news. My disabilities are going away. I passed my doctor visit with flying colors. I will be able to throw away the wheelchair, and walk with you, hand in hand. And that’s not all, even better news! My eyesight is coming back. I will be able to see you. Finally. I will look into your eyes, and my love will flow into you. I can’t wait to see you when you come home. To me. I love you”

I was devastated! Of course it was amazing and good news for Sara, but not so much for me. Being able to walk and dance with me, that was fantastic. But see me? No, she won’t like what she sees, a monster. Every time she sees me she will shudder. I’m so ugly now, she won’t love me anymore. It’s over. Forever. I’ve never cried before, not like I did this time. It was soul destroying, I was left exhausted. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I was afraid to meet Sara when I came home. Instead, I fled, ran away and hid. Deep into the Sierra Nevada mountains, near the Nevada state line, and I tracked wild bear, hunted them with a ferocious need to blank out my aching heart. Trying to forget. Sara. But it wasn’t possible. She wasn’t forgettable. What was I going to do?

I went back, a deflated, wreck of a man. A walking wounded. When I got back, my house phone voice mail was full of messages from Sara, each one sounding more worried than the last. Then, a knock on the door. Trembling, I opened the door, terrified. The moment I dreaded had arrived. It was Sara’s aunt. “What happened to you? Why are you torturing Sara like this? You are destroying her, how dare you! Do you not love her?” “ I do, I do. But how can she love me with a face like mine? It was perfect when she was blind. But now she will see me as I really am, a monster of nightmares”I blurted out. I started to cry again. It felt like that was all I was doing Now. “ oh, stop it. You are not a monster, you never were. Even a blind person can see that. Your loving, caring soul shines brighter than anything. Sara could see that from the first moment she met you. She is in love with you. ” “ now go to her, and make it right. ”

so I went to Sara, and got down on my knees, and apologized for my foolishness. We hugged, and she cried, and so did I. We talked the whole night, talked about our fears, and wants, talked about our future together, and finally fell asleep in each others arms. We made it. That was 10 years ago. Our son is now 9 years old, and he looks at me with love in his eyes. I’m his father, and doesn’t think I am ugly. In fact he is proud of my battle scars. He wants to be like me when he grows up.

These days will never end.