Week Thirty-Two (June 1- June 7) Topic:Glitter 


Winner: Clare 


Blind 
By Clare 

I forgot my white cane in the fantasy section in the library. I don’t know how I did, but I did. I’ve been blind for nearly ten years, and I was so used to it by now I did things like that all the time. I would never forget James, my guide dog, of course, but the library was so close to our house I liked to go there by myself. It made me feel independent. Plus it gave James a break once in a while. He was so obedient and well trained; he’d do anything for me. He deserved a break now and then. 

So I was making my way back to the fantasy section when I hit him. Literally hit him. If you’re wondering how I could even find my way back to the fantasy section, it’s easy. I’d loved the library since I was little kid, so I had every part of it memorized. I knew exactly how many steps to take to get from one place to another in the building. I could usually hear people moving in front of me, therefore avoiding knocking into them, and seeing me with the white cane, they usually got out of the way. But he was just crouching in the middle of the floor, not making enough noise for me to hear and stop in time. So I tripped on him, going right over him, landing on the floor. 

“Holy crap!” he shouted in surprise. “Whoa!” 

“Sorry!” I said, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t hear you.” 

“How did you miss me tying my shoe right in front of you?” he asked. He didn’t sound mad, just confused and surprised. 

“Sorry, blind.” 

“Huh?” 

“Blind,” I said, gesturing to my eyes. I groped around, trying to get my bearings. 

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, I should have... I didn’t realize,” he said, sounding mortified. He grabbed my groping hand and helped me up, steadying me by holding my elbow. “I’m so sorry,” he said again. 

“It’s not your fault,” I said, an amused half smile on my face. 

That one seemed to stump him, because he was silent. 

I saved him from trying to think of something say by asking, “Could you point me to the fantasy section? I’m kind of mixed up right now.” I had no idea which direction I was facing. Gah, I hated these kinds of situations, when I did feel somewhat helpless. 

“Of course,” he said immediately. “I’ll take you there.” 

“Um ok, that’d be great.” 

A few moments later we were there and went over to the seat that I knew the white cane was laying by. “Thanks,” I said. 

“No problem,” he answered, “And I’m...” 

“Sorry,” I finished for him with a smile. “Got that part.” 

“Yeah,” he said with a hesitant laugh. “Well I better go. G’bye.” 

“Thanks,” I said again. “Bye.” 


You know how sometime you get that feeling that you’re gonna meet a person again? Well Ididn’t have that feeling at all with this guy. So it was pretty surprising when I came upon him the very next day. When I called my best friend Maggie and told her about it afterwards, she was all like “It was destined to happen!” Which I thought was bullcrap. I never bought that destiny thing. I mean, what kind of a blind person would want to believe they were destined to be blind? That’d be like ‘Oh, him over there? Yeah he’s destined to be rich and famous. Oh her? Yeah, her destiny’s to be blind. Yup. Bummer huh?’ Yeah, not exactly something that would put that happy feeling in my chest. Maggie might have stumbled upon this epiphany at one point or another, but she knows I don’t really care when she says stuff like that, or I would let her know. 

But yeah, so I was taking a walk this time, again without James, when I heard someone walking toward me on the sidewalk. I kind of slowed down and put my white cane out farther. You never knew what people would miss while talking on cell phones and everything these days. But waving the magic white wand around usually got their attention and they moved over. It was kind of nice, to be able to manipulate people like that. That probably sounds very evil, but hey, I’m blind. I’m entitled to a little fun. 

So it happened as it usually does, with the person passing me carefully, like I’m about to freak out and attack them with my cane, when the person slowed down and said, “Hey, it’s you again!” 

“Yup...its me,” I agreed. “And you are...?” 

“Shane.” 

“Shane?” I racked my brains for any Shane I could have met at some point in my life. 

“Oh, sorry, um, I met you in the library yesterday,” he said. 

“Ah, the sorry guy who I tripped over,” I said, smiling. “I guess we never introduced ourselves. My name’s Mari.” 

“How do you do,” he said in a snobby elegant voice. I could feel/ hear him bend over, which I assumed was a bow. I did a prissy curtsied, with my nose in the air. We both burst out laughing. 

“So what are you doing here?” he asked, after we had finished laughing. 

“I live around here,” I answered. 

“Me too!” 

“Ironic,” I laughed. 

“Yeah. Hey, I’m heading down to the coffee shop, wanna come?” 

“Sure,” I answered and we walked a few blocks down to the coffee shop. It was weird and sudden, but it was nice to. I didn’t get out much, or meet many new people, so it was kinda nice when I did. My mom would probably kill me if she knew I was even talking to some random person I didn’t really know, but oh well. 

So we got some coffee and just sat and talked about different stuff. School (I was homeschooled), our pets, stuff like that. He was a pretty great guy from what I learned. I was glad I ran into him. 



I didn’t see him for a while after that. Finally a few weeks later I ran into him (this time notliterally) at the library again. We talked for a bit and he seemed a bit edgy so I asked him what was on his mind. He answered, “Well, see, I have this school project..” 

“And...?” I asked. 

“Well, I have to do a report on...er....blindness,” he said. He sounded nervous, like he thought this subject would offend me or something. 

“Mhmm?” I gestured for him to continue. 

“Well,” he rushed on, “I was wondering if I could possibly ‘interview’ you and put you as one of the sources?” 

I laughed. He sounded so nervous! “Sure.” 

A few minutes later we were in one of the unoccupied meeting rooms in the library. We sat down and there was an awkward silence. 

“What do you want to know?” I asked, breaking it. 

“Um...Well what does it look like?” 

“Like nothing,” I said teasing. “Just kidding, it all just looks grayish white to me.” 

He started to take notes. I could hear the pen scratching on the paper. After a few seconds he asked, “What’s it like though?” 

“Well, it was hard at first. I’m used to it now. Not that it isn’t hard anymore, it is. But I can handle it now.” 

“Do you go by hearing all the time then?” 

“No, touch to of course,” I said. 

“Oh, like what, for example?” he asked, the pen scratching. 

“Well it’s how I ‘see’ people for one.” I answered. 

“See people?” he asked. Gosh, hadn’t they had some blind day or something at his school where blind people came and gave speeches or something? He had like no clue. 

“Yeah, see people. Shall I demonstrate?” 

“Um, ok?” 

“Here, come closer,” I instructed. When he did I reached out and touched his shoulder. I made my way up to his face. He was pretty good, he hardly moved a muscle. I felt his face, touching every part lightly. 

“See, now I can envision your face,” I announced. “High forehead, prominent nose. High cheek bones, firm jaw.” 

“Oh. Wow,” was all he could say. 

“And you also glitter to me,” I said. “Some people don’t, but some people do. I just imagine you with glittering skin. I know, it’s weird, but that’s how I think it I guess.” 

“Wow. Um, thanks,” he said. I laughed. 

“Crap, what time is it?” I asked, remembering my dentist appointment. 

“2:23.” 

“Dangit, I got to go. Maybe we can get together again sometime and finish this?” I asked. 

“Sure, that would be great.” 




More by Clare: http://www.goodreads.com/story/list/9779...



More from this contest: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1512...

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