Wheelchair Story
Matthew Ryan Fischer
Charlie had spent the day going to thrift stores. It was afternoon
and he was hungry and he almost didn’t walk through the final store. Almost.
Maybe it was fate. Maybe it was chance. But either way, he decided to spend the
extra few minutes and at least make one quick pass of things.
It might have been better if he hadn’t. But who really knows. One
thing leads to another and there’s really no way to knowing what is connected
and what isn’t. If he had left early he might have been hit by a bus and killed
on the street. What was important was that he had stayed long enough to walk
through the entire store. And that would affect a great number of things.
Charlie found a wheelchair and Charlie bought that wheelchair. He
told the woman at the counter his great-aunt Edna didn’t get around so well
anymore and needed a wheelchair. She suffered from arthritis and gout and a
whole host of other things. He was buying the wheelchair to help her out. He
was buying it to make her life easier. The women working behind the counter
gushed and fawned over him. His story was so sympathetic. He was so
considerate. He was such a kind and loving person.
Charlie was not a kind or loving person. He was a bit of a jerk
and a great big liar. There was no great-aunt Edna. There was no need for the
wheelchair other then the fact that when Charlie saw it, he knew he wanted to
wheel around in it. He knew this would look bad, so he made up a cover story.
Charlie made a bad choice. He stayed in the store and went
shopping and what he found was a bad bad choice. Many other things could have
happened in Charlie’s life, but those things are impossible to predict. What
did happen was Charlie bought himself a wheelchair. And Charlie used it.
At first Charlie did simple things like riding around in his house
in the chair. He learned to do tricks and could spin around and pop wheelies
and things like that. That wasn’t enough though. Charlie wanted attention. Lots
and lots of undeserved attention.
Charlie took the chair out in public with him. He would take it in
his car and park in handicapped spots and prey upon other people’s sympathies
and curry favor. He did simple things like get doors opened for him. He did
unethical things like cutting in lines and getting other people to carry his
purchases at stores. And he did criminal things like accept charity and spare
change from people.
He used the chair in awful fashion because deep inside he was
somewhat an awful person that made awful choices.
Charlie had always heard of wheelchair sports and decided to check
some of them out. He had never been good at basketball, but that was because he
wasn’t athletic. He foolishly believed that perhaps now he would be better
while sitting down. He wasn’t. But this pursuit did get him going to a local
gym and working out. And while there, he was often noticed. And when he was
often seen and noticed, he met a young woman name Molly. Molly was so nice and
so sympathetic to his plight. She was kind and understanding and beautiful.
Charlie very easily could have loved her. And she might have loved him too. If
not for the secret fact that he didn’t need the chair he was pretending to
need.
He knew there would be no way ever that he could convince her into
understanding why he was pretending to need a wheelchair.
Charlie forced himself to stop going to the gym and to stop
returning Molly’s phone calls. It was the first decent thing he had done in a
long time.
The chair soon lost its appeal and Charlie stopped using it
altogether and put it away in storage. He avoided many of his old haunts and
never ever went anywhere near his old gym. He often hoped and was petrified at
the thought that he might catch a glimpse of Molly again someday. He had no
idea what he would ever say to her if he did.
Years earlier, Charlie had met a man on the street who was in a
wheelchair. The man held a sign asking for money, saying that he had lost the
use of his legs while serving in the military. Charlie had done the right thing
– he had felt empathy and stopped to give the man some spare change. The man
flashed a gun and robbed Charlie there on the street. Nobody expects to be mugged by the guy in the
wheelchair. Charlie certainly didn’t.
Once Charlie handed over his wallet, the man stood up and ran off
into the night. Charlie’s fear of being shot dissipated and he actually had a
moment of respect for the man. It was a solid trick. Charlie didn’t see it
coming. Soon after that he felt a range of emotions – anger, embarrassment,
resentment – but mostly he felt that little bit of respect. The man found an
angle, was willing to play it, and saw things through. It was brash and bold,
but it had worked. Charlie had to hand it to him.
The mugging was offensive and annoying. Being tricked was
insulting and wounded Charlie’s pride. It started him on a bad path, and he
grew cold and hard inside. All it all, it kind of turned Charlie into a bit of
a jerk.
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