Hey! You Got Eyeballs In There?<\/p>\n
By Kate Chamberlin<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As Grace grows up, some of her stories are happy, some trying, some enlightening, and a few themes are sad, but, they\u2019re all the warp and woof of what goes into the tapestry of life we call Family. The daily living skills and techniques demonstrated by the fictional characters in these stories are valid, tried and true.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/a>#12 Knight With Shining Flatware<\/p>\n Grace and Crackers had practiced working the mall during several training trips and enjoyed the freedom of walking effortlessly through the crowd of busy shoppers, moms with strollers, and splashing, noisy fountains. Grace was a bit nervous about how Ken, Edie, and Joe would take to traveling with a guide dog team. \u201cCrackers and I are still relatively new to each other. Would you help me keep up her training?\u201d\u00a0 Grace asked her friends as they entered the wide, glass, automatic doors to the mall.<\/p>\n \u201cSure,\u201d they agreed. \u201cWhat do you want us to do?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s let her work. I need to trust her, but, if you could give me verbal directions, I\u2019d feel safer.\u201d<\/p>\n Grace picked up the harness handle with her left hand and said, \u201cCrackers, forward.\u201d Crackers did as she was commanded and the four friends walked along, passing the many storefronts inside the mall.<\/p>\n Crackers would indicate store doors on their right with a little swing of her head, but she kept on walking straight. Straight, that is, until she made a sudden turn to the right, forcing Grace toward an open door.<\/p>\n \u201cWait,\u201d Ken said. \u201cThat\u2019s a coffee shop.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe she wants a latte,\u201d Edie laughed.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s all go in for a latte,\u201d Joe suggested, so they did.<\/p>\n Once at their table, Grace had Crackers tuck in under the table with her head next to Grace\u2019s chair.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen she sits like this,\u201d Grace explained, \u201cshe can see who is coming and won\u2019t get worried for my safety.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWill she stay down the whole time we\u2019re here?\u201d Joe asked.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, she should\u2026.\u201d Grace started to say.<\/p>\n \u201cUnless, someone comes by, dribbling a ball!\u201d\u00a0 Ken teased and they all laughed.<\/p>\n Back out in the mall, they told Grace what was in each store window as they passed by. Crackers did well going straight and avoiding strollers, people, and the fountain pools. Until suddenly she made a sharp left turn. An enormous man almost mowed Grace down. Grace apologized and corrected Crackers, wondering why she\u2019d veered so sharply.<\/p>\n \u201cPut out your hand and feel where she is,\u201d Edie said.<\/p>\n Grace did and felt the plastic fronds of a large plant in a huge, cement planter.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy did she do that?\u201d\u00a0 Joe asked. \u201cShe\u2019s supposed to be so smart.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think she is trying to tell us that she needs to piddle,\u201d Grace said. \u201cIs there an outside door near here?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, just a few stores to the right,\u201d Ken said.<\/p>\n Crackers relieved herself on the real grass outside and they re-entered the mall.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, there\u2019s something to be said about the power of suggestion,\u201d Edie giggled. \u201cNow I have to go, too.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMe, too,\u201d Joe said and they headed for the restrooms.<\/p>\n In the Lady\u2019s Room, Grace said, \u201cCrackers, bathroom.\u201d Crackers took Grace right into a stall and turned around.<\/p>\n \u201cDown,\u201d Grace told her, so the stall door could close by passing over her back.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, my Gosh,\u201d a lady said. \u201cThere\u2019s a dog in here!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s okay,\u201d Grace called out. \u201cShe\u2019s a girl, too.\u201d<\/p>\n Back in the mall, as they were discussing the display in the GAP window, a little boy came up to pet Crackers. Grace felt Crackers nudge her thigh and realized what was happening.<\/p>\n \u201cPlease don\u2019t pet the dog,\u201d she said gently, putting her hand on the harness\u2019 shoulder strap. \u201cI can\u2019t see, so, when she is wearing this, she is working to keep me safe and may not play with you.\u201d<\/p>\n Quick as a wink, the boy\u2019s twin brother came up and asked, \u201cHey! You got eyeballs in there?\u201d<\/p>\n Grace was used to young children asking innocent and direct questions and knew that her reflective lenses prevented people from seeing her eyes.<\/p>\n \u201cYes,\u201d she said. \u201cI have eyeballs in there, but they don\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n The boys\u2019 mother hurried up with an infant in a stroller. \u201cI\u2019m so sorry. They\u2019re just so hyper and curious.\u201d\u00a0 She corralled the twins and hurried on down the mall.<\/p>\n Later, the four friends met up with several other students from their high school. There was a feeling of relaxed camaraderie. Even the \u201cbig\u201d kids had some questions.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n kathryngc1@verizon.net<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hey! You Got Eyeballs In There? By Kate Chamberlin As Grace grows up, some of her stories are happy, some trying, some enlightening, and a few themes are sad, but, they\u2019re all the warp and woof of what goes into the tapestry of life we call Family. The daily living skills and techniques demonstrated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1085"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1086,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085\/revisions\/1086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>#13. The Locker Fiasco<\/h1>\n
<\/a>#14. Lost In Thought<\/h1>\n
<\/a>#15. The Musician<\/h1>\n
<\/a>#16. Day Two And Beyond<\/h1>\n
<\/a>#17. First Date<\/h1>\n
<\/a>#18. The Zipper Creep<\/h1>\n
<\/a>#19. Making Up<\/h1>\n
<\/a>#20. Mall Cruising<\/h1>\n