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Blind teacher Kate Chamberlin photographed by Kevin Rivoli for \u201cBlind Ambition\u201d written by Michele Locastro Rivoli, Democrat and Chronicle Newspaper, December 30, 1998.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n kathryngc1@<\/a>verizon.net<\/p>\n www.katechamberlin.com<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cDream it. Write it. Read it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 July 20, 2016, January, 2017 All Rights Reserved<\/p>\n by Kate Chamberlin<\/p>\n Walworth, NY 14568<\/p>\n By Kate Chamberlin<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Charles and his cousin, David were in the same Kindergarten.\u00a0 Charles\u2019 favorite thing to do when he came home from school was to eat and watch TV.\u00a0 He weighed a lot and didn\u2019t have much fun or energy.<\/p>\n David\u2019s diabetes made him thirsty and tired much of the time. Sometimes, the insulin pump didn\u2019t work right.<\/p>\n During recess one day at school, Tyler asked David, \u201cWhy do you wear that little box?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt helps keep me healthy,\u201d David told him.<\/p>\n \u201cDoes it hurt?\u201d John asked.<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d David said and got in line behind his cousin Charles at the slide.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t stand behind\u00a0me,\u201d Charles said to David.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t want to catch your diabetes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t catch it, Fatty,\u201d David said and pushed ahead of Charles.<\/p>\n \u201cAm not,\u201d Charles said, as David pushed him over and sat on him.<\/p>\n \u201cAre to,\u201d David said \u201cFatty, Fatty, two by four\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201dJust because you\u2019re a girlie girl,\u201d Charles cried. He rolled David over and sat on him.\u00a0 \u201cDavy, Davy, skinny as a fox, wired to a little box.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGuys,\u201d Tyler yelled. \u201cCut it out.\u201d The recess bell rang. They brushed themselves off and lined up before they got into serious trouble.<\/p>\n At the end of the school year, Grandma Grace invited both boys to spend the summer with Granddad Ken and her on their farm.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere\u2019s the TV?\u201d Charles asked, putting his tag-along near the couch and petting Grandma\u2019s guide dog.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m thirsty.\u00a0 \u201cCan I see the new kittens?\u201d\u00a0 David asked.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, Charles, Granddad and I don\u2019t have a TV. We have other things we like to do.\u00a0 Let\u2019s all have a glass of lemonade, then see the kittens.\u201d<\/p>\n Every morning, after a glass of juice, a granola bar, and a check of David\u2019s blood count, they went with Grandma Grace to weed the garden.<\/p>\n She encouraged the boys to try to pull up the weed with the longest root. Then, they\u2019d try to find the reddest strawberry, the smallest lettuce, longest carrot, fattest potato, skinniest beans and other vegetables planted in the rows they\u2019d just weeded.<\/p>\n \u201cI NEVER PICKED STRAWBERRIES AND DUG POTATOES OR CARROTS AT THE SAME TIME.\u201d Charles said.<\/p>\n Before they knew it, it was time for their big breakfast with granddad who had finished his morning chores.<\/p>\n \u201cBoy, I love these pancakes and jam,\u201d Charles said, helping himself to another stack of whole wheat pancakes.\u00a0 \u201cMay I have more cocoa, please?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDavid, the strawberry jam is made so you can eat it too,\u201d Grandma said.<\/p>\n \u201cThanks, Grandma,\u201d David said. \u201cMay I scoop my own?\u201d<\/p>\n After breakfast, Grandma pushed the little button on David\u2019s pump and THE BOYS went to the barn where Granddad was.<\/p>\n \u201cGrandma said we\u2019re going exploring,\u201d David said, gently petting one of the new kittens.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I hear,\u201d Granddad said. \u201cShe\u2019ll be along soon with a snack and a plan. \u201c<\/p>\n \u201cAnd here I am,\u201d Grandma said as her guide dog led her up to them. \u201cHere\u2019s a snack for each of you.\u201d<\/p>\n The boys tucked the carrot and celery sticks, an apple stuffed with peanut butter, DAVID\u2019S EMERGENCY CANDY, and a bottle of water into their day-packs.<\/p>\n They sauntered out of the big barn into the warm sunshine and toward the lane to begin their walk.<\/p>\n \u201cGrandma,\u00a0what are these tall, lacy flowers?\u201d Charles asked, swishing through the meadow along the lane.<\/p>\n \u201cThey smell like carrots,\u201d David said, yanking one up roots and all.<\/p>\n \u201cThose are Queen Anne\u2019s Lace, a member of the wild carrot family,\u201d Grandma said.<\/p>\n Near the edge of the woods, David tripped over a tree root and said,\u201d Wow, look at that!\u00a0 It looks like an elephant\u2019s leg and toes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the Beech Tree,\u201d Grandma said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bark looks smooth, \u201cCharles said, \u201cbut it feels scratchy.\u201d<\/p>\n The boys ran ahead of Grandma to climb a tree or flatten out on their bellies to watch the minnows in the pond. Then, they\u2019d run back to her with a thousand and one questions.<\/p>\n In the evening, they sat around a camp fire out by the old stone wall, roasting marshmallows.<\/p>\n \u201cI see a castle with a dragon near it,\u201d Charles said looking into the campfire flames.<\/p>\n \u201cThe clouds are going to make the old man in the moon sneeze,\u201d David laughed, noticing how the wispy clouds floated right under the man in the moon\u2019s nose.<\/p>\n Their day had been full of activity and the boys were more than ready to climb the steep stairs to their beds.<\/p>\n One day, Grandma said, \u201cYou know your way around well enough to go exploring on your own. Wear this lanyard with a whistle and blow it if you need help.\u00a0 Don\u2019t forget your snack.\u201d<\/p>\n Later that afternoon, David found a fallen, hollow log and crawled through it. Charles tried to follow him.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m stuck,\u201d Charles yelled.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew you wouldn\u2019t fit,\u201d David laughed.<\/p>\n \u201cYou did this on purpose.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m gonna tell Grandma,\u201d Charles wailed.<\/p>\n David gave in and worked hard to pull away the bark until Charles could get out. Once freed, Charles chased David toward the next tree, where they stopped.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t feel so good,\u201d David said and slumped to the ground.<\/p>\n \u201cDavid, David,\u201d Charles called in alarm. \u201cAre you dead?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, but I feel really weird,\u201d\u00a0David said softly. \u201cGive me one of MY candies.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSorry, I got hungry and ate all of them,\u201d Charles said. He blew his whistle as hard as he could.<\/p>\n SOON GRANDDAD AND GRANDMA HURRIED down THE lane. When they reached the boys, Granddad supported David as Grandma held the little straw of the juice bag to his lips.<\/p>\n \u201cYou didn\u2019t eat your snack, did you,\u201d Grandma said, knowing he did not.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were having too much fun and forgot,\u201d Charles answered, not admitting he\u2019d eaten all the candy.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s take a quick trip to see Dr. Alexandra,\u201d Grandma said. \u201cJust to be sure you\u2019re okay.\u201d<\/p>\n The next day, as they, laid on their backs in their tree fort, listening to the birds, Charles said, \u201cI\u2019m sorry I ate your candy. I\u2019m glad you\u2019re okay.,\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMe, too and I\u2019m glad Grandma still trusts us to go exploring alone,\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLook at that rain coming across the field,\u201d\u00a0Charles said. \u201cRun for the barn.\u201d And they did.<\/p>\n \u201cWow, that lightening was close,\u201d\u00a0David said as he lay on the loft floor near the open door. \u201cBut, that thunder was right in here,\u201d he yelled and put his hands over his ears.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s get to the house to see if Grandma\u2019s okay,\u201d Charles said, not wanting to admit that the thunder scared him.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s go,\u201d David yelled and took off splashing through puddles to the house.<\/p>\n In the mud room, they put their muddy boots on the boot board, toweled their hair and put on the dry clothes Grandma had brought them.<\/p>\n \u201cNow what can we do?\u201d Charles asked. \u201cThere\u2019s no TV.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s still pouring!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWould you help me find something up in the attic,\u201d Grandma said as she and Crackers led the way to the attic stairs.<\/p>\n \u201cSomewhere in this old attic is the wooden checker board Granddad made for your parents when they were your age,\u201d\u00a0Grandma said.<\/p>\n \u201cGrandma, what\u2019s in these trunks?\u201d Charles asked.<\/p>\n \u201cWow, look at this old Navy uniform,\u201d\u00a0David said, pawing through an open trunk.\u00a0 \u201cWas Granddad in the Navy?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes,\u201d\u00a0Grandma said smiling, knowing the boys would now spend hours dry and warm exploring the attic.<\/p>\n The weeks flew by. Summer was almost over.\u00a0 The boys sat together blowing bubbles on the broad porch of the\u00a0 farmhouse.<\/p>\n \u201dYour parents will be here soon,\u201d Grandma said, giving them each a hug. \u201cCharles, I think you have lost some weight and grown taller.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI ate lots of food from the garden,\u201d Charles said, \u201cbut, my pants are too big for me.\u00a0 I need a new belt to hold them up.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll give you one of mine,\u201d David offered.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd, David, I don\u2019t have to push your pump button so often,\u201d Grandma Grace said.<\/p>\n \u201cCan we come again next summer? This was fun,\u201d David said, blowing a chain of soap bubbles off the porch into the bright sunshine. Each connected bubble shone with a beautiful, miniature rainbow.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know, David,\u201d I always knew we were cousins\u2026\u201d Charles started to say.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026but now,\u201d David finished for him, \u201cwe\u2019re best friends, too.\u201d<\/p>\n NOTE: adapted from \u201cCharles and David\u201d by Kate Chamberlin, illustrated by Dean Wroth, published in 2010, Jason and Nordic Publishers, out of print when the publisher went out of business in 2015.<\/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 demonstrated by […]<\/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-1147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147","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=1147"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1150,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147\/revisions\/1150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nHey! You Got Eyeballs In There?<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>Book IV: Grandma Grace<\/h3>\n
<\/a>#43. Charles and David<\/h1>\n