Page 147 - Student: dazed And Confused
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FREEWHEELIN'
"What in the name of Hell is that?"
"What d'you think?"
Faced with the sinister-looking contraption on her doorstep, Cassie had no words to
give voice to the hatred and horror she felt at that moment. For a girl who had lived and
breathed hockey for the last 4 years it was a bit of a downer. "Words could not describe the
overwhelming emotions within me right now." Cassie closed her eyes for a minute, hoping
that if she refused to look at it, maybe it would all go away. It was still there when she
opened her eyes. "Bugger "
"Cassie Watch your mouth."
"Mom, besides that being physically impossible, I'll be in this wheelchair for the rest
of my life. I think I'm entitled to swear."
So what if other people were in wheelchairs? So what if they didn't moan? They
weren't teenage girls who once lived for sport, only to be told that they would never heal -
never get better. But why did she have to just get on with it - smile and say OK? The worst
thing about it was that the chair was a depressing bottle green - the uniform colour of the
School for Slags up the road. At least it wasn't pink. (Cassie didn't do pink.) It looked
primitive and kind of torturous. This was the object meant to give Cassie back her
independence?
"I'm not using it." Might as well let her mother know before this thing went any
further.
"So how are you going to get around? You want to go off to uni, right. You can't do
that if you can't get around campus."
"I'll manage." Turning her back on the scene in the hallway, Cassie struggled off to
her tiny bedroom. It was half torn up because the builders were in but the walls were still
covered in posters. The carpet, once purple and now plaster dust coloured, crunched
beneath her feet and threw up lots of dust as she threw herself onto her bed. In the room
directly beneath her, Mom was on the phone to a friend. As always, Cassie was certain they
were talking about her, making fun of her. Just like at the hospital when the doctor took
