Day-8b, July 10, 2009

There is a story circulating amongst the Santa Cruz medical and dental teams about the great wheelchair caper. It's a tale worth telling. However I will protect the names of the guilty lest major airlines cruise our blog!

Once upon a time there was a well respected man of the cloth working for an undisclosed faith. We know only that he loved to do mission work and the only infractions that would cause him to lose his jaunty demeanour were mission workers who would wander from the flock or show up late for the bus. This man of the cloth came upon the most touching of situations in a country faraway that involved a young girl with an affliction that rendered her unable to walk. Her parents had endured a sad and tumultuous journey from two different cultures to be together. The family was in dire need of a wheelchair for this child.

As good fortune would have it, the man of the cloth came upon a wheelchair beneath a mound of clothes. Why it came to be there and whose clothes they were and whether they were clean or dirty would only distract. The fact of the matter was that he had a wheelchair but unfortunately no money to ship it. Nary a boliviano! What to do?

The man of the cloth decided to approach his cunning mother - a warm, funny and wiley octegenarian. She is a spry woman who travels the world without need of support - be it walker or baggage handler. Always on the look-out for mischief, the mother promptly agreed to participate in his scheme. She would fly to this faraway place diguised as a warm, funny and wiley octengenarian in a wheelchair. She properly thought though she might tone down the warm and exploit her cranky.

Not to be alone in this ruse, the mother called upon her friends to be her nurses. Would they push the wheelchair to add to the authenticity? Equally wiley and similarly on the look-out for mischief, her friends agreed.

So the now wheelchair bound mother and her ever-caring nurses began their journey - arriving at the airport and rolling up through security. Whereupon an attendant asked the mother to remove her shoes. "Oh my dear I don't think that's possible at all given my condition," sighed the mother. She defiantly stuck out her feet and asked "perhaps you might do it for me?" Now who wants to tussle with an octegenarian in a wheelchair - especially this one - so the attendant obliged. With some trepidation there might be trouble, the attendant asked the mother to rise and walk through the metal detector. The mother had always been an aspiring thespian and with great drama she feebly grasped her cane, rose and hobbled ever so slowly. She had by now completely lost all empathy for those in the security line-up behind her. Along came a motorized cart to transport the mother to the airplane. All went perfectly according to plan and the mother grinned as she witnessed firsthand her wheelchair being safely tucked on board. She clutched tightly to the wheelchair seat cushion and snickered.

Now that might have been the end of the story. However the ride was not to prove smooth.

As luck would have it, the wheelchair did not make the connection enroute. So when the mother arrived in the farway country - there was no trace of the much wanted wheelchair. "Well I never!" she huffed. The time had come to eradicate the warm and move to full blown cranky. With nurses in tow she approached the counter - the wheelchair seat cushion flailing in her hand. "We made all sorts of fuss" she would later recount proudly. Indeed. For the wheelchair miraculously surfaced the next day.

Now that might have been the end of the story. However the ride was not to prove smooth.

As luck would have it, the wheelchair did not make it to the presentation ceremony. The mother and her entourage of nurses plus wheelchair took a taxi to a restaurant where many notables and the deserving family were waiting. But in the excitement about the achievement everyone disembarked leaving the wheelchair safely but sadly in the trunk. The driver who was overwhelmed by the excited gringos also forgot. He went off shift. And he headed home for supper with his young family.

The host of the presentation ceremony noticed early in the meal that he had nothing to present. So he scampered off before his dinner arrived to trace the trail of the taxi. As more luck would have it, he was able to track down the driver who also scampered off before his own dinner arrived and ferried the missing wheelchair to the ceremony just in time for the presentation.

A photographer of note was on hand to capture the happy moment on camera with the deserving family and the warm, funny and wiley octengenarian posed in the wheelchair - actually feeling warmer and now wondering about relinquishing her wiley ways.

The man of the cloth is ever more jaunty. Our octegenarian has a tale - and coincidentally a birthday - to celebrate! And her devoted nurses have redirected their mischievious ways for the good. And most importantly, a deserving child and her family - finally - will have the mobility they have long desired.

The End. Really.

Here is a link that you can click to a see the mission photo gallery. http://gallery.me.com/davidhillock