At 12, I was obsessed...

[V]

And, on the off-topic topic, favourite teenage library books:

* Killing the Kudu by Carolyn Meyer
* Only Love by Susan Sallis
* The Sounds of Silence by Marilyn Levy
* A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle (there's a bit in there where you've got the perspective of a disabled guy)
* Izzy Willy Nilly by Cynthia Voigt
* The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
oh yeah and there was a Sweet Valley High one where one of the main characters (Enid?... I can't believe I just remembered that name) is paralyzed and MIRACULOUSLY HEALED in the space of about 200 pages.

Most of these were checked out with furtive glances around or read surreptitiously in the stacks without being checked out, because I was sure someone would spot a pattern and find me out!

[wheelie37]

It was cool v, thank you posting it

[Amy]

That was fun, V, thanks for posting!

OK OK, you got me to dig through some of my high school writing and I found some awful story I wrote. It's really bad and cheesy. I wrote this before I even know I was a dev, believe it or not. I'll just post one quick scene.

Anyway, background is that this guy Ethan was just in an accident. That's pretty much it:

When Ethan awoke, he knew something was wrong. He stared up at the ceiling and tried to figure out where he was. Then he saw the tubing sticking out of his arm and his stomach sank. He heard crying that sounded far away.

“Ethan!” It was his mother. She reached over and hugged his neck and he heard his father saying, “Ruth! Don’t smother the boy!”

He tried to sit up, but his father pushed gently on his shoulder. “Just rest,” he advised. “I’ll work the bed.”

There was a whirring noise and the bed shifted to an upright position. Ethan saw his parents sitting beside his bed expectantly. His father was wearing a skullcap, which struck him as odd, since they were not a religious family.

“How long was I out?” he asked.

“Several hours,” his father said. “You had quite a blow in the head. Do you remember what happened?”

Ethan nodded and his head ached, “Some car ran me down.”

Silence filled the room. Oh god. Something was wrong. His body felt strange. This was something he had never experienced before. He wished someone would tell him what was going on. “Mom?” he whispered.

His mother burst into tears. She seized his hand and clutched it hard enough for him to feel pain. He wasn’t feeling a lot of pain. Why was that? He was in a serious accident. He should be hurting like crazy by now. He turned to his father. “What happened to me?”

His father looked away. Ethan could see his hands were shaking badly. “I guess you should know, Ethan,” he said. “You were hurt very badly.”

“I know that.” Suddenly, he didn’t need his father to tell him anything. He knew. He knew exactly what happened.

“Ethan… your spine was… crushed. They couldn’t fix it. They put metal rods in there and all, but… they couldn’t fix it.”

“I’m paralyzed,” he said softly. His mother began sobbing even loudly. “I’m fucking paralyzed, aren’t I?”

“From the mid-chest down,” his father said, as if he needed to be told. “But don’t worry, son. We’ll get therapists and…”

Dr. Miller came in at that moment. He smiled gently when he saw Ethan. Ethan did not smile back. “So we’re awake, are we?”

“I want to talk to you,” Ethan said slowly. He glanced at his parents. “Alone.”

Miller herded the reluctant Kleins out of the room and faced Ethan. “What is it?” Miller asked.

“Tell me,” Ethan said. “Tell me everything. I… I need to know. Please. I can handle it. I just… don’t want to be lied to. Am I ever going to be able to walk again?”

“Well,” Miller hesitated. “With heavy therapy, the chance is minimal.”

“Minimal?”

“There’s no chance.”

“I see.”

[Amy]

That reminds me, how come there are no new stories lately, huh? It seemed like for a while there were new stories every day.

[quadguy]

Amy, as someone who went through something akin to Ethan, I find it extraordinary that an able-bodied person could have such insight.

When you wrote it did you know anyone who had had that experience and told you what it was like?

[Triassic]

Those 2 pieces weren't bad at ALL. I was expecting much, much worse. But I'm a connoiseuer or really bad amateur prose and poetry.

Amy, would a non-religious jew actually don a yarmulke in such a situation?

[V]

Awsome Amy! Thanks for sharing. And actually that was damn good. Can you post more? What happens to Ethan?

[Triassic]

Jeez, with Amy's I could practically hear the violins swelling up in the background; it's like a scene fromm one of those old made for TV movies.

[Amy]

I know it's a little heavy on the made-for-TV melodrama.

I don't think I'll be posting more, just because that was probably the only half-decent part of the entire story. Believe me when I say it was really bad!

I'm not sure if a non-religious Jew would don a yarmulke in that situation, but I liked the way it sounded

[spurs2000]

Amy said:

I know it's a little heavy on the made-for-TV melodrama.

I don't think I'll be posting more, just because that was probably the only half-decent part of the entire story. Believe me when I say it was really bad!

I'm not sure if a non-religious Jew would don a yarmulke in that situation, but I liked the way it sounded

Post more! I thought it was believable & therefore cool!

[Links]

Triassic said:

Those 2 pieces weren't bad at ALL. I was expecting much, much worse. But I'm a connoiseuer or really bad amateur prose and poetry.

Amy, would a non-religious jew actually don a yarmulke in such a situation?

Did you slip up again, AB?

[Triassic]

This stupid bs is seriously starting to irritate me.

[Triassic]

On second thought, you're right, Links. I did slip up. You were just the only one quick enough to catch it.

I gotta get better at this facade.

[lisa]

Triassic and AB are in noway the same person. I have had the pleasure of "off-board" conversations with each of them. And from my experience, they are who they say they are. Can we drop this now?

[Triassic]

How about drawings? Did any of you girls do that?