Chapter 20

A few nights after Daphne and Brock had become engaged, Johnny went over to Wheels’ place to talk to him about starting work on his next special project. He was healing well and was growing more restless. After his friendship with Ray had disintegrated, he’d fallen into a funk, but he’d decided that it was time to get on with life. Beginning his project was something positive to focus on.

Arriving at the Ellis residence, Johnny rode around the main house to the carriage house in the back where Wheels lived. He dismounted and went to the door, ringing the doorbell. He heard it chime inside. In response, the little bell beside the door on the outside jingled, indicating that Wheels was either busy or not in his wheelchair and unable to answer the door.

Wheels and his father had rigged up an intricate bell system and there was a string in every room in the carriage house that was connected to the little bell. There was also a bell system connected to the main house in case Wheels needed help and couldn’t get to his telephone to call over. He and his father were excellent engineers and inventors, which helped Wheels be as independent as possible.

Going inside, Johnny received a huge shock at seeing Wheels standing by the sink in the little kitchen. There appeared to be some sort of apparatus around Wheels’ legs and hips.

“What the heck?”

“Hey, Johnny.”

“Hi. How are you doing that?”

“Very carefully.”

“Ha ha. Very funny.”

Joining Wheels at the sink, Johnny looked him over. “You kinda look like you’re in a cage. What’s all that made of?” He motioned at Wheels’ lower half.

“Well, part of it is from an old suit of armor that Skeeter had out at her place. Daddy found it and brought it home. When he saw it, he got the idea to use it to kinda give me legs. The fella who wore the outfit must have been a scrawny little guy, though. We couldn’t get my legs in them. That was funny to see. We laughed the whole time we tried,” Wheels said.

Johnny laughed just picturing it. “I woulda, too. How’d you put it all together?”

Wheels went on to explain how they’d used rivets, bolts, and leather straps to make a support system for his whole lower body. They’d utilized much of the material from the suit of armor, but they’d had to supplement it with other metal and immobilize the knee joints to keep them strait. The strange equipment came up slightly higher than his waist, immobilizing his hips so that they didn’t buckle.

Johnny scratched his head. “You look like some kind of monster or something.”

“Daddy and I are gonna work on perfecting it and he filed for a patent. Can you imagine how much something like this could help people like me? Getting the patent will be easy but convincing someone to manufacture it will be tough. We’re gonna try like hell, though.”

Johnny nodded. “I can see how they help you stand, but how can you move your legs if you can’t feel them? Can you actually walk?”

Wheels pointed to a leather loop on the outside of each thigh. “Allow me to demonstrate. I’ve been practicing hard. I’ve landed on my face a lot, but I’m getting better. The problem is that once I’m down, getting back up is almost impossible unless I’m near something I can use to flip myself over with so I can unstrap it. Don’t be alarmed if I get off kilter. If I get in real trouble, I’ll let you know.”

“Okay. Where’s Ollie?”

Wheels pointed to the space above the kitchen cupboards. “He won’t come near me when I’m in this.”

Johnny saw the Capuchin monkey crammed between the cupboards and the ceiling. “Aw, he’s scared. C’mere, Ollie. It’s okay. Nothing to be afraid of.”

Ollie’s amber eyes flicked back and forth from Wheels to Johnny. He grimaced at Wheels and let out a grunt of disapproval. Johnny pulled a piece of wasna out of his coat pocket.

“Look what I got, Ollie.”

The handsome, furry primate dropped down onto the counter for a couple of seconds, but as soon as Wheels moved, he leapt back on top of the cupboards.

“Boy, he really doesn’t like that thing, does he?” Johnny remarked.

“Nope. I’ll show you how this works and then take it off. I’ve been in it for a couple of hours and I’m starting to get tired. You have no idea how good it feels to stand, though. And to be able to take a leak like this. That’s something most guys take for granted. Anyway, here goes.”

Using the straps on his thighs, Wheels was able to shuffle forward a little at a time. He pulled up on the strap, lifting his leg and repositioning it a little ahead of him. Then he repeated the process with the other leg. It was slow going, but Wheels didn’t care. He was walking and that was all that mattered. He’d take shuffling while upright over not being able to do it at all.

Johnny watched him closely, studying how the apparatus worked and thinking about how to improve it.

Once they made it to the parlor, Johnny said, “Your real problem is balance. The structure is sound as far as support, but if you had better balance, you could walk faster with less effort.”

Wheels was sweating by this point. “Yeah. We’re trying to figure it out but haven’t come up with anything yet. If you do, let us know.”

“Will do. Now, how do you get out of it? Do you need help?”

“No.”

Wheels backed up to his wheelchair and unstrapped the hip section of the equipment. When his thighs bent at the hip, Wheels caught himself on the arms of the chair and lowered himself the rest of the way onto the seat. Then he unstrapped the rest of the contraption and let it fall to the floor. With his hands, he lifted his legs onto the foot pedals and sat back in his chair, a little out of breath.

Johnny picked up the strange “suit” and examined it. “Amazing. You guys are geniuses.”

“We try. You can just put it over in the corner,” Wheels said. “C’mon, Ollie. I’m in my chair.”

Ollie ran into the room and jumped up onto Wheels’ lap to be cuddled.

“We have to do this every time I’ve had that on. I don’t think he’s used to me being that tall or maybe he just doesn’t like all the metal. I don’t know.”

He petted Ollie, smoothing down the handsome brown, tan, and black fur that covered him. Ollie made happy little chattering sounds, indicating his contentment. Once he was soothed, Ollie stood up on Wheels’ legs and faced Johnny, who patted his shoulder.

Ollie jumped over onto Johnny’s shoulder and then started playing with Johnny’s ear.

“Stop that,” Johnny said, chuckling. He pulled the wasna out of his coat pocket and Ollie chirruped. “Give me a kiss first.”

Ollie wrapped his arms around Johnny’s neck and kissed his cheek hard. Johnny gave him half of the wasna. Ollie took it before jumping down and hopping up on a hassock to eat it.

Wheels smiled. “He loves that stuff. I appreciate Cotton making it for him with just fruit.”

Johnny sat on the sofa. “He likes doing things like that. I like it that way, too.”

“You guys can all have my share,” Wheels said. “I’d rather eat liver, and I hate liver.”