I have a secret super power, but I’m not going to tell you what it is, you have to read the whole story to find out. You may think its obvious, I do have a special condition called proximal femoral focal efficiency (I know right!), Its to hard to say that all the time so I just say PFFD. It means one of my thigh bones, the femur, didn’t grow as big as the other one so its like I have one and half legs instead of two. Anything less then what most people have can be a pain, especially when it means you have to have several surgeries so that you can walk with an artificial leg. When you start life with something different its only different to every one else, for me, its just me. My normal is putting this thing on that looks like a leg so I can walk without crutches or a wheelchair. Just like you put on sneakers to play basketball, I put on my leg.
Most of the time I am just me and I don’t think about it, sometimes I can’t do things as well as other people and it makes me angry. My stupid brother is always faster then I am and always finds me when we play hide and seek. It takes me a little longer to find a hiding place, so there’s that. It is also really hard to be a stealth ninja with an artificial leg. I am either clumping around like a pirate or making noise with my crutches (I can’t really play hide and seek in our house with the wheelchair very well, but I’m working on it). My brother also thinks he is smarter then I am. I let him think that because he is an annoying little brother, but everyone else knows better.
When the weather is bad its hard to find fun stuff to do inside. Our house is cool with all kinds of places to hide, but its old so everything is loud . So I always lose.
Today is going to be different, remember how I told you I have a secret super power, and I am smarter then why little brother! It was rainy outside and mom and dad didn’t want to go anywhere so my bother says. “Why don’t we play hide and seek?”
I know he likes playing when its just me because he likes finding me quickly then pretending to chase me while he makes fun of me. I know it sounds sort of mean, but he is my brother and I’m sort of used to it. Anyway, back to the story.
So today was going to be different, I didn’t even try to stay quite while he counted.
“1…2…3….4….”
I went up stairs into mom and dad’s bedroom. They have one of those tall beds that they some times stick storage containers under and big walk in closet. I never hide under the bed because it a pain and hard to get back up, By the time I am on the floor and sneaking under the bed my brother is already in the room and catches me with my leg sticking out. Then he usually tries to sneak up and grab me even though I can hear him he is too fast and grabs my leg while taunting me. “too bad, so sad.”
“10…..11……12”
I am quick, today is going to be different. I know I was quicker today, but that meant I wasn’t quiet so he will have a good idea where I am hiding upstairs.
“18….19……20 Ready or not here I come.”
He is too slow today I am completely hidden, He, he, he….
I can hear him running up the stairs
“you are sooooo loud I am going to catch you the fastest ever.”
I can see the door from where I am hiding, there is no way he is going to find me.
He bursts into the room. “See I told you there is no hiding from me. I can still see you. You are the worst at this game.
How can he possible see me, hmmm….
He walks over to the bed and grabs my leg “got you”
Then he is silent for a second “wait, what?”
I am giggling so hard my whole body is shacking.
“Amy, where are you, what the heck?”
I peak between the doors to the closet and there is my, not as smart as me ,brother holding my leg up. Except, I am not attached to it. You see! My superpower (I should say one of my superpowers ) is that I can be in more then one place at a time. My parts are detachable, he, he, he…. He had no chance against my evil genius.
