[stylist] New THOUGHT PROVOKER #154- White Canes and Windmills

[Pat Harmon]

Let us as blind individuals, celebrate the imagination!  Stories have 
involved fantasizing since people have roamed the earth.  Even if a tale has 
been told millions of time, storytellers and writers are responsible for new 
approaches to an old tale.

Blind people cannot forget how "Like" all others we are.  If we truly 
believe blindness is a simple characteristic, we must believe fantasizing is 
normal behavior.  Human beings do it regularly!

Strolling down the red carpet in a designer gown with a Prince Charming on 
my arm at the Academy Awards is part of my dream.  There are predictions I 
shall win, so I prepare a marvelous acceptance speech.  I cry, just a 
little.  My makeup is perfect; my gown is turquoise.  My cane sparkles with 
silver beading.  It is my magic wand!
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert Leslie Newman" <newmanrl at cox.net>
To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, February 14, 2010 6:20 PM
Subject: [stylist] New THOUGHT PROVOKER #154- White Canes and Windmills


> Fellow Writers
>
> RE: White Canes and Windmills
>
>
>
> Here is my 154th THOUGHT PROVOKER and it is again my turn to present a TP.
> This newest provoker has a young boy getting ready to go off to school and
> for the first time, take and use his new long white cane in front of all 
> his
> peers. Needless to say, young master Danny is nervous and is having to 
> face
> down some of his inner-most, devils. If you have not read the PROVOKER, it
> follows.  Recall that I collect responses and post them upon my web site 
> for
> all the WWW to read and learn from and that URL is-
> <http://thoughtprovoker.info/> Http://thoughtprovoker.info  If you wish to
> receive THOUGHT PROVOKERS sent directly to you, just write me and ask, at-
> newmanrl at cox.net
>
>
>
>
>
> THOUGHT PROVOKER 154
>
> White Canes and Windmills
>
>
>
> In his bedroom, Danny picked up his long white cane, his first. Its weight
> was easy to handle. Holding it up and straight out before him, he gave it 
> a
> tentative sword-like, back-and-forth swish. This would be his first day
> using it at school and he couldn't kid himself, he was nervous about how
> people would react to him.
>
>
>
> "Danny," his mother called up to him from downstairs. "Come down. You need
> to start walking to school, son."
>
>
>
> "Sixty seconds, Mom." Lowering the cane, positioning it at center, Danny
> tapped it left to right in the two-point touch method he had been taught.
> "Wonder what the girls will think?" Danny looked inward and began to
> fantasize.
>
>
>
> It was a warm day. It was after school and he was walking home, using his
> new cane. At Maple and Main, the usual group of snooty girls was gathered,
> visiting. Danny knew they saw him coming; his stride was confident,
> shoulders back, head up, swinging in a steady rhythm, arching his cane, 
> not
> staring down at shuffling feet like before. He was truckin'!
>
>
>
> DING-DING, the ice-cream truck drove by.
>
>
>
> "Oh, stop, stop!" Cried all the girls, but the truck kept on rolling down
> the street.
>
>
>
> "I'll stop him!" In his dream, Danny leaps forward; cane flashing; he
> sprints down the walk; catches up with the truck; reaches out and taps the
> windshield with his cane tip; the truck stops.
>
>
>
> "Danny." his mother calls again.
>
>
>
> "Yes Mom, just 40 seconds." Feeling excited about what he might be able to
> use his cane for, Danny lifts it up, this time in the on-guard sword
> position. In his fantasy he is now on the neighborhood playground, walking
> with his cane and . . .
>
>
>
> "Hey Squint, where's your magnifying glasses and what's that wimpy stick?"
> The blunt end of a baseball bat poked into Danny's stomach, punctuating 
> the
> bully's last word.
>
>
>
> Danny jumps back, whirls a three-sixty and with the tip of his cane flicks
> the bully's baseball hat off his head.
>
>
>
> "Hey!" Taken by surprise, the bully retaliates, swinging the bat.
>
>
>
> The WHOOSH of the oncoming danger cues Danny to step back and the bat 
> swings
> by harmlessly. Countering with his trusty cane, Danny steps forward and
> spanks the bully sharply on the seat of his pants.
>
>
>
> "OUCH! Grrr, I'll get you for that!" Bat pulled back for another swing, 
> the
> bully leaps forward.
>
>
>
> Danny jumps onto a lower rung of a set of climbing bars; the bully swings
> again; Danny sidesteps; RING the bat strikes the bars; the bat brakes; the
> bully yells with the pain of the splintering wood in his hands; Danny
> thrusts out, inserting the dirty tip of his cane into the bully's open
> mouth.
>
>
>
> "Danny?" His mother's voice brings him back. "Are you coming?"
>
>
>
> "Twenty seconds, Mom." Danny's pumped, his thoughts are racing, seeing 
> great
> potential for him and his new cane; maybe even school-wide fame. . .
>
>
>
> The scene is the crowded school's playground. He visualizes the towering
> structures of the wind turbines lining the edge of the school's property.
> This was recess and the kids were doing what they've done since the
> windmills were built--they watched the whirling propellers, boasting on 
> what
> they'd do if they could climb the towers.
>
>
>
> Walking out in front of all the gathered students, Danny snaps on a hook 
> to
> the tip-end of his cane; he jumps skyward; he hooks a blade as it swings
> down; he is lifted up and rides around waving to the astonishment and
> admiration of all.
>
>
>
> "Danny, you need to come down, now!"
>
>
>
> "Yes, Mom." New cane in hand, Danny speeds downstairs, ready to tackle the
> day.
>
>
>
>
> Robert Leslie Newman
> Author of THOUGHT PROVOKER
> http://www.thoughtprovoker.info <http://www.thoughtprovoker.info/>
> Thought Is The First Step To Beyond
>
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