In the Family 2
"So, I want to check out your crutches" Missy's mom, Carol, said,
startling Missy.
"What?"
"they look nice - I want to try them." she
repeated.
"Really?" Missy asked again, suddenly
embarrassed all over again.
"You don't need to be embarrassed Missy, really - I
understand."
"I know, it's just going to take a little
getting used to. I'll get
them."
Missy left and returned with her crutches, cheeks still turning pink as
she handed them to her mother.
Carol took them and measured them up, then lengthened them by one click,
so they were properly fitted. She
put them under her arms and took a few test swings. Missy could see the look of contentment
on her face as she reminisced.
"Mom..." Missy said, bringing Carol back to the now. "So, how long did you...
"
"For years, Missy. Though I was less into
bandages and braces and more into playing amputee, to be honest. There was just something about getting
around, doing things with a missing limb..."
"Really?
I never thought of that..." Missy said, watching her mother crutch about
the room, apparently remembering old times. "So, why did you
stop?"
"Honestly, because of you, more or less - though not in
a bad way. I pretended up
until about my sixth month pregnant with you, and by that time you were
definitely showing and I was having balance issues, so I stopped, for fear of
falling, and afterwards I tried a few times, but just never really got back into
it - being a single mother was difficult enough, trying to carry a baby or
change diapers on crutches or with one arm just became too much, and by the time
you were old enough where that wasn't a concern, explaining why I suddenly had
one leg to my 3 year old daughter became the concern, so I just dropped
it."
"Did you miss it?"
"Yes, I missed it terribly for a while, but moved on with my life, as we
so often must do. But today, seeing
you, on that video, it brought me back so many things, Missy. I could tell, by that look on your face,
you have the same experience I do, the same, shall we say, enthusiasm. You enjoy it a lot, don't
you?"
"Yes - I can't explain it, and I guess with you I thankfully don't have
to, but it's just this amazing feeling, you know?"
"I do have one question, Missy." Carol said, turning on the crutches and
facing Missy.
"Yes?" asked Missy, now almost totally comfortable seeing her mom on her
aluminum crutches.
"Why do you clean? I mean, I
used to play around, do my makeup, play all sorts of dress-up - but why do you
clean the house?"
Missy laughed. "Well, I
guess when I first used the crutches, I wanted to try to se how I could do
normal, everyday things while using them - that expanded the more 'disabled' I
became, and it became a rush for me to be able to accomplish everyday things I
usually take for granted while in my various 'conditions'. Cleaning and straightening up the house
just became one of those challenges I wanted to meet."
"I can understand that - so what was that contraption
you had on your leg, anyway? It
looked like a cast..."
"It's just a bunch of ACE bandages and a corner-bracket for a 'brace',
keeping my leg flexed like that.
That was the first time I had tried it, and I like it a
lot."
"That's very ingenious, actually.
And it also brings me to my next discussion - since you seem to be more
confident talking about this now."
"What's that?" Missy asked.
"Well, two things. First -
you can pretend whatever you like around the house, even when I'm home - in
fact, if it means you'll keep cleaning and maybe doing a few extra chores I
assign to you, you can stay in whatever condition you desire, as long as it's
not harmful or dangerous of course."
"OK - it's a deal, mom. What
was the second thing?"
"Well, the second thing is that I want to make sure you'll be OK if I do
the same - pretend I have differing 'conditions' around the house
sometimes."
"Well, if you're OK with me doing it, I'm sure I'll be OK with you doing
it - it might take a little getting used to, but I think it will be fine. I'll let you know if it's getting too
weird, OK?"
"OK, it's a deal." Carol said, starting to crutch
away.
"One condition, mom." Missy chimed
in.
"What's that?" Carol asked, curious.
"You get your own toys - those are my crutches." she smiled. Carol smiled back and gave Missy back
her crutches.
"No problem - maybe I'll even pick some things up for you, too." Carol
replied.
The next day, Missy got home at the usual time and decided on a
straight-leg configuration, putting the bandages on and this time adding some
extra bracing in the form of two rolled magazines over the first wrap and under
all the rest. She wrapped her ankle
heavily, too, so her leg was more or less totally immobile from the hip down,
except her toes, which she wiggled excitedly. She then dressed in a modest knee-length
skirt and t-shirt, then dressed her 'good' leg in a
white sock and mary-jane shoe. She used the bathroom and brushed her
hair, then straightened up the living room (which they had both left extra
messy, just for this), and finally went to the fridge to see what 'extra chores'
her mom had left for her. There was
just one, but it made Missy smile, as her mom had chosen a difficult one - well,
difficult in her current 'condition' - she had to take the laundry basket form
her mom's room, take it to the laundry room in the basement, put in a batch,
then take the sheets out of the dryer and make both her and her mother's
beds. Under normal circumstances,
something she could do in under 20 minutes - in her
current condition, she wondered if she would be able to get it done in the hour
before her mother got home.
Missy crutched to her mothers' bedroom and saw that there was, indeed, a
laundry basket, about half full of laundry. She smiled - her mom didn't want to make
it too tough for her the first time, which she appreciated. She tried to figure out how to get the
basket to the basement door - she tried to carry it using only one crutch, but
she couldn't manage it. She finally
just decided to push it along with one crutch, slowly sliding it across the
floor until she reached the door to the basement. She opened the door and leaned the
crutches against the wall outside the door - she had a plan for doing the
laundry and didn't think she'd need them for this part. She lowered herself to the floor,
sitting on the top step of the basement stairs, and took the basket of laundry
in her lap. Slowly, step by step,
she lowered herself down, never letting her 'injured'
leg hit the stairs. At the bottom,
she got up on her good foot and hopped, basket in hand, the 10 feet to the
washer. She loaded the washer and
started it, then went to the dryer, pulling out the sheets and putting them in
the now empty basket. She then
hopped back to the stairs, sat herself down, and again made the slow trek up the
stairs, basket held in her lap. She made it up the stairs, put the basket on the
floor, and regained her crutches.
She pushed the basket to her mother's bedroom and then proceeded to strip
her mom's bed, tossing the dirty laundry aside for later.
Making the beds wasn't as difficult as she had first thought - it wasn't
too difficult from the normal way, she just did it on one leg (getting more
better balanced without the crutches for short periods), and as her mom came in,
she was just finishing making her own bed.
She called out to her mother, but Carol just said 'give me a minute' and
slipped into her bedroom, closing the door before Missy could even see her. Missy shrugged and finished making her
bed, then crutched into the kitchen and took out the dinner plates,
one-crutching to the table in several trips to set the table. Soon, she heard her mom's door open, and
heard the unmistakable 'thump-thump' of someone walking on crutches - she just
wasn't completely ready for what she saw when her mother walked - or rather
crutched - into the kitchen. She
was in her work clothes still - a nice brown knit skirt and matching blouse and
sweater combo, plus a beige stocking or tights on her right leg, followed by a
flat shoe in black - but she was on very nice aluminum forearm crutches, and was
missing her left leg entirely - Missy could see the round shape of the 'stump'
through the knit skirt, and if she didn't know the woman standing before her she
would immediately assume the woman was a long-time amputee, so realistic was the
illusion.
"Mom!" Missy said.
"Yes - what do you think?" Carol asked, suddenly seeming hesitant, almost
embarrassed.
"It's amazing - totally convincing!
I'd swear you were an amputee."
"And - how do you feel about that?" Carol asked, looking at her daughter
for any sign of trepidation, any issues she might be having seeing her like
this.
"I like it, actually. Well,
at least I'm not freaked out by it - no, I like it because I like how happy you
looked as you crutched in here, I can say that much. I love your crutches, they're very
beautiful. I just - I can't believe
I'm saying this, but I just find this so cool."
Carol was immediately relaxed. "Good, I'm glad. So how did you do with your chores?"
"I got them finished - the laundry room was the hardest part, but I think
you knew that."
"Yes, and I'm glad you were able to get it all done - how did it
feel?"
"Amazing - I have such a sense of accomplishment now, it's
wonderful. Do you want help with
dinner? It seems you might need
it.." she said, indicating Carol's crutches and single
leg.
"Actually, I wanted to give it a try on my own - it's been a while, but I
used to be pretty good at it. You
can hang out and watch, if you like." Carol said.
"OK, sure." missy said. She
pulled up 2 chairs, one to sit in, and the other to rest her leg on.
"Hold on." Carol said, crutched out of the room, and crutched back in
holding one of the smaller blue pillows from the couch. "Lift." she said, indicating Missy's
leg. Missy obliged, and Carol put
the pillow under her heel and lower leg.
"There, need to keep that elevated." she said with a grin, and Missy
smiled widely. "Oh mom." she
said.
It didn't take long for Carol to get back into her old habits - her
movement on the forearm crutches and her single leg was fluid, and by the time
she had dinner cooking on the stove, the crutches seemed nothing more than an
extension of her body - she could balance very well on her single leg, and it
amazed Missy to watch her 'stump' wiggle about as she balanced. Finally, dinner was ready, and Missy did
help her mother bring things to the table and serve. Missy sat and kept her leg on the other
chair and pillow, 'elevated' as her mother directed her, and she watched her mom
sit so gracefully it was as if she had been doing this her whole
life.
"So, isn't it uncomfortable, to sit like that?" Missy finally
asked.
"Not at all, as long as you've prepared properly - it took me a while to
find the right way to do it so I don't lose circulation or cramp up, and so it's
comfortable when I sit."
"It's amazing - very convincing." Missy said again.
"Thank you. So, for you,
what is it, the immobilization?
Your leg looks very solid, rigid."
"I guess it's something like that, sure." she said, wiggling her toes
again. "There's just something
about the way it feels, and the fact that I can't flex it - I just like
it."
"Are you planning on doing more?" Carol asked,
"More what?"
"Maybe your other leg? Something like
that?"
"Well, I hadn't thought of it, really. I suppose I could try - but I'd need a
lot more bandages. At least 10 more
- I don't have the money right now."
"Well, we'll see what we can do then, won't we?" Carol said.
After dinner was finished, both women cleared the table and Missy did the
dishes as Carol crutched about the house.
The pair watched TV, Missy with her 'injury' elevated on pillows and
Carol just sitting there, occasionally rubbing her 'stump' or tapping her single
foot. By the time Missy picked up
her crutches and stood up to head to bed, there was no awkwardness at all
between them - just an unspoken understanding, and a very interesting new
mother-daughter bond.
Missy got home the next day to find a package on the counter with a tag
bearing the inscription 'From mom, enjoy'.
within the bag was a full dozen wide ACE
bandages and two other items in unmarked plastic wrapping. Missy excitedly brought the bag into her
bedroom and was excited and thrilled to see what the other items were! She immediately stripped down and began
her ritual, first with her normal right leg, immobilizing it with the magazines
and bandages, and then with the new bandages, she began immobilizing the second
leg in the same way, with two more magazines used for extra splinting at the
knees. As soon as both legs were
immobilized, Missy began trying to put on a pair of dark blue tights. She bent and stretched and finally was
able to get the tights onto both her bandaged legs, and worked at pulling them
up at least to her thighs. She then
took the two new items and undid their velcro straps,
then placed the first on on her right foot - they were
cast boots, with nice padded soles, and fit onto her bandaged feet perfectly,
the straps tightening snugly around her puffy bandaged ankles. Once the boots were secure, she
carefully stood up and pulled her tights the rest of the way up, then, keeping
her balance by holding onto the bed, she straightened them out and put on a nice
white blouse and a blue plaid jumper that complimented the tights nicely. The
dark blue color was chosen for a reason, because it showed the light beige cast
boots off dramatically, so there was no mistaking what she was wearing, or
why.
She finished dressing and began practicing on her crutches - with both
legs immobilized, this was considerably more demanding, and after a few minutes
of practice, Missy was able to lift herself on the crutches and, using her hips,
swing her legs out about a foot in front of her. In this manner, she could move at a slow
but steady rate around the house, but she prayed her mother hadn't left her any
basement chores to do - she knew that, until she became more familiar with this
condition, stairs were not going to be something she could readily handle.
Her chores list had three listings - the first two chores, the last, a
directive from mom. The chores were
simple enough - put away the clean dishes and water the plants. Missy was able to balance herself
against the counter to empty the dishwasher, though
putting some of the dishes away was a little tricky due to height or other
access issues. Watering the plants
consisted of filling a small indoor watering can from the sink, then crutching
across to the main living room window area (where the plants were) and watering
each of them in turn. The crutching
across the room holding a watering can ended up being the tricky part, and so
Missy had to improvise - she couldn't one-crutch like this yet, it was too
difficult to move her legs, so she had to use both crutches. To get to the plants, Missy took a
shoelace out of the kitchen drawer and tied it to the handle of the watering can
in a large loop. She then filled
the can halfway, and hung it from her neck - because it was only half full,
splashing was minimal, but she had to make the trip twice to get all the plants
fed. She left the watering can by
the sink and looked at the note again, at the third item - "When I get home,
assuming you are in the condition I expect you'll be in, I want you on the couch
with your legs elevated." Nothing more than that, but with the amount of effort
it took to do basically anything like this, Missy didn't complain - she took a
bunch of pillows from the chair and sofa, made a pile to support both her back
and her legs, and then carefully sat, lifted her immobile legs onto the pillows
provided, and set her crutches down.
She flicked on the TV and looked at the clock. 45 minutes before her mother got
home. She was curious... was the
tape still in the VCR? She pressed
play - the black and white image of herself crutching
around the living room filled the screen.
She shut it off, guilty. She
pressed 'play' again, watching herself, leg immobile and bent. She looked so awkward. She was moving pillows, to prop up her
leg... she was sitting... she was changing channels... She was...
Missy found herself sitting on the couch, both legs immobile and propped
up, watching herself on the TV, and her TV-Self was starting to touch herself,
starting to rub her bandaged leg, staring to masturbate. Missy looked at her newly immobilized
legs, she could see the texture of the bandages under the tights she wore, and
what was more important, she could feel what they did to her legs, she knew
that, at this moment, her legs did not work, and that excited her. She began rubbing herself through her
tights and panties, then just her panties, and as her TV-self was working up to
an amazing orgasm, her living-room self was rubbing her clit firmly, slipping a
pinky into her vagina, and watching her legs just sit there, unable to do
anything more than curl her toes.
She came with force, moaning and trying not to cry out too loud as she
came not once, but three times.
She lay there for a time, she didn't really know how long, and finally
pulled her panties and tights back up and turned off the tape, rewinding it to
the beginning. She was watching TV
when her mom came in, said 'just a minute, Missy' and took off into her
bedroom. Missy barely had time to
blurt out a 'thanks mom' as she buzzed by.
A minute later, the doorbell rang, and Missy froze.
"Honey, can you get that?" Carol called out from the
bedroom.
"What? Are you serious?"
Missy replied. The bell rang
again.
"Yes honey, please get the door - don't worry about it." her mom replied.
Missy was confused, but the third ring of the doorbell fixed her
determination. She swung her legs
off the couch and grabbed her crutches, then pushed her way to standing. As the bell rang again, she called out
"I'm coming!" loudly and crutched her way to the door. She swung it open and was greeted by an
annoyed pizza delivery person - annoyed until he saw her on crutches, saw her
obviously disabled legs. He
apologized sheepishly and held out the pizza to her, saying it was already paid
for by credit card. She looked at
the large pizza box and the appetizer box on top of it, and looked at her
crutches and legs. "Could you, um -
would you mind bringing it in for me?
I'd appreciate it." she said sweetly. The embarrassed delivery man obliged,
taking the pizza in and putting it on the table as Missy directed. As he was about to leave, Missy hear her
mom's voice.
"Hold on, don't let him leave!" she called out. "Not without his
tip."
Carol rounded the corner wearing a beautiful black pinstriped pantsuit,
with one sleeve completely empty and pinned up in a neat fold. Missy had to suppress a gasp as her
normally right-handed mother pulled several bills out of her pocket with her
left - and only - hand, and handed them to the delivery boy without missing a
step. The delivery guy said thank
you and hurried away, not even turning to look back as he pulled out of the
driveway.
"Mother, are you out of your mind?
Seriously - what if that was someone we know?"
"That would have been difficult to explain, wouldn't it?" Carol
grinned.
"Yeah, you could say that.
That's why you wanted me on the couch, with my legs elevated - so I'd
have to know what it's like to scramble to get the door in this
condition?"
"You got it. Consider it a
fun little test."
Missy smiled. "And what's up
with the arm - no leg today?"
"Not today - actually, let me get my crutches, I wanted you to use them
in this situation - I think you'll find them more useful.
Carol got her forearm crutches and handed them to Missy, who swapped them
out with her underarm crutches. Her
mom instructed her on how to position them, put pressure, lift herself, swing with the hips.
After 15 minutes, Missy definitely liked the forearm styled crutches
better, at least in this case with both legs immobile. the two sat at the table to have dinner,
and Missy marveled at how her mother was able to manage eating pizza and
mozzarella sticks with just her single hand - for the pizza, she had a way of
folding the slice lengthwise, as to make a rigid support to keep the whole slice
from flopping down when she lifted it.
In all honesty, Carol probably ate more neatly with her one hand than
Missy was able to manage with both arms functioning. Just another amazing feat of her amazing
mother.
"So, Missy." Carol said as they finished dinner
and she cleaned up (she insisted upon it, letting Missy watch her single-handed
dexterity), "you have some time off available from
work, don't you?"
"Yes, almost two full weeks - why?"
"Can you take three days off next week - Monday through
Wednesday?"
"I'm sure I could - that's right after restock, so I wouldn't even be
missed. Why do you ask?" Missy
asked.
"I have arranged for something for you, but I have to confirm by tomorrow
- so you can definitely take the time off?"
"Yes, it won't be a problem - what is it you've
arranged?"
"It's a surprise..." Carol said with a smile, and left it at
that.