CHAPTER 4: MOTIVATION

"Sally, you can't keep going like this," Charlie Brown pleaded. "You need to get out of bed and get moving. I know you're upset about what happened to you, but if you're going to walk again, you need to snap out of this."

"What's the point?" said Sally. "I'm a paraplexal!"

"That's 'paraplegic'," corrected Charlie Brown.

"Whatever. Anyway, I'm now stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of my life."

"Sally, the doctor said you only sustained damage to your spinal cord. It didn't get severed, so the paralysis is only temporary, unless you do nothing. And with rehab starting in a couple of weeks, the least you can do is some leg stretching. I'll even help you."

"You'd help me, big brother?"

"Of course. Anything to help you recover. Besides, Michael has been dying to see you since coming home."

"Has he really? He still loves me, even though I'm a para- parapl- paraplegic?"

"Absolutely! So how about getting out of that bed?" And Sally finally slid herself out of bed and into her wheelchair. Charlie Brown offered to push her out, but Sally stopped him.

"No, big brother," she said. "I got to do this myself."

"Go ahead, Sally," said a happy Charlie Brown. And Sally wheeled herself out of her bedroom for the first time since coming home from the hospital. When they went into the living room, Sally was surprised to see Michael was already there to see her. Trevor, Snoopy, and Spike were there, too.

"Hey, Sally," greeted Michael.

"Michael!" said a happy Sally. "I'm so glad you're here!" And Michael hugged his girlfriend.

"Trevor and I will leave you two to catch up," said Charlie Brown. "We have some Christmas shopping to do before the stores close."

"Hopefully I can dodge my fans while out in public," added Trevor.

"No kidding," Charlie Brown replied. "Whenever you're in town, where usually nobody would give me the time of day, I actually become the most popular kid in town." And the two cousins went shopping with their dogs in tow.

Also, Schroeder finally got back to playing his piano. Lucy was with him. He was starting to feel much better, but he still wanted to talk to Sally about what had happened. Charlie Brown assured him that he wasn't at fault as everyone else, but he still felt like he owed it to her as director of the Christmas show.

"Are you coming over for Christmas, Schroeder?" asked Lucy.

"Yeah, I'll be over in the afternoon," Schroeder replied.

"Good. We're also paying Sally a visit to see how she's doing now. Linus, Rerun, Eudora, and I went over there a couple of days ago, and Sally was out of it, almost catatonic."

"Well I do want to see her, at the very least to see if she's okay."

"That's all we can do, babe." And Schroeder continued to play while Lucy listened to the music. While he wasn't beating himself up about it like he was before, he still felt like he needed to make things right with him and Sally. So he would take the opportunity to go see her.

Elsewhere, Frieda and Eudora were doing some last-minute shopping of their own. They had gotten their boyfriends some stuff they would like. Frieda got Charlie Brown kites for the spring. She bought multiple kites because of his troubles with flying them and at times getting them stuck in trees. Eudora got Linus a briefcase for his school books. She was sure not to get him a new blanket, as he was still trying to kick the habit after his old one got caught in the woodchipper over a month earlier. Once they had their gifts, the girls then went to Joe's Café for a quick bite to eat, then headed for home. It was going to be a busy Christmas the next day.

NEXT CHAPTER: HAPPINESS AND CHEER