The next day, Lincoln woke up early and headed out into town with his camera in hand. He was on a mission.
"If I can learn more about prosthetic limbs, maybe that'll help when I start." He said to himself.
Lincoln's video camera had given him an idea. He decided he could start a vlog to help other people in his shoes know that just because they're a little different, doesn't mean they're useless.
"Maybe I should try the local library. I'm sure they might have something." As he walked, he suddenly saw someone he'd hoped he wouldn't have to see for a while. It was Chandler. He was coming out of the bank with a tall man with dark red hair like his. "That must be Chandler's dad." Murmured Lincoln. Lincoln had heard of Mr. McCann, but had never actually met him. He wore a blue collared shirt, grey pants with a belt, and expensive looking shoes. "Guess working at the sewage treatment plant helps you roll in the dough." Thought Lincoln.
And Lincoln was right. Greg McCann was living it up. Even though he's an employee, he still earns quite a bit of money. As Lincoln watched them leave, Chandler suddenly noticed Lincoln! Lincoln gulped and hurried away.
In his hurry, Lincoln nearly forgot to wait at the street crossing. He skidded to a stop just in time.
"Careful there, you could get yourself hurt." Said a voice. Lincoln looked to his right and saw an African American teen with black hair and a white and blue shirt looking at him. "Oh, sorry. I was just in a rush." Explained Lincoln. The teen had noticed Lincoln's leg but didn't stare like the others had. He also noticed Lincoln's camera. "You a filmmaker?" He asked curiously. "Oh no, it's for something I want to do to help people." Explained Lincoln. " I wanted to learn more about prosthetic limbs like mine and create a vlog where I can help kids like me learn that they're still the same person who can achieve anything they set their mind to."
The teen was amazed. "Tha-That's amazing!" Then he realized something. "Oh, where are my manners? I'm Vinnie." He said holding out his hand. "Oh, I'm Lincoln." Replied Lincoln shaking Vinnie's hand. "It's nice to meet you Vinnie. You wanna come to the library with me? I'm gonna be doing some research there." Offered Lincoln. "I'm afraid the Library's closed for repairs. They're doing some refurbishing and remodeling." Explained Vinnie. "But I do have an alternative. Come with me. I think I can help."
Vinnie brought Lincoln to the Royal Woods Community College. "I've been going to school here for the past 2 months. I'm hoping to earn a degree in engineering." He led him inside and they entered the library. It was almost bigger than the public one.
Vinnie scanned the aisles and quickly found what he was looking for. They sat down at a table and opened the book.
"This book shows the history of all prosthetic limbs. It's very informative." Said Vinnie. As Lincoln read carefully through it, he immediately knew Vinnie was right.
Lincoln found out the first prosthetic leg was invented on November fourth of 1846, which was made from springs and metal tendons.
A French surgeon in the 1500's created the first prosthetic arm for his amputees.
The earliest functional prosthetic body parts were though to be artificial toes from ancient Egypt.
In running sports, the blade prosthetic allows the runner to run faster with much less effort.
As Lincoln read more and more, he began to feel cool for having a prosthetic limb. "This is really cool Vinnie! Have you always had an interest in prosthetics?" Asked Lincoln. "You could say that. C'mon, there's something I want to show you that I think you'll like."
They left the library and walked down the hallways till they stopped at one of the doors. Vinnie opened it and to Lincoln's surprise, there were two kids there who also had prosthetic limbs! One was a boy with brown hair, a blue and grey striped shirt, blue jeans with the cuffs rolled up, and brown and grey shoes. His arm looked very different to the ones Lincoln had seen in the books. More robotic like.
The other was blonde haired girl with two prosthetic arms, a sleeveless pink blouse with a flower on it, brown shorts and dark brown dress shoes. Her arms also looked a bit like the boy's.
"Hey guys! I have someone I'd like you to meet. This is Lincoln." Said Vinnie.
The boy hopped down from the stool he was sitting on and approached Lincoln. "Nice to meet you Lincoln! I'm Jake ZooBrawd." Said the boy. "Nice to meet you too Jake. Your arm looks so cool. I've never seen one like that before." Said Lincoln in awe. "Yeah, my dad built it for me. I was born without a left arm so he built one for me." Explained Lincoln. "What's it made of?" Asked Lincoln curiously. "It was mostly constructed from stainless steel parts from a DeLorean." Said Jake. "Your dad built your arm from a car?" Asked Lincoln in amazement. "Yeah! The way I see it, if you're gonna build an arm from a car why not do it with some style?" And Lincoln and Jake shared a laugh.
Then, the girl walked up. "Hi! I'm Romy. It's nice to meet you!" Lincoln liked the girl's upbeat personality. "It's nice to meet you too Romy." Replied Lincoln. "Is this a physical therapy session?" Asked Lincoln curiously. "No, this is where we meet for our support group: Power Of Prosthetics!" Explained Romy. "Jake and I created this group a few months ago. And Vinnie's our supervisor. Unfortunately though, no one else has really joined." Lincoln felt sorry for his new friends. "Well, what if I join you? I could use your guy's help with something." Asked Lincoln. Jake and Romy loved the sound of that. "Really?" Asked Jake. "Sure! Why not?" Asked Lincoln. "Oh, thank you Lincoln!" Cried Romy. "We're really lucky to have you." Said Vinnie. "So, what did you need help with?" Asked Jake.
Lincoln told them all about his idea for his vlog. "That sounds awesome!" Exclaimed Jake. "Maybe we can be your Co-hosts?" Offered Romy. "That's a great idea!" Said Lincoln happily. Vinnie smiled too. "Tell you what? How about the four of us head over to Gus' Games And Grub for lunch so we can talk over some ideas?" Asked Vinnie. The kids loved that idea. "Hooray!" They cheered. And Lincoln and his new friends headed out the door to Gus'. Lincoln felt even happier than ever. "This is going to be great."
Stay tuned for chapter 9!
Jake ZooBrawd and Romy belong to @jakezubrud98