CHAPTER 4: PHYSIOTHERAPY... SORT OF

Days turned into weeks, and after 2 weeks things began to become boring. Day in, day out was the same, no matter how hard Elias and Kate tried to make it entertaining. Max had spent most of it napping, so he wasn't all that bothered, but Elias and Kate had begun to struggle.

"Why don't we go shopping or something?"

"Ehhhhh, I'm not sure, it's quite a trek and Max has been moody today, if he has a meltdown whilst we're out it'll blow our cover."

"Watch TV?"

"It's the same thing everyday since we have like two channels on cable."

"Have sex?"

"What-?!"

"Look I'm just throwing suggestions out there."

"We can't. Max is literally asleep in the other room."

"He won't hear if we're quiet."

"Stop talking about having sex!"

"Ok fine. What else could we do… ?" Elias lay upside down on the couch, deep in thought, before getting a lightbulb idea. "I got it!"

"I swear if you say-"

"I'm not gonna-! Look, listen, what if we… Taught dad how to walk again!"

"Are you insane? You heard Dr. Quack! There's no way he'll ever be able to walk again, his legs are too weak!"

"Yeah but, have we ever even tried to give him physiotherapy? Maybe there's a chance to help him at least regain a bit of walking."

Kate thought for a moment. "You're..

You're right actually, we never did try to give him physio. So are you suggesting we try to do it ourselves? How would that work?"

"I dunno, why don't we just try? Go get him out of bed."

"Elias, he's going to get so cranky if I do that, we'll need his full cooperation if we want this to succeed."

"Not if you do it gently. Watch and learn, m'dear." Elias proceeded to stand up and begin walking into the bedroom.

"M'dear, huh? That's a new one." She followed him in, curious as to what this method was. When she walked in, she saw Elias was already sitting on the bed, Max's head in his lap and gently stroking him, as Max's eyes were half open, looking at him and sort of smiling.

"How was your nap?"

"Good…"

"That's good! Because we have work to do today, and you need to get up."

"Wha…?"

"You'll see. Come on, let's get up." Elias proceeded to stand up, letting Max rub his eyes and stretch before picking him up, looking to Kate. "So, where should we do this?"

"Maybe outside, the grass can break his fall."

"Break my fall… ? What?"

"Right, let's go." The two proceeded to start walking outside.

"My wheelchair-!"

"You're not going to need it. See, dad, what we're doing today is… Helping you to start walking again." He proceeded to sit down in the grass, sitting Max in his lap.

"I don't want to walk again."

"Why?"

"Don't want to. Too tired. Want to sleep."

"Oh don't say that! This'll be fun, watch." Elias stood up, looking at Kate. "We should probably start by exercising his legs, get them all stretched out before we try to help him walk." Kate nodded, and knelt down next to Max, grabbing hold of his legs and starting to move them around, stretching his muscles, whilst Max just looked at her, rather unamused. Did she have to do this to him?

"Alright, that should do it."

"Riiighht, so now I think we should do it like this: I hold dad up, you help him move his legs. Dad, all you've gotta do is move your legs, act as if though you're walking, we'll keep you up."

"Don't want to. Need to go to the bathroom."

"You can go to the bathroom after we try this."

"Nooo, I need to go NOW!"

"Right, this is a good chance to practice. Dad, if you walk, we'll take you to the bathroom."

"I want to GO!"

"Elias, I don't think we should do this. He's getting upset, we should just take him to the bathroom and leave him be. He's made his decision." Before Elias could say or do anything, Kate got Max up, bringing him to the bathroom to do his business before helping him to the couch, sitting down next to him.

"Do you want to do it?"

"Not really."

"Why not?"

"Boring. I'm tired. Want to sleep."

"Max, all you've done is sleep. I get that you're tired a lot but why don't you give it a shot? Wouldn't you love to be able to walk again?"

"Sort of."

"Well if you're giving me a sort of, that means we should try. It's better than having to be stuck in that wheelchair for the rest of your life, having to depend on others to help you constantly when you could do certain things for yourself if you learn how to walk again." He thought long and hard about what she said, and realized that she was actually right for once. This could be his chance to try to get better and walk again.

"I… Can try…"

"Good! Great even! Let's go back outside to Elias." She picked him up, going back down the steps and to Elias, who was just picking grass blades and making a bracelet. Once he spotted them, he stood up, walking over.

"Hey, dad, I'm sorry for trying to make you walk. Take this." He proceeded to tie it around Max's wrist, as Max looked at it with interest.

"Do you like it?"

"Yeah. I want to walk."

"You do?"

"Mhm."

"Alright, let's do it." Kate nodded at Elias, placing Max on the ground but keeping a firm hold on his upper half as Elias grabbed his legs.

"On the count of 3, lift him up."

"Right."

"1… 2…3-!" On 3, Kate lifted Max up whilst Elias kept a firm grip on Max's legs as Max pushed with all his might to get himself to stand up, and successfully managed to get him to stand, albeit in a weird position.

"There! You're standing!" Although his legs were shaking horribly despite Elias holding his legs and he felt like he was about to collapse any second, Max felt a big beam of pride throughout himself in the moment.

"I'm… Standing…" He looked at his surroundings from his true height for the first time in a year or so, smiling widely like an idiot.

"Now it's time to try walking. Dad, all you have to do is walk. I'll help you move your legs." Max nodded as Elias looked up to Kate, who nodded too. It was time to try.

"1… 2… 3-!" On 3, Elias began to help Max move his legs as Max moved his legs the best he could, Kate still having her arms wrapped around his waist. He was doing it. Max was walking again. He looked around in amazement at his surroundings, before looking down at the 2 people that had made it possible. He loved them so much at that moment, how could he have possibly ever hated them?

After a couple more steps, Elias let go of Max's legs, allowing him to drop into Kate's arms safely. "Well, what did you think, dad?"

"Amazing. Want to keep doing it, I want to walk again."

"Good, great! We can totally keep doing that, right Kate?"

"Right. Now then, Max, I assume you want to go back to sleep?"

"No, actually. Not tired."

"Oh, alright then. How about we all go inside and watch a movie then?"

"Yes! Please! I reeeallllyyy want to watch Titanic."

"Elias, didn't you cry so hard the last time we had to stop watching?"

"Yeaaah but I want to prove I can watch it without crying!"

"Looks like we're in for a long 3 hours, Max."

"I like the Titanic."

"I didn't even know that. You learn something new every day. Let's get going then." Kate stood up, picking Max up and bringing him to the couch as Elias followed, sitting himself next to Max and grabbing the blanket to cover them up. Max snuggled in as Kate grabbed a few snacks, setting them down on the table before turning the movie on. She sat herself down next to Max, who immediately nestled into her, not being shy at all. She just smiled and stroked him gently as the movie played. Things were finally healing between the two after years of Max hating her.