Chapter 3
Zack POV
We continued to have fun that afternoon, as we played with my favorite ball. A big yellow ball that had a bell inside. At one point while rolling it to one another in the living room, my Aunty Celeste walked outside with her cane.
"Hey Zack, I've seen your aunt walk around with a stick. What does that do?" Tommy asked.
"Tommy, correction, it's not called a stick, it's actually called a cane. And, you use it to feel what's in front of you so you don't hurt yourself." I replied.
I ran back to my aunt's room and rummaged through her closet, where I found a small cane our size. Taking it back out into the living room, I put it in Tommy's hand and explained to him what to do.
"Now what you're gonna do is walk around with this cane, and move it from side to side." I explained.
"Will I run into anything?" Tommy asked.
"That's what the cane is for, it will hit the object before you do." I said.
Tommy walked through the living room, the cane hit a bookshelf. Tommy went over to feel what it was.
"Ah, the cane told me I was close to the bookcase. Neat!" Tommy said.
Everyone else took turns using the cane too.
"I like the cane." Said Chuckie with a smile.
Just after Chuckie took his turn, my aunty Celeste walked back inside, carrying several duffle bags and a large box.
"I have your stuff from your parents for the slumber party, and Zachary, our package from the Braille and Talking Book Library has arrived. Unfortunately, they were all out of Reptar books, so I got us something new to check out, which we'll get to read at bedtime." Said my aunt with a smile, as she set the box down on to the floor, and handed everyone a duffle bag.
"Now, I'm off to prepare dinner." Said my aunt as she walked into the kitchen.
"What are we having?" I asked.
"Chicken parmegeon." She replied.
Later on at dinner, we all sat down at the table, our plates of chicken in front of us, my friends still wearing their blindfolds. Chuckie reached out to find his utencils.
"How do we eat with a fork if we're blind?" Chuckie asked.
"The same way we do if we're sighted." I replied.
Aunty Celeste joined us at the table.
"So, I guess we're dining in the dark?" She asked playfully.
All of us laughed as we dug into our food.
After dinner, we had dessert. Celeste set down in front of each of us, chocolate ice cream sandwiches.
"Yuck, this sandwich doesn't feel right." Said Kimi, picking up her ice cream sandwich and putting it back down.
"Sometimes when you can't see, different textures don't feel very good. I don't like to touch glue." Said Aunty Celeste.
"Why is that aunty Celeste?" I asked.
"I'm not sure Zack it's a mystery." She replied, as she headed off into the kitchen to clean up the dishes.
"Now finish up your dessert kids, because we have a new bedtime story to check out tonight." Said Aunty Celeste from the kitchen, loud enough over the running water so we could hear her.
We all went to my room after dessert and gathered together on the floor. Aunty Celeste walked in a few minutes later, carrying the Braille book.
"Here's our book for tonight, issue 1 of Armadillo Dave." Said Aunty Celeste, as she opened up the book, found the first page, and read it to us.
After it was finished.
"Wow, I liked that story. I think Armadilla Dave is gonna be my new hero." Said Chuckie.
"What about Reptar?" Asked Tommy.
"Well, you can have, more than one hero. Can't you?" Asked Chuckie.
"I always thought so." I replied.
"Wow Celeste, can you read more?" Chuckie asked.
"Nope, that's all the time we have for tonight. We'll read issue 2 the next time you sleep over. Now let's brush our teeth and get on our pajamas so we can go to bed, you've got preschool tomorrow." Said aunty Celeste as she got up from the chair with the book and headed out of the room.
"Can we take off our blindfolds now?" Asked Chuckie.
"Nope, you still have two things left to do before your day of being blind comes to a close. Brush your teeth, and put on your PJ's." I replied.
We all formed a line heading into the bathroom.
"Kimi, you go first." I said, leading her to the sink and showing her where everything was.
I handed her her toothbrush and toothpaste.
"Kimi, put the opening of the toothpaste near the toothbrush, that way you can tell if it hits the brush." I said.
Kimi followed my instructions very well, and brushed her teeth with no problem. I watched everyone else do the same. Phil and Lil just smeared the toothpaste on their fingers and rubbed it on their teeth. I found this to be disgusting, but bit my lip. The only person who had any trouble at all was Chuckie. The toothpaste fell into the sink, so I finally helped him put it on his toothbrush and he did the rest.
"Thanks for helping me Zack." Said Chuckie.
"You're welcome Chuckie." I replied.
Back in my room, we all put on our pj's. After we put them on, I made it official.
"Congratulations guys, you completed your day of being blind. You're free to take off your blindfolds." I said.
Everyone took off their blindfolds and took a look at themselves in the mirror.
"Hey, where's the picture of Reptar on my shirt?" Asked Chuckie.
Doing all I could to keep from laughing, I headed over to Chuckie.
"Here, let me show you something." I said to Chuckie, as I had him touch the tag on the back of my pajama shirt.
"This is a tag, it's suppose to go in back of you. Now, feel the collar of your shirt, and show me where your tag is." I said.
Chuckie felt his shirt and found the tag beneath his chin.
"Um, oops, I put it on backwards." Chuckie muttered.
"It's no big deal, just take the shirt off and turn it around." I said encouragingly.
Chuckie did that and I could tell he was relieved when I saw the smile come upon his face as he looked in the mirror to see the picture of Reptar on the front of his white nightshirt.
A few minutes later, we all lay in bed and our sleeping bags, when I decided I'd ask them the question of the day.
"So guys, how did you like being blind?" I asked.
"Well, I thought it was really neat, but I'm glad I can see again." Replied Kimi.
"Yeah but it's nice to know that even if we can't see, we can still do all of the things we like to do." Said Tommy.
"Notice I didn't have to do everything for you?" I asked.
"Yeah, we did stuff ourselves." Tommy replied.
"See? Even if you can't see, doesn't mean you can't do anything. The same applies if you can't walk too." I said.
Tommy sat up in his sleeping bag and looked at me, frowning.
"Oh, are you talking about James?" Tommy asked.
I nodded.
"Well he couldn't walk." Added Tommy.
"We thought if we couldn't walk, he couldn't do anything." Said Kimi.
"Uh, guys, I think we need to say we're sorry to James tomorrow." Said Tommy, glancing in my direction, noticing the look of disappointment on my face.
"Yeah." Said Chuckie, Phil, Lil and Kimi at the same time.
"Why did I have us play the blindfold game today? I did it to teach you guys a lesson, and, I see that it worked. Now come on guys, let's get some sleep. Goodnight." I said, pulling the covers up over my head.
"Goodnight Zack." Said Tommy.
The next morning, I put a bunch of scarves into my backpack before we headed out the door to go to preschool.
"Come on Zachary, let's go." Called my aunt from the living room.
"I'm coming." I said, heading out of my room and meeting up with her and my friends, all ready to head off to school in her driverless mini van.
When we got there, we all sat around the circle, I sat up close to my aunt and Miss Applebee.
"Good morning class." Said Miss Applebee.
"Good morning Miss Applebee." Said the class.
"Today is Friday, and that means it's special helper day, and today, we have here Zachary's aunt, Celeste." Said Miss Applebee.
"Good morning class. I'm Celeste and today, we're going to do something special. Zachary, would you come up here please?" Said my aunt.
I walked up to the front of the circle where my aunt and teacher were sitting.
"I'm Zack, and I'd like to tell you about my aunt. My aunt is blind, which means she can't see, but just because she can't see, doesn't mean she isn't a wonderful aunty. She reads me stories, tucks me in at night, and feeds me lots of yummy food, and today, you guys are gonna get to see what it's like to be blind." I explained, pulling the scarves out of my backpack.
"Everybody, line up in front of Zachary here, and he will put the scarf around your head over your eyes." Said Miss Applebee.
Everyone lined up in front of me. I got everybody blindfolded until I reached James.
"I don't wanna play." Said James.
"Why not?" I asked.
"Everyone will just, do everything for me." James said with a frown, looking away.
Just then, Tommy spoke up.
"Uh, James, we're sorry." Said Tommy.
"Yeah we didn't realize that just because your legs are broked, doesn't mean the rest of you is broked too." Said Chuckie.
"The same is true with the eyes." Said Kimi.
"And when you can't see, compupers talk and special people in the movies tell you what Reptar is doing." Said Phil.
"That's called descriptive video." I reminded Phil.
"From now on, we'll only help you if you ask for it." Said Lil.
"Thank you guys, that means a lot." Said James with a smile, as he took a scarf from me and put on his own blindfold.
"Ok guys, are we ready to be blind?" I asked.
"Yeah!" Said the class.
"Then let's do it." I said as I headed over to the water table, which was still filled with sand from yesterday.
"Our first activity, let's play blind desert explorers in the sand table. Everyone, follow the sound of my voice and head towards me." I said, standing by the sand table.
Everyone came over to me, and we had an awesome day.
Later on, I overheard my aunt and teacher talking again.
"You know what, Zack seems perfectly happy here." Said Miss Applebee.
"Then, he doesn't have to go to magnet school unless he wants to." Replied Aunty Celeste.
I headed over to them talking, and tugged on my aunty's dress.
"I don't want to leave this school, I like it here with my friends." I said with a smile.
My aunt and teacher just smiled at me and patted me on the shoulder.
End of Zack POV
The End
