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An October Day


I stood by the counter at work bagging apples. I turned when I heard footsteps enter the store and smiled at a middle aged woman who entered. “Hello, how are you doing today?” I asked in a cheerful voice.
     “Good,” she answered. “Do you have a washroom?”
I said yes and proceeded to direct her when she said, “My son is coming in on crutches.” From the corner of my eye I saw a young man in his early twenties hobbling towards me. I mentally took a deep breath because I’m not fond of helping young men.
He came closer and I looked him squarely in the eye and said, “right down this hallway, it’s the last door on the right.”
      His eyes met mine and he responded with a gentle “thank you.”
I turned on my heel and finished preparing the apples. The young man came back and helped his mother collect what they needed. When he was looking at the tomatoes I saw the reason for his crutches. The left leg of his track pants was rolled up just below where his knee should have been to reveal nothing but air. After helping them at the front counter and teasing them about bring me back some apple pie he drove away in his red truck with his mother on the passenger side. 
           I wondered how he had lost his leg. Then I thought about how most people saw him as half a person. I hope he knew I saw him as whole.

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