A Lasting Love

by Yvonne Singer

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It was summer and another school year had ended for Kate Wildwood. Even though Kate was fourteen years old, she had the razor sharp mind of a twenty-five years old. She also had a severe case of Cerebral Palsy, which affected all four limbs including her vocal chords. She spent endless hours failing to dictate test answers to her high school tutor who could barely understand her slurred speech and the non-disabled students just socially ignored her. Despite these difficulties, Kate proved that she was a fun-loving girl with brains instead of a scarecrow stuffed with straw by advocating for her educational rights.

She lived in a tan ranch house with her parents. It was a hazy, sweltering hot, Saturday afternoon and Kate was bopping around to her Elton John CD in her air conditioned, soft rose petal, pink bedroom. Giggling, recalling pleasant early childhood memories, and screeching for joy caused a fading rainbow to appear through her window. In a word, she had been anxiously looking forward to spending two weeks at Camp Berry Heart all year long.

Mother entered Kate's celebration and questioningly remarked, "I can see you are high on life. Just a month ago, you refused to eat because you were so down in the dumps. Hmmm, what are you up to?" Mother turned off the CD player so she could hear.

Kate excitingly shouted, "DON'T YOU REMEMBER I MADE HONOR ROLL??? I DON'T KNOW HOW I GOT STRAIGHT A'S IN EVERY SINGLE SUBJECT INCLUDING MATH! I REALLY THINK I WILL GET A HUNK AT CAMP THIS YEAR. ROCKET MAN!"

"Darling, you are truly amazingly! I don't know how you can just bounce right back like a Mexican jumping bean." Mother hugged and kissed her.

As Kate was directing Mother what clothes to pack, Father entered Kate's bedroom and sat on the plush, misty pink carpet.

"Wow, it has been quite a year for you, Kate. I thought that I was going to lose my little girl. Boy, you were so depressed." he commented. "But as usual, you shocked your teachers by finally letting them know how brilliant you are. I never thought that I would see you smile, again. So, tell me more about this Camp Berry Heart."

While Mother was neatly folding two weeks worth of summer clothes, Kate smiled and sighed, "Well, Berry Heart is a sleep a-way camp specifically geared for physically disabled kids, adolescents, and adults. I hope that I will be able to play practical jokes and socialize with the counselors. Geez, after spending my first year of high school completely isolated from my peers, it will be a breath of fresh air to be able to mix and mingle, once again."

Father and Mother wished that she did not have to constantly struggle to show being physically handicapped does not make one less of a person. At the same time, they felt proud of her incredible motivation and achievements.

Holding back their tears, they calmly replied, "Oh honey, you will make lots of friends." as they snapped the suitcase, stuffed with clothes, shut.

The very next afternoon, Mother lugged Kate and her luggage into Father's full-sized, Dodge van, which was hotter than an oven! Roasting like two chickens in ninety degrees was pure torture, especially for Kate who sat on a coal black, vinyl cushion. It took exactly two hours, traveling on the stinky Parkway, to reach Berry Heart. Not even the hot wind blowing through the windows kept Mother and daughter cool.

After Kate arrived at Berry Heart, Mother unloaded her suitcase and zipped back home without taking a bathroom break.

Two college-aged, female counselors cheerfully announced, "Hi sweetie! Welcome to camp. You have to wear a name tag so that everybody will know who you are, okay?" as a tiny piece of yellow construction paper was pinned to Kate's t-shirt,

Her heart sank to the bottom of a chilly sea as she just stared in amazement. She thought to herself, "This is unbelievable! Every place I go, people automatically assume that I mentally retarded based on my physical appearance. I come here to realize that I am still looked upon as a rotting vegetable!" Still sweating bullets, she frowned and answered, "I am not retarded. I am perfectly capable of telling people my name! For goodness sake, I attend public high school and I just made honor roll!"

Both counselors' jaws dropped to the ground. Oh my word, the handicapped girl spoke! As they continued pushing Kate to the dining hall, she noticed all of eight cabins, lined up in a row, were painted cherry red and long wooden, gray ramps were attached. Tall maple and oak trees shaded the entire camp, which stood on twelve acres. Even though the grassy land was very hilly, tons of paved trails were embedded into freshly mowed grass so that campers could easily walk or be pushed. She perked up as she quickly spotted a full-sized swimming pool that was painted a shocking aqua blue, which was located at the foot of the hill. She deeply sighed feeling very peaceful, but at the same the time, she felt that she entered nursery school instead of camp.

"Mrs. Wildwood, does Kate wear pampers?" one of the female counselors insultingly asked.

"My mother went home. No, I do not wear diapers, do you?" Kate sadly chuckled. "Anyway, you guys are not going to be my counselors. So, why did you ask that silly question?" as steam started to flow out of Kate's ears.

Both counselors whispered to each other, "We got a live one."

They wheeled her into the drafty dining hall. A nurse, named Maggie, quickly dropped her notebook and pen, scampered over to Kate, and exclaimed, "IT'S GREAT TO SEE YOU BACK! HOW WAS YOUR WINTER?" as she gave Kate a bear hug.

Meanwhile, the camp director, who was shaped exactly like a six feet tall, five hundred pound watermelon. Sally Ellen, sitting at a card table and checking campers in, observed that Maggie was paying too much attention to Kate.

"MAGGIE, WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING? I TOLD YOU NOT TO GET SO INVOLVED WITH THE CAMPERS." Her voice echoed throughout the entire hall, which was packed with campers and counselors.

Suddenly, it felt like a cold, blustery day in mid December. So, Maggie scampered back to her table and continued to record the campers' medication in her notebook. After Kate checked in and met her counselor named Barbara, she greeted all of the male counselors. They all automatically assumed that Kate was mentally retarded. Most of the campers were physically handicapped as well as mentally retarded; furthermore, all of the college-aged counselors, who had never social interacted with disabled people before, concluded that all handicapped people were nothing more than decaying vegetables based on their sheer ignorance. Also, Sally Ellen specifically told them not to become friends with the campers.

As Barbara slowly pushed her out of a dining hall, Kate noticed one very cute male counselor who was feeding his camper. "Hi, what's your name? My name is Kate!" melted the cold blustery, December day back into the fourth of July.

"The name is Anton. I am busy at the moment, but I'll talk to you later." replied the counselor while smiles and winks were exchanged.

Kate felt that there was something very special about Anton, but she did not know what. Her heart zoomed up to the moon became as both shoes fell off and her right hand suddenly flailed.

Barbara said, "Come on, beauty queen, we have to unpack. Do you want to sign up for activities now or later?"

Even though the activities, such as counting to ten, were designed for the mentally retarded, Kate signed up for activities to please Sally Ellen. She kept smiling at Anton as Barbara wheeled her to one of the red cabins. Later that evening, all of the campers and counselors gathered around the flag pole to wait to be called for dinner.

Kate instantly spotted Anton and said, "Hi! How are you? Isn't this stupid that we have to wait to eat dinner? I cannot stand when Bobby, the supervisor, puts numbers on every camper. Don't you think that we are capable of telling you guys where we want to sit?"

Anton was keeping an eye on his five campers.

"What is five plus five? Leon, one of my campers, doesn't know the answer." he asked.

Leon, sitting in a wheelchair and banging his head on his lap tray, was gnawing his fingers.

Kate replied disappointedly, "Anton, I am not retarded. I am mainstreamed into the tenth grade and I am on the honor roll."

He insultingly replied, "See, you don't even know the answer!" as his other campers grunted and began to walk in circles.

"I DO! THE ANSWER IS TEN. PLEASE, STOP COMPARING ME TO THE OTHER CAMPERS! I WRITE POETRY, READ POE-" she screamed while perspiration soaked her entire body.

Then, the dinner bell rang. Anton never realized that Kate had above normal intelligence. Since she had a crush on him, she was willing to swim any ocean to make him see her inner beauty.

So, Kate begged Barbara, "Could you please tell Anton that I am not a yo-yo brain?"

After one week passed, Anton apologized, "Kate, I am so sorry for assuming that you were retarded." while he knelt down next to her wheelchair and stared at her.

"Why did you think that I was mentally retarded?" she inquired as she stared straight back into his eyes.

"Since the majority of the campers are retarded, I just thought you were too. I am sorry. I still would like to be your friend, if that's okay?" Anton whispered.

Kate's sadness slowly vanished. For the first time, he saw her as an attractive, brilliant young lady.

"I forgive you. I would like to get to know you better. Do you want to hang out during rest period?" she smiled and accepted his apology.

"Yeah, sure, as long as it's okay with Barbara." he responded as a new sparkle of hope glistened in her brown eyes.

Anton visited Kate during rest hour the following afternoon. He brought another camper along. This female camper had a severe case of Cerebral Palsy and normal intelligence, too. Since she could not speak at all, she could not demand to stay up during rest hour. Within seconds, a female counselor appeared at Kate's cabin, yanked the camper from Anton's arms, and headed to the adjacent cabin. A look of horror instantly turned his skin pale. What could he possibly say? He just sat completely paralyzed on Kate's porch as he watched the girl being carried like a sack of potatoes and crying, "Ant! Ant! Ant!"

Anton and Kate spoke for an hour practically every day about all sorts of things such as how society views the physically handicapped. In one conversation, Kate explained the difficulties that she was having concerning her poor school performance all because the vice principal would not allow her to type test answers on a computer. Instead, she dictated her answers to an aide who could not understand her speech.

Anton listened hard to all the painful details and stated, "Kate, you must continue to advocate for your rights by telling people how you feel. If you speak up, somebody might understand your difficulties and help. If you did not persist wanting to be friends, I would have continued to assume that you were mentally retarded." as he held her hand.

She felt marvelous to be alive and very special to be in the center of a blossoming friendship rose. After rest hour had ended, Anton unwillingly returned to his cabin.

Sally Ellen announced, "GIRLS SWIM. BOYS TAKE SHOWERS." over the loudspeaker.

Even though Kate was in good spirits, she was in physical pain from not being able to urinate for the past two days as Barbara put a hot pink bathing suit on her extremely sweaty body. Kate just closed her eyes and made a vomit face as Barbara wheeled her down to the pool.

On the way, Henry and Joe, counselors rudely teased, "Why don't you shave your legs, Kate? You will never get married, screw around, obtain a job, and go to school. Do you know why? Because you are a cripple and you don't know what one plus one is. What a joke!"

"Don't you have to give showers? Leave us alone!" Barbara furiously replied.

Boys will be boys! Henry and Joe had never seen a disabled girl wearing a sexy bathing suit. They were shocked and reacted on their biased feelings. Barbara wheeled Kate through the pool gate and sat her on the edge of the pool. SPLASH! Kate dove into the cool water and immediately relieved herself.

Out of the blue, her heart started to raced as she excitedly shouted, "OH MY GOD! ANTON AND HIS BOYS ARE WALKING TOWARD THE POOL. IF SALLY ELLEN KNEW THIS, ANTON WOULD BE SHOT AT DAWN! ALRIGHT ANTON, WHEW!"

The other female campers and counselors, also playing in the pool, could not understand why Kate was screaming. She was baffled that he would take risks to spend more time with her. After he and his campers jumped in the pool, Kate swam over to him.

"Why are you here?" she questioned. "You are supposed to be singing in the shower! You could get in a lot of trouble. Guess what, I finally went to the bathroom!" She grinned and held his hands while trying to maintain her balance.

Anton giggled, "Well, I showered my boys yesterday. I just want to spend all of my time with you. Who cares about Sally Ellen! I will ask Bobby for permission to feed you at every meal starting tonight." He lifted her into a floating inner tube.

"You are cool. I am really glad we are friends. But seriously, I don't think that Bobby will let you feed me." she twirled around and around just like a beauty model.

"Kate, you worry too much. Don't worry, every thing will be fine. You're something else." he held her trembling hands. "Why am I something else? Was it something I said or what?"

She just sat with her legs crossed pretending to have her photo taken for some hot teen magazine.

"You just have a good heart. Many people just don't care about others. Hmm, people are basically self-absorbed, selfish, out for themselves, and so on. I love when you ask me questions." sighed Anton.

"Well, I really value friendship. I always make time for friends no matter how busy I get. Because I want people to make time to get to know me. It takes time for others to get to know me because of my speech impediment." Kate explained. "When I lived in Vermont, people always took time to get to know me because they were not in a rush to go nowhere. But, here in New York, everybody is in a huge rush to go nowhere. So, they never take time to see past my disability and accept me for who I am." Her bare legs started to stick to the inner tube.

They sang, exchanged all kinds of secrets, and kissed as the remaining counselors, wading in the pool, stared in complete utter shock. During meals, Anton and Kate chatted nonstop, cuddled, kissed, and goofed around.

In the middle of a conversation, he asked her, "Do you think I should married Arlene, the woman whom I am engaged to?"

Kate rested her head on his shoulder and shed a tear. "I can't make that decision for you. If you really love her, then marry her. If you have any doubts, then hold off on getting married. Oh Anton, I am scared of losing you as my best friend!" as snot dripped from her nose. "We are very honest, open, sensitive, supportive, and we trust each other. It is so nice that we feel totally comfortable confiding in one another. I have never met anybody who can see past my physically handicap and accept me for who I am."

"I promised that my marriage will never interfere with our friendship. Since I live in Buffalo, New York and you live roughly eight miles away, it is less likely that we will see each other, again. But, we can certainly write lots of letters. And I will invite you to my wedding and save the last dance for you. Oh please, don't cry." he whispered as he tightly hugged her.

Suddenly, Sally Ellen rose from her table located near the front of the dining hall and pranced over to Anton and Kate like a raging bull.

"WHAT'S THE MEANING OF ALL THIS! ANTON, YOU SHOULD KNOW BETTER! WE DON'T GET INVOLVED WITH THE CAMPERS. SINCE OUR CAMPERS DON'T HAVE LIVES, WE COULD GET HURT BY BECOMING TOO ATTACHED. AND WHAT IF ABUSE OR RAPE OCCURS? I HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO FIRE YOU." Sally Ellen roared.

Anton rose from his seat. "Hold it, I am Kate's friend. And I will continue to be Kate's friend even if you fire me." He proudly held Kate's trembling hand.

Since nobody advocated for her before, she was flawed and realized that he was a friend for life. Sally Ellen never fired Anton due to a low percentage of male counselors.

On the last day of camp, Kate hugged and smothered Anton with kisses.

"I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE YOU. I WILL MISS YOU SO MUCH. WILL YOU PLEASE WRITE TO ME?" she painfully screeched.

Within seconds, her mouth fell wide open began to heavily sob as if she had lost a love one.

He held her in his arms and sadly replied, "Don't be silly! Of course, I will write!"

So, they went their separate ways. Kate returned to high school. Anton finished college and married Arlene. Kate missed Anton so much that she cried for endless hours each day even though they kept in touch. One day during school, she met a substitute teacher who reminded her of Anton.

She cried all the way home on the school bus, "ANTON, I MISS YOU LIKE HELL. GOD, I AM SO LONELY. NOBODY UNDERSTANDS ME LIKE YOU DO. IT'S NOT FAIR!!!" as she howled and the bus driver nearly had a heart attack.

Jim, the bus driver, commented, "Had a bad day. Don't worry, you will be home soon."

A year later, Kate decided to discontinue writing to Anton and tried to move on But she couldn't. Nobody else touched her heart or even came close to it. After struggling to graduate high school and eight months of being severely abused in two state institutions, she missed Anton so much that she decided to contact him one more time. A glimmer of sunshine refreshed her soul when she spent two hours speaking to him on the phone. Apparently, Arlene became extremely jealous and threatened to call the police if Kate did not stop talking to Anton. Even though Kate was devastated and crushed to realize that Anton rejected her, she finally was able to say farewell by remembering all of the good times.