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2008 MANY STORIES ONE VOICE ONLINE COLLECTION
Rabin Betkhoodo
Click HERE to download the story in Microsoft Word format.
My name is Rabin Betkhoodoo and I am 32 years old. I came to
A Hatful of Money
By
Rabin Betkhoodoo
Rabin here. I’m not sure if you
remember me. I’m a great-looking guy who is smart, funny and modest!
I also have Cerebral Palsy, and have a power wheelchair. I use my
foot for talking on my Dynavox.
This causes lots of problems because I need to have my shoe off to talk!!!
One day, I went to Path Employment, and got a bit lost.
No one knew me, but a lady asked, “How can I help you?”
I took off my shoe, and spoke with the lady for a minute, said “hi”
and “bye” and asked for help finding Path.
She gave me the address on a slip of paper, helped me put my shoe
back on (Thank God!), and went on her way.
I was too early for my DARTS bus, so I sat in the mall.
Then I noticed that the paper had fallen out of my pocket onto the
floor. I tried to point with my
hand, but people walking by didn’t understand me.
I didn’t want to take my shoe off to talk in case I would lose it, so
I had a brilliant idea. I threw
my hat on the floor beside the paper, thinking someone would notice and then
pick both things up for me.
Well, people saw the hat all right.
One lady threw $5.00 in the hat!
I laughed and laughed, and because I was laughing so hard, I was
shaking from my head to my legs, so people thought I was crying!!!
Many more people threw money in my hat – it was full of money!
I was afraid that a friend of my family would see me begging for money, and
I would get in trouble. So, I
took my shoe off, and said, “Please give me my hat and that piece of paper”.
An old woman picked up my hat and the paper, and said, “Be careful;
don’t lose your money!” I raced
out of there, and my shoe fell off my chair.
Finally, my DARTS bus came to pick me up.
All the way home, I was thinking how I would tell my parents about
the $40.00 in my hat! I
certainly couldn’t tell them the truth – they would be crazy!
So, another bright idea – I decided to tell my mom I sold my shoes!
On the way home, I asked the bus driver to throw my other shoe in the
garbage. I ran off the bus,
because I didn’t want my mom to talk to the driver.
I said, “Hi, Mother – guess what? I sold my shoes for $40.00!
She said, “What?”
I showed her my hat. She was
surprised and confused. “Who
would buy old shoes?” she asked.
“There was an old man who loved my shoes, so I sold them to him!”
My mom, shaking her head, went to find my father to tell him what I had
done. “That boy - another day,
another pair of shoes”.
One Night at Mohawk
By
Rabin Betkhoodoo
Rabin here. As you know, I am a
modest person, extremely funny, and so smart I could read all books in the
library in one hour! I also
have Cerebral Palsy, and use a power wheelchair to get around.
I’m the guy who talks with my foot on the Dynavox.
I can’t wear a shoe when I’m talking, so I’m often to be seen
wandering around, shoeless.
During exams at college, I was working late at night with my educational
assistant, John. I was writing
an exam, using my Dynavox hooked up by cable to the computer. However, even
though I am very smart (and modest – did I say that already?), I am not
fast, so everyone else had gone home. When I was just about finished my
exam, John decided to go out for a drink of water.
He left, and the door closed and locked behind him, so he was out in
the hall, and the key was inside, on the desk!
I had to get the door open, or be shut in for the night!
Using my superior problem solving skills, I wiggled around, wedged my
feet under the box holding my Dynavox, and lifted it off with my superhuman
strength (did I mention that I also have ‘superpowers’?).
Letting John in, he apologized profusely for being an airhead, and we
finished the exam.
Once we packed up, we went out into the hall to make our way to the front
exit. The halls were empty, and
only the exit signs were lit.
It was very dark and a bit creepy.
All of a sudden, out of nowhere, a bat came flying – almost
dive-bombing John!! He
screamed, “RUN!” (forgetting of course that I was in a wheelchair!).
I turned and swerved around, trying to manoeuvre away from the bat
and, during one of the sharp turns, my shoe fell off of my chair.
John yelled, “Forget it!” so we left it behind.
We made it to the door, got on the bus, and I got home safely.
Until, that is, my mom noticed my foot.
“Where’s your shoe”, she asked?
I didn’t want to admit that I left it at college on purpose, so I
told her that the janitor put it into the garbage while I was writing the
exam. “Oh well, back to the
shoe store!” said mom.
Rabin on the
Lam
By
Rabin Betkhoodoo
Rabin here. Maybe you remember
me. I’m a happy-go-lucky guy
who happens to have Cerebral Palsy, and I use a power wheelchair to get
around. I’m the guy who talks
with my foot on the Dynavox.
This causes lots of problems because I need to have my shoe off to talk!!!
One day, I was on my way to TAC, but the bus driver made a mistake and left
me off at the wrong building at the hospital.
Because I had my shoe on, I wasn’t able to tell her she was wrong.
She made me get off of the bus, and then left.
I didn’t exactly know what to do, so I went inside and sat in a room
for a bit while I planned my next move.
I looked around for someone to help me, but couldn’t find anyone, so
I decided that I would just wheel over to TAC – how far could it be?
As I left, I heard a nurse yell, “STOP – a patient is running away!” I
didn’t pay any attention to her because I couldn’t see anybody running.
I carried on my merry way, happily wheeling at top speed because I
don’t often get a chance to check out the power on my chair!
A minute or so later, I heard an announcement on the intercom saying,
“Code YELLOW – Ward 37!” I
didn’t have a clue what that meant, but I knew it was serious when a few
minutes later I heard sirens and saw police cars.
When I was almost at TAC, I realized that the police and a bunch of nurses
and other people were actually chasing me!
I started laughing, and just as my Speech-Language Pathologist and
Occupational Therapist asked me why, the police burst in yelling, “This man
ran away from the hospital!” I
don’t think the police thought it was as funny as I did –
they need to lighten up a bit, don’t you think?
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