David caught up with Eric at the baseball field during recess. “Mind if Mary plays baseball with us,” asked David.
“No, I don’t mind,” Eric answered. “She’s on your team.”
“Okay.”
Eric pitched a curveball to Brett. Brett hit it over 2nd base and ran to first. Mary eagerly waited her time at bat. She was never allowed to play baseball before. She sat on the sidelines and cheered with the rest of her team. Eric pitched the ball to Chadwick. …strike 1! Eric pitched again…ball 1 …ball 2 …ball 3 …strike 2!
 
"You can do it! Go! Go! Eric! Strike 2, Strike 3! Out! Out! Out!” encouraged some of Eric's team mates.
 
Eric pitched again, hoping this time it was NOT a ball. Ball 4! His team mates groaned. Chadwick walked to first, causing Brett to walk to 2nd. Valerie came up to the plate and immediately hit the ball to left field. Brett slid into 3rd as Tom threw the ball to 3rd base. Safe! With bases loaded, Mary came up to the plate.
 
“Everybody in! Easy out!” bellowed out one of the players on the opposing team.
 
Mary kept a poker face and ignored the jeers. David crossed his fingers, not knowing what to think. Eric pitched the ball, this time pitching a perfect curve ball. You know the type - the one that is impossible to hit unless you were expecting it.
Mary's team mates held their breath as the ball neared the plate. Mary kept her eyes on the ball, and promptly ignored everything that was going on around her. Someone sneezed really loud. Sounds of "Ick" and "Gross" were heard in the background. Mary kept her poker face and fierce concentration on the ball.
Crack! The ball sailed over Eric’s head, past 2nd base and very far into the out field. Mark, in center field had to run twice as far as he usually does to get anywhere near the ball. If he had stayed put in the first place, he just might have been able to have saved the game with some fast sprinting. As it was, the ball didn’t even stay IN the game. Well, at least didn’t stay in THEIR game.
 
Mark said ‘excuse me’ as he retrieved the ball from the 6th grader’s game.
The short stop had ran to outfield to try and give Mark less distance to throw the ball too. Brett ran jubilantly towards home as Chadwick headed for 3rd. Valerie rounded 2nd base and then 3rd - almost catching up to Chadwick.
 
Mary wheeled herself as fast as she could around 1st base, being sure that her foot dragged over the plate. She then went to 2nd base and onto 3rd. Mark threw the ball as hard as he could. Short stop player, Eddie, jumped up, caught the ball, turned and then threw the ball to home plate. Chadwick and Valerie crossed over home plate as Mary wheeled around 3rd base. She put on the steam and wheeled herself so fast, that when Marsha caught the ball at home and then reached over to tag Mary, she lost her balance and fell on her face. Mary was already being congratulated by her team with high-five’s. The score: 4 - 0.
 
“Where did you learn to hit like that,” asked Eric still recovering from the shock as Mark held his head between his knees, trying to catch his breath.
“My father bought me a practice machine that pitches all kinds of balls to you at varying speeds and styles. I’ve been practicing since I was 3. It’s easy when all the other kids ignore you because in their mind kids in wheelchairs can’t do anything,” Mary answered.
 
“Time to line up! Children! It’s time,” the teacher bellowed. Usually, he blows a whistle, but had forgotten it in the classroom. Some children promptly ignored him. So he calmly walked over to the middle of the playground, put his fingers between his lips and whistled very loudly. Soon every child who could whistle started whistling.
 
Mary put her hands to her ears, wishing she could wheel herself and cover her ears at the same time.
David decided to try to drown out the whistles and push Mary. “It’s okay Mary. You can keep your ears covered. I’ll push you in.”

 
*************
 
David watched Mary wheel herself over to her special bike as he tried to catch up with her. Mary plopped down on the ground, folded her wheelchair and maneuvered it onto her trailer. She walked over to her bike seat using her hands, got on and took off, using her arms to pedal the bike. David couldn’t believe how fast she was. He hadn’t even gotten to his bike yet. David quickly fumbled with his lock as Mary showed the guard at the guard shack her pass. Away she went - pedaling towards Madison Lake.
 
David took off after her. “Wow! Mary’s legs may not work, but her arms most certainly do! She’s fast!”
 
David stood up to get more leverage so that he could go faster. He kicked into high gear and zoomed thru one green light.
 
“Shoot, Mary made that light! Now I might never catch-up!” David kick his bike into 20th gear, the highest gear he had, and went into racing mode. The light finally turned green. David took off, determined to catch her. Faster and faster he sped, just making the lights.
“Good, all clear in the intersection.” He breezed thru another intersection as the light was turning red. Closer and closer David pedaled.
“Okay, time to slow down now. Oops! Right pass her! Forgot to actually use my brakes.”
 
Mary saw David zoom by her. “David! Wait up! Why are you in such a hurry?”
“In a hurry? I could be saying that about you,” David thought to himself. He slowed way down, this time actually using his brakes. “I -was - actually,” David said, panting between words. “Trying to - catch up - to you.” David paused to catch his breath. “You’re quick!”
 
“Thanks!” Mary said breathing as if she had leisurely biked the entire way from school.
 
This annoyed David. He couldn’t figure out how anyone could bike that fast and not be even a tiniest bit out of breath! He decided that it was time to get into shape and stop all the intellectual couch potato sitting he does. Finally catching his breath, he said, “Busy?”
“No. Want to do something?”
“Yes, want to go to a park or something?” David inquired, hoping beyond hope that she had swimming gear hiding somewhere. He was hot, and itching to go to Madison Lake.
 
“Sure. How about Madison Lake? Do you have your swimsuit with?”
David beamed from ear to ear. “But of course. Do you?”
“Of course I do. I wouldn't have asked you if I had forgotten mine.” Mary added, “I go swimming after school most days.”
“How come I only saw you once before at Madison Lake?”
“Probably for the same reason I saw you only once. On the days I decided to come, you decided not too and vice versa. Plus, ‘Murphy’s Law’ says that ‘the more you want to meet someone, the greater the chance of you just missing that person at the one spot you always go to.’ Or something like that.”
They giggled as they finished biking to the Lake, thankful that their parents wrote permission notes that allowed them to go to the lake after classes were done for the day - provided they kept pulling straight A's.
Once in the water, sounds of laughter and "you're it" could be heard. Splashing and swimming, diving down to the bottom and exploring the minnows that swim back and forth.
 
David swam towards Mary as Mary quickly darted out of the way. "Missed!" Cried David.
"You'll get me next time!" Mary swam quickly, darting left and right.
David did a final leap towards Mary, determined not to miss this time. "Got ya! You're it!"
Mary counted to 10 then took off after David. David swam as fast as he could to get as far away from her as possible. Mary put her head in the water, and taking breathes only when she needed to, paddled with both arms flying over her head in perfect unison to produce the fastest speed.
 
David stared in shock. "I can't believe how fast she can swim! She should be in a race or something. I should get going!"
David jumped out of the way, put his head in the water, and swam just like Mary did. He was amazed as how much faster it was to swim this way. Still, Mary was faster. Mary reached out her hand at just the right moment, "Caught you!"
David stood up and stared at her.
"Fast, aren't I." Mary said, laughingly. "You are pretty fast too!"
"Thanks!"
"Want to explore the bottom of the lake? Sometimes you can find Minnows swimming around."
"I'd love to! If you are really still, and have a snorkle, you can watch them for quite some time without scaring them."
"I have my snorkle kit in my trailer, and I might even have my old one too!" Mary said excitedly.
"Cool! I'll check and see!" David rushed out of the water. In a flash, he was back with two snorkle kits in his hand. "Which one is your new one, so I can use the old one?"
"It doesn't matter, just see which one fits you the best. I can use either one. I only bought the new one because I liked the color."
David handed Mary a kit and then grabbed his snorkle. The snorkle extended out quite far. "Hey, this one moves! Far out!"
"So does mine. It is meant for exploring the bottom of lakes when a tank is not useful. You know, those in between depths that are too deep for a normal snorkle but not deep enough to want to bother with a tank."
"Have you done deep sea diving?" David would have been surprised if she hadn't.
"Yes, but my father had to higher two trainers to take me on a two on one basis. Because my legs don't work, I technically am not allowed to do deep sea diving. One is suspose to be the epitomy of strength. However, because my arms are so strong, and my trunk and stomach muscles, I easily persuaded them that I can do it."
"That is far out!"
 
They swam along the bottom of the lake, making as little movement as possible. The minnows swam in their school, filtering in between David and Mary. A fish swam closer, opened his mouth and darted towards the school of minnows. The minnows scattered, regrouped, and swam off towards safety. The fish noticed the strange oversized fish - David and Mary - and swam off in fright. David and Mary chuckled to themselves. Not finding anything else to explore, they head off to the beach to make sandcastles. Sand went flying left and right as they hurriedly grabbed more sand and slapped it onto a wall of the castle. David dug feverishly to get water to come nearer to his castle so he could get some better mud to work with. Mary did the same. The sun shone in the sky, but signaled that time to go home was near. Mary looked at the shadows made by the trees and groaned. There was times that she wished she was not so good at telling time by using the science of shadows, trees and the sun. Life was finally peaceful, fun and exhilirating. Mary ignored the time and continued building. Soon, the two castles met up with each other. David built a moat around both castles while Mary went in search of a twig to use as a flag. She found a twig with one leaf attached to it. She went to her wheelchair and took out a pen. On the leaf, she carefully wrote 'Castle D & M'. David took the flag from her hand and put it on top of the castle.
 
David looked Mary in the eyes. "I suppose its time for us to bike back to school," he said reluctantly.
"Yes, I suppose so." Mary groaned. She looked up at him. "Well, at least we will have a little more time together."
"Yes, away from the silly peanut gallery."
"What do you mean?"
"Never mind, I will tell you later. It's just my mom, Priscilla, Isannah, judges, my father - everyone." David answered, not really wishing to think about reality but only wishing that this moment could last forever.
"I know what you mean."
David blinked. "How can she know? She is not the product of a split family. Maybe she meant parents and the Dork crew - Priscilla and Isannah. That must be it."

 
Mary opened her dorm door. “Thanks for the fun time David.”
“No problem. I’ll see you in school tomorrow. Bye!”
“Bye!”
Mary shut her door and sat down on her bed. It was time for supper. "Supper! Wait a minute!" She transfered herself back to her chair and wheeled after David. "David! Wait! David!"
Children popped their heads out of their doors wondering what all the commosion was about. David was lost in his own thoughts. One 6 year old girl took her blanket and whipped it at David. David grunted into awareness that something touched him.
"Girl wants you. Say "david" and "wait"."
"Thanks!" David turned on his heels and went back to Mary. "Yes?"
"We do not have to wait until tomorrow! We are both at the same school, and eat in the same cafeteria!"
"Duh!" David exclaimed while rolling his eyes. "What were we thinking?"
"That is just it! We weren't!" Mary could barely get the words out she was grinning so hard.
 
************
 

 

Mary and David met up after school and went over the school’s library. They carefully looked around for anyone in their grade.
 
David exclaimed in a whisper, “Good! The coast is clear!”
 
Quickly, they maneuvered around the tables and bookshelves, heading for the stairs. Even though the elevator would be faster, they might be seen. Their school was probably the only school in the world with its own glass elevator! David grabbed the wheelchair and lugged it up the stairs as Mary walked up them on her hands. After scaling 2 floors, they gave up too tired to go any further and resigned themselves to taking the elevator. No sooner had David dived for the floor to rest his legs, then the elevator was at the 12th floor and David found himself scrambling for the door to catch it before it shut again.
 
“I forgot that in Mrs. Volger’s effort toward efficiency, the elevator practically throws you up to your destination it’s so fast.”
 
Mary shook her head. “I know what you mean. I almost came up off my seat when we landed!”
 
David and Mary headed to their ‘den’ in the library. Each student got to share a den with any 1 student they wished. Or, they may have the den to themselves, on a first come first served basis, space allowing. David eagerly requested to share his den with Mary. They retrieved their money from their safe, and headed back, taking the elevator down. They looked out thru the trees in the stained glass walls for their peers. The elevator door opened, and they got off. In a quick but relaxed manner, so it would appear they were leisurely walking and not running, they ran for the exit out of the library. David looked down the hall to the left and then to the right. He sunk back into the library.
 
“Eddie,” he whispered. David looked again. This time, Eddie’s back was turned.
 
“Come! Quickly but quietly!” David motioned.
 
“Whew,” They exclaimed to each other after they were finally outside.
 
David then added, “If Eddie would have seen us, we never would have gotten out of here.”
 
“Nor if Pamela would have seen us,” Mary added matter-of-a-factly.
 
“Ah yes, Miss Queen Blabber mouth the 3rd.”
 
“The 3rd?”
 
“Yes. Priscilla and Isannah are the 1st and 2nd, respectively.”
 
Mary giggled. She knew those 2 never stop talking long enough to catch a breath! They tore across the lawn to the garden by the back fence.
 
David found the desired tree and started to climb. “Okay, ready!”
 
Mary tossed the rope up to David. He caught it with ease. Mary tied the other end to the wheelchair while David tied his end to the tree on the other side of the stone fence. Mary took off her special belt and put it around the upper part of her legs and around the back of her neck. This forced her legs and torso into a 90 degree angle. David positioned himself on the fence, embracing himself to pull the wheelchair up while Mary climbed up the rope.
 
“David! You’re in my way!” Mary was trying to swing herself back and forth by this time.
 
“How’d you get up here so fast,” David asked with his jaw at his knees.
 
“Just never mind and move over there,” said Mary, pointing with her head to a spot a little further down on her right.
 
Mary swung back and forth. As soon as she was high enough, she twisted her torso to the right and allowed her legs to sit down on the fence top. She reached for the branch over her head to steady herself. David could only look on in amazement, too frozen to be of any use.
 
“What else can you do?” David had finally found his voice.
 
“Sh! Let’s go!” Mary very carefully reached for the rope with her hand and handed it to David. David dutifully pulled up the wheelchair. Together, they gently lowered the wheelchair onto the other side. Mary then reached for the rope, and climbed down as if it was nothing. David untied the rope and dropped it down to Mary. He then climbed down the tree. In silence, they followed the stone fence until they finally reached the road of safety and were off school grounds. David reached for the handles of the wheelchair.
 
“So, where to first?”
 
“Lucilles’s, of course. We must buy suitable clothes for a lady and a gentleman. Or they will never believe we aren’t escapees from the school.”
 
Lucilles is a first of it’s kind, 24 hour store for the super rich. It carries everything one could need - including a Lamborghini for the child, complete with driver’s license just like Dad’s but from the “State of Lamborghini”. David was glad that his father bought him one even though he thought the whole idea was ridiculous. This gave him valuable behind the wheel training. His Dad even built a miniature city, complete with street lights, turn lanes, and freeway with merging lanes. There was electrical wiring over the roads so that cars, trucks, and other vehicles could drive themselves around the road without losing power or there way. His Dad was also an Engineer with too much time on his hands. This store also carried emergency wedding cakes and other wedding supplies in case of act-of-God or other disasters occur, emergency one of a kind dresses for just in case someone else just happens to have the same dress you have on and any other item you could imagine anyone of the upper crust just possibly needing.
 
Mary held up a skimpy blue silk dress. “Hey David, could you imagine wearing this?”
 
The dress had a micro-mini skirt with spaghetti straps holding up two small round discs, supposedly to cover the private parts, and more spaghetti straps that tied in back.
 
David rolled his eyes. “That thing is hideous and not fit to be worn in private, let alone in public!”
 
“Agreed,” said Mary, as she held up another dress. This one was a see-thru white silk from top to bottom and had a train that dragged a bouquet of roses behind. Mary then struck a pose and with a fine upper class British accent said, “I just must go into dress design if I am ever going to find something decent!”
 
“I think you are suppose to wear something under that,” David responded.
 
“Want to make a bet? I saw Ms. Rocheefeltar wear it to the Heart Charity Ball this year.”
 
“Well, she doesn’t count. She will wear anything just to get attention!”
 
“I wonder why? I mean, you’d think she’d get plenty of attention without it. After all, she is a social butterfly! Everyone is always vying for her attention trying to get to her first. Further more, she is invited to all the right parties.”
 
“Yes, she is, but if she all of a sudden lost all her money in the stock market, no one would come to the rescue. The whole culture is a bunch of self-centered hypocrites all putting on airs trying to be considered among the ‘in’ crowd and on the A-list. Deep down inside they are hurting. As children, love from the parents was more getting gifts than getting real quality time of doing things with them. Taking Johnny to the party of the year does NOT count as quality time!” David said thinking of his mother and her lack of scruples.
 
“Tell me about it,” Mary said with a sigh. “You’ve described my mother to a tee!”
 
“And, I’ll bet that their teachers spend more quality time with them than their parents do!”
 
“No duh! How could it be any different with the parents social schedule containing more dates than their business schedule? How could they have much time for their children?” Mary looked at David inquisitively, “How come I never saw you at any of the parties?”
 
“I chose not to go, except on rare occasion and when I did, I never saw you.”
 
“I was probably sick. The only way I ever get out of going is if and when I am sick!”
 
“Why so strict?” Mary struck a pose and answered in a high class English accent, “Me mum wants me to get a head start on those debutante` parties.” She then turned and looked earnestly into David’s eyes. “Would you get invited to a debutante` party?”
 
“But of course. After all, I am considered the world’s richest and most enviable bachelor. Besides, my mother would make sure of it. But, I’m not going and neither are you! Well, if I have things my way, that is.”
 
“Lot’s of luck! You’ll need it. Come, let’s get going.” Mary reached for 2 semi-casual outfits, and 2 formal outfits. “We’d better grab the required uniform for the very rich who live in the neighborhood. This will mean Versace this and Valentino that, probably to the tune of $200,000 dollars each, including the mandatory hat, belt and loafers. And for her, the mandatory Gucci bag, for an added $80,000.”
 
“Why? I know this is what people wear around town, to prove that they belong and aren’t merely one of the tourist vying for what they not ought to have. But, we are not trying to be one of the people, are we?”
 
“Well, it might help disguise us better.”
 
“No, it won’t. Everyone will recognize us then. That’s the last thing we want.”
 
“I never quite understood what the tourist ought not to have. What are they trying to hide?”
 
“I know. My grandfather told me all too well. They want to save the better merchandise for the regulars, for those who live here. You know, I pat your back and now you pat mine. It’s how they stay in business.”
 
“A bit selfish, isn’t it?”
 
“Quite. You see, the one-of-a-kinds are hidden in back. It is only those in uniform that see the real collections and wares. However, we do not want those wares. We must be satisfied with these so-called rags.” Mary resumed her upper crust accent. “Yes, me mum would call these rags. She’d be appalled to see me in them. But what does she know. She runs around as a disposable dress - uh, dresser.”
 
“Okay, seriously now, Mary. We must not forget the accessories!”
 
“And the jewels.”
 
“But of course, my dear - the pearls,” David exclaimed in an equally suitable upper crust English accent.