Sunday, June 24, 2012

Enlightening...

I saw a kinda enlightening thing today at the Publix. I was finished with my shopping, had loaded my goods in the truck cab, stumbled to the rear of the truck, opened the hatch and dropped the tailgate, and sat down to pack up my portable mobility scooter. As I sat down, a car pulled into a handicap space across the aisle, and a young woman got out and trotted into the store. I saw that she had also been observed by a couple coming out of the store, he a double-above-knee amputee in a lightweight manual wheelchair, and she pushing a buggy with groceries. She went to the crew-cab pickup next to me, opened the rear door on the passenger side, and began loading groceries. He went to the SUV driven by the young lady who had parked, crooked in the space, just a few moments before. He was evidently looking for a handicap plate, or placard, or something to indicate handicap access, and did not see any. (neither did I) He rolled over to the woman he was with, spoke to her, and she handed him two soft drinks from the buggy. He rolled back to the SUV, opened the soft drinks, and slung the contents onto the windshield, on the driver's side. In the sun, the sugary soft drink would make an interesting windshield-cleaning exercise when the young woman came back out. He then rolled back to his vehicle, opened the driver's door and the rear door, which was set up as a "suicide door" with the hinges at the rear of the door, threw the empty soft drink bottles into the rear area, grabbed a couple of handles and swung himself into the driver's seat. He then reached out, grabbed the wheelchair, swung it into the rear compartment, closed the rear door with a cord hanging between the door and the facing, closed his own door, the woman with him got in, and they drove away. As they drove away, I saw that the truck had a "Handicapped Veteran" plate, and a banner sticker on the rear window that read "U S Marines". ooo rah!