The Blind Vet
Reading Assignment

The Blind Vet

Tanya Savory

Preview

Sometimes life can be turned upside-down in a flash. Suddenly, nothing is the way it once was, and it feels like everything has shattered. However, some things never change. In the following story about a war veteran returning home blind, we see how the power of love can piece a shattered life back together.

When Nick boarded the bus, everyone looked at him. A few people shook their heads in pity. It didn’t seem right that such a young man should have so much trouble climbing the three short steps up to the bus aisle.

“Why does that man have that white stick?” a small girl asked her mother loudly.

“Shh!” the mother said quickly. “It’s not polite to talk about him, honey. He’s blind.”

But Nick had heard the little girl. In fact, he could feel everyone’s eyes on him even though he couldn’t see them. Using his cane, Nick carefully measured the height of each step. Gripping the handrail with white knuckles, he slowly made his way to the aisle. Then he used his hands to feel his way. Gratefully, Nick eased into the first set of seats reserved for the disabled. A thin rivulet of sweat trickled down Nick’s forehead, and his hands shook.

Okay. Relax. Nick tried to calm himself down. You’ll be all right. You’ll make it.

Nick, barely 22, had been blind for just over a year. During a tour of duty in Afghanistan, the vehicle Nick had been riding in had run over an IED. Nick remembered a bright flash, a terrible explosion, and the screams of his comrades. Then, the bright color of his own blood in his eyes was the last thing Nick ever saw. Fragments of metal and glass had scarred his face and destroyed his eyes.

When he came home from the war, Nick was frightened. What would his friends think of him? Two of Nick’s favorite pastimes had been cycling and playing basketball, and that’s how he had met a lot of his friends. Now he wouldn’t be able to do either. Would his friends even want to be around him anymore?

But Nick’s biggest apprehension was that his girlfriend, Kristen, would leave him. The two of them had been together since high school, and Nick had secretly planned on proposing to Kristen when he returned from Afghanistan. But he never dreamed that he’d be returning like this. Now Kristen would have to take care of him—if she even wanted to stay with him. And why would she want to stay with him, Nick wondered. Kristen was funny and smart. Plus, she was beautiful with long red hair and bright green eyes. She won’t want to waste her time with some blind guy who can’t even see her, Nick thought bitterly. She’ll never marry me now.

At first, Nick’s friends came around a lot. They sat and talked with him, trying to get him to laugh at old jokes. They brought him foods he liked and often hung around for hours listening to music or reading the newspaper to Nick. They rarely mentioned basketball or the upcoming cycling races they were training for—they thought this would make Nick sad. In fact, they rarely even mentioned Nick’s blindness because it made them uncomfortable. And, in time, most of Nick’s friends’ discomfort with his blindness outweighed their concern for him. They ran out of things to talk about. One by one, most of Nick’s friends faded away.

Now Nick became angry and depressed. He felt betrayed and abandoned by friends, and he declined into self-pity. Nick might have sunk all the way to rock bottom if it had not been for Kristen. During that very difficult first year, Kristen never wavered in her devotion to Nick. She helped him in any way she could, even when Nick’s frustration made it hard for her to help him.

“I’m blind!” he’d sometimes shout angrily. “Why are you ruining your life by staying with me? I’m no good anymore. Why don’t you go find someone who can see you—someone who doesn’t have to be treated like a baby?”

More than anything, Nick hated his loss of independence. He’d always prided himself on the fact that he was never afraid to try new things and go to new places. Sometimes on long weekend bike rides, Nick would make himself get lost intentionally just to see what kind of adventure it might turn into. Now he couldn’t even walk to the corner store without Kristen’s help.

Kristen knew that Nick needed to feel some sense of independence, or he would only become angrier and sadder. As it was, he often spent entire days doing little more than listening to the radio, sleeping, and drinking beer—something he’d rarely done before. So when Kristen came across an article about a local center for disabled veterans, she mentioned it to Nick.

“It’s a way for you to meet other men and women like yourself,” Kristen explained. “And there’s all kinds of help there to get you trained and prepared for a new career.”

“Career?” Nick asked doubtfully. “What could I do without my eyes?”

Kristen walked over and took Nick’s hands in hers. “A lot, Nick,” she said quietly. “Why don’t you go and find out?”

Nick agreed to give it a try. There was only one catch. The center didn’t open until 9:00, and since Kristen had to be at work at 8:30, she would not be able to drive Nick there every day.

“Nick, the city bus stops right in front of the center,” Kristen said carefully. “Why don’t you learn how to take the bus?”

“Take the bus?” Nick replied angrily. “How would I even know where I was going? What if I get lost? I feel like you’re abandoning me—just like all my friends did.”

Kristen thought Nick might respond like this, so she had already figured out a plan. “Look,” she said, “I’ll make some arrangements at work. I’ll ride the bus with you for a week or so until you get the hang of it. What do you think of that?”

It took a little more convincing, but Nick finally decided to try. And, actually, he was excited about the idea of something new—something he could do on his own.

And so, for a week and a half, Nick and Kristen took the bus together across town. She helped him use his cane to feel for the curb, the bus steps, and the aisle to his seat. They counted the number of stops it took to get from their apartment to the center, and when they arrived, Kristen helped Nick find the sidewalk that led to the center’s front door. If Nick stumbled or became confused, Kristen was there to smooth things over and encourage her boyfriend along.

Finally, Nick felt sufficiently confident to ride the bus alone. He’d been enjoying the time spent at the center, and he was looking forward to being independent again. But now as Nick sat on the bus alone for the first time, he wasn’t so sure. He heard the little girl ask her mother again what was wrong with the man with the funny cane. Nick took a deep breath and tried to concentrate.

Two, three, four . . . Nick counted the stops. Very carefully, he got off at the seventh stop. Just like every day with Kristen, Nick used his cane to walk over the curb and to the sidewalk to the center. His heart was pounding. What if he was going the wrong way? What if he fell? No one was there to help him.

“Hey, Nick! Good to see you.” Relief flooded Nick. It was one of the instructors at the center. He’d made it!

At the end of his first week of riding alone, Nick was hardly nervous at all. Every day had gone well. Only one time had he tripped on the curb, but almost instantly the hand of a stranger had gripped his shoulder to keep him from falling. Nick had said thank you, but the stranger just patted him on the back.

Now as Nick carefully made his way down the steps of the bus, the bus driver said, “You sure are one lucky young man.”

At first, Nick wasn’t sure if the bus driver was talking to him. Why would anyone think he was lucky? “Me?” Nick asked.

“Yes, you!” the driver said with a friendly laugh.

“Why do you say that?”

“Well, to have someone looking out for you like that,” the driver explained. “Making sure you’re okay.”

“What are you talking about?” Nick asked.

“You know,” the driver said, sounding a little puzzled by Nick’s question. “That pretty woman with the red hair—the one who has been standing on the corner waiting and watching for you every day this week. The one who caught you when you almost fell.”

Nick was too stunned to say anything at first. Then tears filled his eyes behind his dark glasses.

The driver chuckled again and said, “I wish my wife cared that much about me!”

Nick smiled through his tears. “She’s not my wife,” he said quietly. “But she’s going to be.”