Wheelchair Racing

One of my high school best friends spent a week in my hometown hospital a year or so after I did. Our group of friends went to visit him every couple days or so, and we had some fun times in the hospital. Near the end of his stay, we would all go gallivanting about the hospital on various adventures. Our favorite toys were the wheelchairs.

There was one floor of the hospital (of a total of five floors) that was closed at the time for some reason. We’d take a couple of wheelchairs up to that floor and have our races. Two of us would sit in the chairs, and another pair would push. The halls were plenty long for getting some fun speeds, and since there were no other people on the floor, we only had to worry about running into walls and doors (which we did on occasion — sorry Mom).

Sometimes one or two of us would wheel ourselves around the hospital in a chair. In hindsight, it was kind of a jackass thing to do, as polite people would often go out of their ways to open a door or otherwise help us in our struggles to get around.

But hey, we were teenagers, everything existed for our amusement, and the hospital is an unusual environment — we had to fully explore it while we had the chance.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com