Book 4 — Blindsided

The Story Behind the Story

Blindsided itched to be written when a blind man became almost a daily presence in my life.

I’d never considered a blind person’s daily hurdles.  I assumed they were ‘taken care of’ and worked in ‘handicapped’ positions like standing on a street corner with a tin cup. How very wrong – and embarrassed – I was.

I was in daily awe of Bob’s abilities. He visited with friends, participated in social engagements, put the dishes away, and taught me how to take a walk with him. He hopped on and off busses, shopped, and was a productive cog in the wheels of life.

He made me realize we all have calamity to grapple with… it’s just different for each of us. Is that the moral of this story?

Morals aside, at the same time, one of my overwhelming issues was with that of a county code enforcer.

In shock that I couldn’t do what I wanted on my own land, she became a giant thorn in my side that had to be removed. While what happened to the code enforcer in Blindsided was not on my list of to-dos, I may have had a buried thought that it was one way out… for a minute.

And that’s how Blindsided came to be…

There was one thing I never saw Bob do. He never drove a car in my presence. But he may have when I wasn’t looking…

BLINDSIDED!  Good Grief!  – Volume 4

– The body wedged in the doorway, laying on a pool of glass shards and red liquid, was very much alive.  But the body laid out under a palo verde tree in my retention pond was very much dead.  The live body wedged in the doorway was blinded in the line of duty, living a demoralizing life of forced retirement with no enemies and no hope.  The corpse under the Palo Verde tree was a county code enforcer with a plethora of enemies – and I was the targeted fall gal for the murder.

This is the story of Max – the bored blind guy; Irene – the blind guy’s discontented wife, who retired from school teaching to help Max; and me – Joan Freed, the rebel life coach – plus a few more characters.

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