|
Taku caught up with her. He grabbed the hand grip and pulled the wheelchair with all his strength.
The wheelchair stopped just as she was about to fall down.
"Sorry, sorry. Are you ok?"
His heart was beating very fast.
The other boys came closer. Taku took a deep breath and looked into Chii's face.
"Are you all right, Chii?"
At first, Chii was about to cry, but she pulled herself together and said smiling,
"Taku, when you stop the wheelchair please put on the brakes.
Sidewalks look flat, but most of the time they are not."
The boys apologized many times before leaving.
Taku was in unusually low spirits, so Chii spoke to him in a cheerful voice.
"All right, are you ready? Then, let's go!"
Taku pull himself together, and this time he paid attention to the road and was very careful pushing the wheelchair.
When going down from the sidewalk to the road, he would pull the Wheelchair back toward his body so she would not fall off. When going up from the road to the sidewalk, he would bend himself forward and push the wheelchair strongly.
When there was a gap on the road, he would say,
"I'm going to pull up the front wheel"and would smoothly go over the gap.
He was getting used to pushing the wheelchair, and started humming a tune again.
At that moment, the wheelchair got stuck and Chii almost fell out the front of it.
She gave a little scream.
This time the front wheel had fallen into a hole.
"In a situation like this, step down on the stepping bar and pull up the front wheel",said Chii kindly.
"All right." Taku nodded while thinking carefully.
"I think I'm doing a better job now than before, but I still don't know what to do
when something like this happens."
"But I think you are pulling up the wheel chair much better now"
Chii said, trying to encourage him.
"That's because you taught me so kindly", he said.
The two encouraged and helped each other while going to the library.
"I usually walk or ride my bicycle, so I never noticed how hard it is for people using a wheelchair.
So, today has been a great experience for me. I think you are amazing for facing everything with a smile and never giving up."
Taku felt a change in his heart from this new experience. He looked to the sky above and took a deep breath.
  
|