Liam an eight-year-old boy was sitting in his wheelchair in the backyard at his grandparent’s range. He lost both of his legs below the kneecaps in a car accident. Liam was bored and wheeled away from the porch down onto the gras. He struggled through the high grass toward the shade of an old oak tree. He looked around and remembered the time when he climbed all the way up with a rope around his waist feeling like a superhero. When he spotted a small white egg stuck at the bottom of the tree bark. Slowly, he wheeled himself closer to the drunk to assess the matter. It couldn’t be from a bird as it was too close to the ground.
He held onto the wheelchair with one hand and with the other Hand he reached for the egg.
Anxiously he pulled the egg out of the bark and held the egg carefully between two fingers into the air. Liam place the egg gingerly into his. Just when he asked out loud “What are you”, it cracked. That spooked Liam and he almost dropped the egg.
For a while nothing happened and without warning it wiggled when he spotted a tiny tail sticking out. After a period, the egg cracked in two pieces, and he recognized that it was a lizard. The lizard tilted his head toward the boy. Without a warning the lizards dissolved into his palm and disappeared from his view. Absorbed into his palm and gone. All what was left was the eggshell.
He screamed panic-stricken and rotated his hand franticly to look for the lizard. Freaked-out he was trying to commemorate what just happen when his grandpa stepped onto the porch checking on Liam.
“Everything alright Liam”, he wondered seeing the boy moving his hands franticly?
“What”, shrieked Liam to gain time to answer to his grandpa? “Yeah, sure, all is fine, Baba!” He answered out of breath trying to calm himself down and to assure his grandpa all was alright.
”You sure don’t sound fine boy”, responded his Baba who stepped off the porch walking toward
Liam. “What’s with your hands?”
“Nothing Baba, just a wasp got too friendly”, he knew the truth would not have been believable.
“Well let’s get back to the porch, Nana will bring some sandwiches and lemonade out and I was wondering if I could interest you in a boardgame?”
“Sure, Baba, that sounds great?” Baba struggled pushing the wheelchair back to the porch while
Liam still starred in horror at his hand. It didn’t hurt and didn’t leave a scar.
It occupied Liam the whole week and he couldn’t get it out of his head, nor he could explain any of it?
He sat in the waiting room with his grandparent. He was excited as he would get his proteases fitted and he could walk again. He liked his doctors as he was always up for a joke and made things lighter for him. The doctor’s forehead was creased in surprise as the proteases didn’t seem to fit.
“If I wouldn’t know better”, he said “it appears your legs grew?” He called his assistant and they looked over at the measurements and started measuring again.
“How can that be”, he said in an astonished face! “I missed two inches, TWO INCHES!” “I must send in the new measurements. I truly apologies for my mistake. This has never happened before unless your boys’ legs are growing back.” The doctor put his hand on Liam’s head and stroke him looking concerned. Liam looked down at his hands. “I didn’t do anything”, showing a sense of guilt.
“Of course, you didn’t do anything silly, this is on me!” Said his doctor. The grandparents got a new appointment and said their goodbyes.
Back at home Liam read about lizards and learned about their superpowers. They can regrow limps and tails! Could this be that the superpower of the lizard was his now?
Liam’s follow-up appointment was a repeat of the first one. The proteases didn’t fit! When the doctor measured again, he called his assistant back in and they assessed the legs newly. The doctor held his hand on his chin in amazement.
“Liam, I can’t explain any of this, but it appears your legs are growing back! I know how crazy this sounds to you coming from your doctor, I assure you, you’re an anomality!
Soon after this hit the media! Liam’s story was all over the news. Everyone wanted to know what Liam ate, what kind of medications he was given since his accident.
Liam’s legs and feet miraculously and fully recovered in month when he realized that he was growing a tail and his favorite food changed from fries to flies………
I am Gisela Bengfort and love fiction. I am the author of Wolfy’s Adventure. My first book of the Wolfy’s Adventure series, An Unlikely Friendship just got the Pinnacle Award as best juvenile fiction from NABE. It features the adventure between a rat and a red shoulder hawk. It’s an inspiring story for children 6-9- year-olds. It speaks about friendship, trust, and love, and touches topics like race, diversity, and bullying. I used some real-life events and kept animal behavior factual.
I research the animals and I am always in aww by the incredible superpower’s animals have and I ask children what they think there’s are? It’s so rewarding to hear their exciting responses and how proud they are about themselves. My questions posed in the books are to the reader and listener to engage and spark conversations. My books are available on Amazon, Barns and Noble, Google Play, Kindle, etc