LV. Bax's Handicap
Greetings,
Most of you probably don't know this, but yesterday, July 11, 2005, marked my parents' 23rd Wedding Anniversary. I called home and congratulated them. However, remembering back to my preteen years, I suddenly realized that this same day marked the unfortunate event that occurred to one of my dear friends.
Frederick O'Flanny, another one of my friends that you all know, had a younger brother named Baxter Flannigan O'Flanny IV. Bax, as we used to call him, always hung around with Flanny and his friends. Unlike Flanny, Bax was in decent health. However, he had deathly fear of water. He could not take a sip from a glass of water or take a shower. To bath, his mother would have to use heavy sedatives and place him in the bathtub during his unconscious state and scrub him down. Spending afternoons at Flanny's house during the summer thunderstorms was not possible because of the shrills and shrieks coming from Bax's mouth. He would hide in the closet much like a scared dog and cry for hours. Even on a misty day on the drive to school Bax would lose it and we would have to tie him up in the car so that he wouldn’t rip his eyes out and tear his skin off.
Bax's fear all stemmed from one event early in his childhood. Bax was only 4 at the time. His grandmother was staying with them over the holidays. One day, Bax ran inside from playing outside and needed to use the facilities. Flanny was in front of him and occupied the first bathroom in the hallway. Bax could not hold it, so he ran into the guest room bathroom to use the toilet. Much to his surprise, his grandmother lay in the bathtub completely naked taking a bath. The horror that Bax felt at the sight of his nude grandmother put him into shock. He became blind for two weeks after he came out of his coma. Since then he was terrified of water thinking it could make a person's body look like that.
When we moved to high school, Bax started to take therapy for his situation seeing as how it was a terrible handicap. A few years went by and Bax was showering alone without sedatives and liked to dance in the rain. As a celebration, Flanny, our friends, and I decided to throw him a celebration. We blindfolded Bax and drove him out I-20 to a secret spot. We paid for our tickets and led him into the park. Bax was so excited and he just couldnt wait to take off the blindfold.
We stopped in the middle of the park. We took Bax's blindfold off and screamed, "welcome to white water!" White Water is a big water amusement park in atlanta that is usually visited by people who have no business wearing a bathing suit.
Within seconds, the excitement drained from Bax's eyes and they filled with fear.
Overwhelmed, Bax dropped to the ground dead. Well, the next summer ol' Flanny went to sea for his treasure so that was the last we saw of the O'Flanny family. They have given me wisdom though. Years later I thought to myself about ol' Bax and said aloud, "Overcome your fears, for a life full of fear leads to death alone."
Most of you probably don't know this, but yesterday, July 11, 2005, marked my parents' 23rd Wedding Anniversary. I called home and congratulated them. However, remembering back to my preteen years, I suddenly realized that this same day marked the unfortunate event that occurred to one of my dear friends.
Frederick O'Flanny, another one of my friends that you all know, had a younger brother named Baxter Flannigan O'Flanny IV. Bax, as we used to call him, always hung around with Flanny and his friends. Unlike Flanny, Bax was in decent health. However, he had deathly fear of water. He could not take a sip from a glass of water or take a shower. To bath, his mother would have to use heavy sedatives and place him in the bathtub during his unconscious state and scrub him down. Spending afternoons at Flanny's house during the summer thunderstorms was not possible because of the shrills and shrieks coming from Bax's mouth. He would hide in the closet much like a scared dog and cry for hours. Even on a misty day on the drive to school Bax would lose it and we would have to tie him up in the car so that he wouldn’t rip his eyes out and tear his skin off.
Bax's fear all stemmed from one event early in his childhood. Bax was only 4 at the time. His grandmother was staying with them over the holidays. One day, Bax ran inside from playing outside and needed to use the facilities. Flanny was in front of him and occupied the first bathroom in the hallway. Bax could not hold it, so he ran into the guest room bathroom to use the toilet. Much to his surprise, his grandmother lay in the bathtub completely naked taking a bath. The horror that Bax felt at the sight of his nude grandmother put him into shock. He became blind for two weeks after he came out of his coma. Since then he was terrified of water thinking it could make a person's body look like that.
When we moved to high school, Bax started to take therapy for his situation seeing as how it was a terrible handicap. A few years went by and Bax was showering alone without sedatives and liked to dance in the rain. As a celebration, Flanny, our friends, and I decided to throw him a celebration. We blindfolded Bax and drove him out I-20 to a secret spot. We paid for our tickets and led him into the park. Bax was so excited and he just couldnt wait to take off the blindfold.
We stopped in the middle of the park. We took Bax's blindfold off and screamed, "welcome to white water!" White Water is a big water amusement park in atlanta that is usually visited by people who have no business wearing a bathing suit.
Within seconds, the excitement drained from Bax's eyes and they filled with fear.
Overwhelmed, Bax dropped to the ground dead. Well, the next summer ol' Flanny went to sea for his treasure so that was the last we saw of the O'Flanny family. They have given me wisdom though. Years later I thought to myself about ol' Bax and said aloud, "Overcome your fears, for a life full of fear leads to death alone."
posted by Ivan Drago at 1:46 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home