Tells the story of a young woman whose life was forever changed in a construction accident that rendered her paralyzed.
She was a rather pretty thing, rather tall and muscular in build, with tanned skin, brown eyes that sparkled with determination and a headful of short, wine-colored hair that was cut in a snazzy punk style cut. She was rather crass in nature; it wasn't uncommon for her to curse like a man, and she was known to burp in public and not being ashamed of it. This was just her nature.
Jennifer Kaylin Steele was in her middle 30's when she was injured in a horrible fall from a beam while doing construction work. She was badly injured, and the fall rendered her a paraplegic from the middle of her waist on down. She now required the use of a motorized wheelchair, and she couldn't move her lower limbs. She was not one to let her injury slow her down: she was determined to overcome her disability, and people attributed it partly to her gung-ho attitude.
Jennifer didn't have many in the way of friends because she was a self-proclaimed lesbian; and many people (especially "straight" [non-lesbian] women) were uncomfortable with her choice of lifestyle. She did have a few friends, but most of them were men, and they enjoyed being around her because she had such a rough and tough exterior. She could tell dirty jokes with the best of them, and she enjoyed going to bars.
Jennifer was now working part-time in the office at the construction company where she had worked before her fall; but she was dissatisfied with the "women's work"; she missed palling around with her friends and the excitement of putting a building together and the feel of hard work in her body. She was glad she was working again, but she still felt intimidated by the women at her job because some of them made comments about her "alternative lifestyle" and her socializing with men. But she was still determined to make the best out of her situation, and she was glad to be making a living, even though she was now physically handicap by a disability that was beyond her control.
But one person who accepted her for all her "faults" was a caring nurse who had taken care of her while she was in the hospital; and she was the one who got Jennifer into rehab and had helped her get the job she now had currently. She accepted Jennifer as a person first, and it didn't matter to her whether she was "lesbian"; she was a person first, and she respected her beliefs, even though she, herself, was against it. She made Jennifer feel like a person, and she treated her with respect; and this was why the two women were good friends. Plus they both had disabilities that were noticeable, and they could somewhat identify with each other's problems.
The "caring nurse" in question was none other than Louisiana Sandusky.
I am glad she had a caring nurse, I can't agree with her lifestyle choice, but I can understand that we are all suppose to set an example.
God Bless
~Michelle~
if all of us could be like that caring nurse, the world would be a much happier place! well done, karen...beautiful message that all of us need to learn. (((HUGS))) and thank you...love, karla. :)
A page-turning novel about a relationship between best friends that is interrupted because of betrayal , deceit, sexual promiscuity and pregnancy happens!
