"Steps"

STEPS

         Jana looked at the clock and sighed. It was time for physical therapy. She had no idea why everyone insisted she would be able to walk again. Had her mother not listened to the doctor? Had her sister not really looked at her twisted and scarred legs? Did they not remember she had been in a coma for six weeks? She had the paleness to verify that.
         The physical therapists were the most annoying. They were always encouraging and praising every twitch and spasm. Surely they knew these were involuntary and did not prove anything.
         Everyone seemed to ignore Jana's former life and never mentioned that her best friend had died in the accident and that she would never be playing basketball for the professional team she had been drafted by. She had no desire to walk. All she wanted was to transfer back into her hospital bed, turn off the lights, and forget.
         As she inched her wheelchair toward therapy, Jana wished she could head out the back door instead  She entered and saw three women in uniforms and strange looking wheelchairs passing a basketball around. Jana was invited into the circle and caught the pass directed to her. She immediately returned the ball and smiled. The players joked that they heard a rumor about a new player in town. Would she be interested in coming to one of their games and playing with them? Jana felt like a player among teammates and forgot the wheelchair for the moment.
         Jana told her mother about the team and wondered how they got her name. Her mother said, "I thought it was more important for me to take a step toward acceptance of you than to insist on you taking walking steps. I can't wait to see your first game".