Ok, remember we were supposed to have a party for Easter? We ended up doing something, but a gathering over at Vee's place, on the day after Easter. With Nicki leaving that evening, it was the least I could do.
Kristy brought someone with her. I was expecting she'd bring Alison but it wasn't her. It was someone else. She wore glasses and a red jumper. I have to admit she was cool-looking. "Her name is Veronica Vasconcelos," Kristy said, "she's my roommate at the center."
I like the sound of the name, Veronica Vasconcelos. She's as exotic as her name is. She's is half-Brazilian and half-Mexican, and she speaks fluent Portuguese and Spanish. But I wasn't prepared for what Kristy said next.
"She's legally blind."
"She can't see?" asked Harriet.
"Not too well," Kristy said.
I'd read about blindness in a book once, and I explained to them that there are different definitions of sight, and once a person's vision falls below a certain threshold, they're declared legally blind. For example, my vision is officially 20/50, which means I'm mildly nearsighted. Veronica's vision has to be worse than 20/200.
Veronica told us she's learning Braille, the written language for visually impaired people. I saw a documentary on it once, it's raised dots on a page, and it allows for them to 'read' even though they can't see well.
Just then Nicki showed up, with Sprocket in tow. I had to turn away to keep from sneezing as Sprocket barked and barked and barked at Veronica.
I was shocked at what happened next. Nicki, who'd as far as I knew had only seen Veronica this one time, reached over to her and handed Sprocket to her. "He's a trained service dog," she explained, "he'll be your eyes and ears." Veronica was quite touched by the gift, she gave Nicki a huge hug and started crying.
Later on, on our way to the airport, where Nicki only had 1 dog with her, I asked her why she did it, and she said that Veronica needed Sprocket more than she did.
6 comments:
Veronica seems nice. She looks very pretty :) I couldn't imagine not being able to see, I'm so sorry that she is almost blind. I suppose she doesn't want pity though. She's a strong girl to go through that every day though!
That is so nice of Nicki to give Veronica Sprocket! I hope Sprocket and Veronica become fast dog-human friends :) And I hope Nicki can get along without Sprocket and not miss him too much.
~Avery~
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! That is the most sincere, sweetest, amazing thing I ever heard!
GO NICKI!
Aww, Veronica is so sweet! I'm so glad that Nicki was nice enough to give her Sprocket.
What a touching story. Nicki has a very big heart. Veronica seems like a very interesting girl, and we hope to get to know her better.
We have a music student here at Parkington who has MS (Multiple Sclerosis)and has to spend a lot of time in a wheelchair. She also has vision problems due to the MS. She is such a sweetheart.
We hope Nicki made it home safely.
~The Girls of Smithens Hall~
Wow, that was really nice of Nicki! And Veronica is pretty. Hopefully you'll get to see more of her. It'll be good for Kristy to have someone at the center to hang out with.
That's so sweet of Nicki! I am very proud of her, GO NICKI!!!!! :D
Post a Comment