I would go to the Center for the Physically Limited during the day. Sally could drop me off there after she finished work. Then she could go home and sleep, and she didn't have to worry about keeping me entertained. I remember that I did have to have something from a doctor about my disability in order to become a member at the Center and that Bill Turley took me.
I remember in the waiting room, him staring up at this poster of the human circulatory system for what seemed like the longest time. Finally, I asked him about it. He said, "I'm just trying to figure out where we are on this map." Yeah, Bill was hilarious.
As a member of the Center I got to buy a cheap hot lunch, and I had access to their computer lab (consisting of a few of those all-in-one style Macintosh mini computers) which was cool, because I liked to write even then, and I participated in a thing called an APA or Amatuer Press Alliance. (I'll post more about that later.)
Sometimes I hung out at the duplex and read comics (they didn't have a TV.) Other times, I went with Sally to work and hung out in a corner of the restaurant and drew in a sketch pad. My love of comics had transitioned to a love of drawing, and I always wanted to become a professional artist.
Speaking of "professions," I read through the job postings in the paper that Sally brought home every morning. Sally didn't tell me that mom and dad didn't want me back home. She just emphasized that my options for a future were much better in Tulsa than they were in Coulterville (true!)
I went to a few job interviews. Nothing was working out on that front, but I read an ad for Platt College and specifically their commercial art program. I really wanted to check out the art program at this school. So, Sally took me. The school recruiters knew a soft sell when they saw one, and before I knew it, I was signed up for classes.
"Good!" Sally exclaimed. Although, I was suddenly worried that I had done something very reckless. Sally was nonplussed and took us out to celebrate. "Now we know you're going to stay!"
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