[Critique Group 1] Leonard's comments on DeAnna's sub

[Leonard Tuchyner]

As an 83 year old person who  islosing more of his vision and hearing yearly,, 

I certainly  identify with the difference between accepting help  

and the younger me that resisted it.

What do you do when help is notwanted but foisted on you? 

The piece is well written and I havenothing to  recommend about that. 

 

DeAnna sub for March 23, 2023

 

 

910 words

Atyour Service

By DeAnna Quietwater Noriega

 

When I was a college student, my bestfriend Annie and I took a bus to San Francisco to Christmas shop. We decided totake a lunch break at a cafeteria style venue. Annie scanned the restaurant foran empty table. She directed me to one near the buffet line. I settled my guidedog beneath it, clipped her leash to one of its legs and placed my bags betweenher front paws. We hurried to fill our trays, observed by a busboy clearingdirty dishes. When we had made our selections and were trying to decide how tocarry two trays back to our seats; the bus boy stepped up and bowed, offered mean elbow, “At your service Miss,” he quipped. Scooping up my tray, he escortedme back to my seat with a smile.

 

Throughout my life journey, I havemet many wonderful strangers who seem to take real enjoyment in offering meassistance. Yesterday, I was in Jefferson City helping with the MissouriCouncil of the Blind present their views on two pending pieces of legislation.I had been assigned my own state senator and seven members of the Missourirepresentatives on the house side. I helped my roommate, a woman five yearsolder ­than I, get up and dress and attend the breakfast before going over tothe state capital building. She was given two state senators and five membersof the house to visit. She hadn’t made any appointments. I noticed that herhouse members were in offices with room numbers followed by letterdesignations. Since these indicated to me that these might be up narrow steepmetal staircases to mezzanines built in large high-ceilinged rooms, I offeredher a trade for some of my list to reduce her list to five visits and addingtwo more to my list. She agreed, but when she was ready to leave, she changedher mind and asked if I could do them all. She felt unwell. After I arranged alate check-out, I was trying to touch type the address of my hotel into theproper field in my phone to summon an Uber car. An acquaintance’s husbandrecognized me and asked what I was doing. When he heard, I was trying to setupa ride to the capital, he offered to take me and my dog with the two blindpeople he was driving there. Robert had never been part of a legislative day.Since he needed to find a place on the street to park his extended cab pickuptruck. He dropped me in what he thought was the back entrance where I couldhave taken an elevator to the offices level. I took the elevator to the thirdfloor to begin looking for offices, only to find myself still in a parkinggarage, not the capital building. I heard a car looking for a parking spot andfollowed it. When the young man driving the car stopped and rolled down awindow, I explained I was lost. He took me to another elevator and we crossedthe street where I met up with My friend Robert and his party and were givendirections to a public access entrance. 

 

We got separated when we got tangledup in a large gathering of children’s advocates holding a rally in the rotunda.A woman admired my dog and asked if I wanted a seat, but when she understood Ineeded to locate an exit into a main hall, she led me to one and even figuredwhich direction I needed to go to reach my first appointment. There I met alegislative assistant who used to work for my house representative. She told mehe was planning to run for the senate next fall and insisted on walking with usto my second appointment. Each subsequent office had someone willing to guideme to the next. I only got to talk with two legislators because the senate haddone an all-night session and had only broken at seven in the morning. They hadall left to get some sleep. Both house members were supportive of my positions.I managed to finish dropping off material in all 15 of the legislator’s officeson our combined lists by 11:30. At the last office, I asked the legislativeassistant if she could direct me to the elevator that would take me to thebasement level so I could walk out to the street through the parking garage Ihad originally meant to walk through under the capital. She said she reallycouldn’t because she was directionally challenged and her directions werelikely to get me lost. Instead, she walked with me, waited for the elevator andescorted Flynn and I through the garage. She met a friend and stopped to talkto him when I ran into Robert and his party who were going to take a lunchbreakat a nearby restaurant. They offered to give me a lift back to the hotel. 

 

When I was young, I hated havingpeople assume that that sweet little blind girl needed someone to take care ofher. Now that I am transformed into that sweet little blind grandma, I am gratefulwhen generous minded people go out of their way to offer help. As for Karen,the directionally challenged legislative assistant, she remembered me fromprevious visits to the capital to meet with my senator. 

 

 




 
 
Leonard I. Tuchyner, Author
 
https://www.dldbooks.com/tuchyner/

 
  
 
 

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