'Blade Runner' - Chapter 1

So, I usually don't write 'author's notes' for my stories, but I feel it's necessary for this one.

The main character in this story, Jason Ridley, is loosely based on Oscar Pistorius. I started writing this story shortly after reading Oscar's biography 'Blade Runner' in late 2012.  I was a huge fan of his; I think he did an incredible job of changing many people's perception of disabled people. And damn; he's hot!! 

The Oscar Pistorius referred to in this story is the man I admired before February 14th 2013.

I had the first three chapters written and the outline for the rest of the story pretty much done when the news of Oscar shooting Reeva Steenkamp came out on Valentine's Day last year.  It felt like I'd been punched in the gut and the disappointment and shock took away all inspiration to move forward.

A year later the shock has subsided and new ideas for the story has started coming to me. After I mentioned that I had been working on this story about a year ago in my previous post and I've received a few emails from people that have expressed that they are interested in reading it.

I will start with posting the first chapter and see what kind of feedback it gets. If there is interest I will post the next two chapters as well as start working on the rest of the story.

I'm not interested in starting a discussion about the Pistorius trial on the blog, so any comments regarding Oscar's guilt/innocence etc. will be deleted. If you have views/thoughts you wish to share with me, please contact me in private via email: devoteestoriesbymille@gmail.com. 

Hannah Watkins sat down on her favorite bench and had a sip of her coffee. She loved the park on Saturday mornings; it was usually quiet apart from a few early morning joggers and today was no exception. It was a beautiful spring day, just warm enough to go without a coat and bright sunshine filtering through the branches of the trees.

She was about halfway through a chapter when she put her book down and reached of her coffee when a passing jogger caught her attention. Or more accurately his legs; from the knees down they were replaced by prosthetics; running blades.  Hannah had never seen anyone run on running blades in real life, but she had followed the Olympics in London and in the athletics events the South African athlete Oscar Pistorius had caught her attention. It was a bit mind blowing to her that a guy with no legs was actually faster than several able bodied runners.

The jogger’s confident and apparently effortless stride mesmerized her and Hanna couldn’t stop herself from watching as he jogged down the trail.

When the trail curved he vanished from her sight and she turned her attention to the book she was reading and leaned back on the bench, but she struggled to focus.  Her mind kept wandering back to the guy on running blades.

Twenty minutes later Hannah had managed to re-focus and she was so immersed in her book that she didn’t notice that someone sat down on the opposite end of the bench, so the familiar deep baritone voice that suddenly addressed her startled her.

“Good morning, Hannah. I didn’t know you live in this area.”

Hannah put the book down in her lap and turned to face the man beside her; Jason Ridley. They had been co-workers for a few months, but they had never spent time together outside work.  Hannah worked as a personal assistant for one of the senior partners in the law firm and Jason was an attorney in the corporate department.

Hannah had been stunned by his good looks the first time she saw him walk into the offices; he was the epitome of tall, dark and handsome. Little over 6’ tall, lean yet muscular build with chocolate brown eyes and short dark brown hair.

He always wore impeccably tailored suits that fit him perfectly to work and his hair was always perfectly styled.  If Hannah didn’t have a strict self-imposed rule about not dating co-workers she definitely would have flirted with him.

Hannah quickly surveyed his appearance; it was her first time seeing him in casual clothes.  His hair was more untamed than it normally was and the dark shadow on his jaw indicated he hadn’t shaved that morning. He was wearing a skin tight dry fit t-shirt that revealed a very toned upper body and a pair of running shorts that stopped mid thigh. She gasped when she looked at his legs; below the knees they were replaced by running blades. Hannah realized that Jason was the ‘blade runner’ she’d admired earlier that morning and failed to disguise her surprise.

“Kinda’ hard to miss,” he said with a smile, gesturing to his legs. Hannah was slightly mortified by her shocked reaction.

“I…I’m sorry, Jason. I didn’t mean to stare...” Hannah stuttered, blushing. “I just had no idea.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he brushed her off, smiling. “Comes with the territory. I’m used to it.”

“I…I just had no idea.  There’s nothing in your gait that reveals that your legs are…that you are…” Hannah’s voice trailed off with embarrassment, she didn’t know what to say.

“That I’m an amputee?” Jason suggested. “It’s not a bad word, Hannah. And I don’t mind talking about it. It’s not a secret.”

“You never said anything about it at work.”

“Management is aware of my disability, but it doesn’t affect my ability to do my job so it’s not something feel the need to announce to everyone I meet. ‘By the way, my legs were amputated below the knees’ isn’t exactly your standard ice-breaker.”

“I guess you have a point there. I’m just surprised, that’s all…”

“Completely understandable,” Jason said with a warm smile as he leaned back on the bench and stretched his legs out in front of him.  In a spur of the moment he asked; “What are your plans for the day?”

“Not much. I need to get a couple of loads of laundry done, but other than that I don’t have anything planned beyond reading and relaxing.  I know the next few weeks will be hectic, with little downtime, so I figured I’d really take advantage of this weekend.”

Jason had been a bit fascinated by Hannah since the first time he’d laid eyes on her, but when he’d asked a co-worker if she was single he’d been told that she didn’t date coworkers and he hadn’t really had a reason to approach her at work. 

He wasn’t sure how the revelation of his disability would affect their professional relationship, but he figured he should tell her a bit more about himself and his condition, to avoid things getting awkward between them.

“Would you like to join me for lunch? It would give us a chance to get to know each other better.”

“Um…sure, sounds good to me.” Hannah sounded a bit surprised at first, but she recovered quickly.

“Have you ever been to ‘Campagna’?”

“I’ve heard about it, but I’ve never been. It’s a shame, since it’s within walking distance from my house.”

“Wanna try it? I’ve been there a couple of times, it’s nice and the view from the terrace is amazing.”

“Sounds nice.”

“I live three blocks north, on Lincoln, where do you live?”

“On Hill, across the street from Starbucks.”

“Why don’t we meet at the intersection between Hill and Crescent at noon and we can walk down to the waterfront together?”

“Sounds like a good plan. You have my phone number, right?”

“If it’s on the company contact list.”

“It is. And so is yours, I suppose?”

Hannah nodded and Jason stood up and stretched. “Well, I’d better finish my workout before I cool down. See you at noon.”

…

Hannah walked down the street toward the intersection where she was meeting Jason. She was running a few minutes late; her mother had called just as she was about to get in the shower and since it had been a while since Hannah had spoken to her she hadn’t had the conscience to cut the call short.

Jason was waiting for her and he smiled at her as she came closer.  He was wearing a pair of beige cargo shorts that ended just above his knees and a navy blue polo shirt that hugged him in all the right places. Prosthetics that looked almost like real legs had replaced the running blades and his feet were clad in a pair of high-tech looking Nike running shoes. She noticed there were several nicks and scuffmarks on his prosthetics; he obviously wasn’t very careful about how he treated them.

“Sorry I’m late. Mom called and she had so much to tell me. Since I hadn’t talked to her for a while I didn’t have the conscience to just cut her off.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Jason replied with a smile, “I just got here myself. And it’s not like we’re in a rush. Nice dress by the way.”

Hannah was dressed in a knee length sundress with a floral printed pattern and her feet were clad in a pair of strappy leather sandals.

“Oh, thanks. It’s nice to get a break from business suits on the weekends,” Hannah said as they started walking down the street.

“Tell me about it. One of the things I dislike most about being a lawyer is the damn dress code. Wearing a suit everyday is a pain in the ass.”

Hannah chuckled and they started to walk toward the beach in a slightly awkward silence. After a few minutes Jason decided to take charge of the conversation.

“Have you heard about Oscar Pistorius?” he asked.

“You mean ‘Blade Runner’? I saw him race in the Olympics in London.”

“I was born with the same condition as him. No fibulas and disfigured feet. The doctors advised my parents to have my legs amputated below the knees before I learned to walk and they performed the surgery when I was about 10 months old.”

“So you can’t remember having your own legs?”

“No, I learned to walk on prosthetic legs, got my first pair when I was about a year and a half.”

“I would never have guessed there was anything wrong with your legs. Your gait doesn’t reveal it.”

“Years of practice,” Jason grinned. “If you look closely you can see the outline of the top of my prosthesis through my pants when I sit down, but most people don’t notice.”

Hannah looked down at his legs again. The prosthetics ended at his knees and what looked like white socks came up to a couple of inches above his knees. She remained quiet.

“Growing up my parents never treated me differently. Mom would tell my brother and sister to put their shoes on and me to put my legs on. I even played sports in school and never really let my disability hold me back.”

“What sorts of sports?”

“Basketball and I was on the athletics team. I never was a great runner though, I like to jog to keep in shape and that’s it. In general I had a very normal childhood. I guess the fittings for new prosthesis and the occasional periods of time on crutches or in a wheelchair because of blisters were the only times I felt different.”

“I played basketball in high school too. Wasn’t very good though, I mostly played for fun.”

“I bet you were better than you think,” Jason grinned.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I never was never that into it. My best friend played and I guess I just kind of tagged along with her.”

...

They reached the restaurant and Jason asked for a table for two on the deck facing the waterfront.  Hannah noticed that people stared at his legs as they walked by, but he didn’t seem to even notice it.

“It doesn’t bother you?” she blurted out when the waiter had taken their drink order and left.

“What?”

“The staring. I noticed several people staring as you walked by.”

“I don’t even notice anymore. When I was a teenager it bothered me a bit, but I reached a point where I decided to ignore it. Does it bother you?”

“No, not really. I just noticed.”

“As I said earlier; it comes with the territory and people have been staring at my legs my whole life,” Jason shrugged. “It won’t change. I suppose I’m grateful that Oscar Pistorius has raised awareness about being an amputee and he has really showed the world that it’s not the end of the world. I like his philosophy; that he’s not limited by his disability, but able by his abilities. It’s how I feel too. And we all have our limitations and abilities, so…” Jason shrugged.

“He is pretty inspiring, isn’t he?”

“As much as I hate the concept of ‘inspiring cripples’ I guess I agree. He is an inspiration to many people. Our backgrounds actually have several similarities; we both lost our mothers in our teens and grew up with families that didn’t treat us different from our siblings. My parents expected the same from me as they did from my siblings and they never cut me any slack.”

“So ‘I have no legs’ never worked as an excuse?”

“Nope. I mean, they adapted activities when necessary, but I was expected to participate and do my best. Academics were really my strong suit, so school was my arena to excel.”

“Thanks for being so candid,” Hannah said.  “And I’m glad we’re getting to know each other better. Since we’re being honest I’ll admit I’ve had an eye on you since the first time I saw you.”

“Really? You know, I’ve had an eye on you too, but when I mentioned it to one of the guys at work he told me to forget it. That you have a strict policy against dating co-workers.”

“Well, I do, which is why I haven’t made a move.  I’ve been burned once and it almost lost me my job. I don’t want to risk that again.”

“Right...” Jason wasn’t able to hide his disappointment that Hannah probably just wanted to be friends with him.

“But, that doesn’t mean I’m not willing to make an exception if the right guy comes along,” Hannah said with a flirtatious smile.

 ...to be continued...