

### A Story of A Blind Man

By William Greely

Copyright © 2016 William Greely

All rights reserved.

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Table of Contents

 Chapter 1: "The Day I died"

 Chapter 2: Crazy House

 Chapter 3: Hey! You're Going the Wrong Way!

 Chapter 4: The Murder Weapon

 Chapter 5: Strange Visions

 Chapter 6: The White Cane

 Chapter 7: Cheryl's' Court Finals

 Chapter 8: Kim

 Chapter 9: The Bitch is back

 Chapter 10: Bingo!

 Chapter 11: Back at the Ranch

 Chapter 12: Gulfstream Drive

 Chapter 13: Mommy, Why, Oh Why??

 Chapter 14: If You Love Someone!

 Chapter 15: Abigale

 Chapter 16: Bye Bye Baby

 Chapter 17: Operation Hernia

 Chapter 18: The Theft of Bingo

 Chapter 19: Tennessee Bound

 Chapter 20: Back Home in Indiana

 Chapter 21: Summer Classes

 Chapter 22: First Semesters

 Chapter 23: The Second Semester

 Chapter 24: Bad, Bad Boy

 Chapter 25: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

 Chapter 26: How come you don't FART

 Chapter 27: Covenanter Drive

 Chapter 28: Wylie and the hand JIVE and my trip into hell!

 Chapter 29: Back to Hell

 Chapter 30: Well this sucks

 Conclusion

# Chapter 1

"The Day I died"

There is a saying in South Florida, Naples to be precise, which is "another day in paradise." It was a beautiful and warm morning in November, 1998. At around 2 a.m., at the corner of Airport Road and Davis Boulevard, there was a tragic auto accident. Just down the road on Davis. A fire station with emergency EMTs arrived within minutes of the 411 call. All hell broke loose; the police were swift in responding and blocked off the streets. The EMTs immediately attended to the passenger who had been in the vehicle. They had the man out of the mangled car and performed emergency procedures. One of the emergency workers shouted out the grim news. "This man is not breathing and has no pulse."

They hooked up wires to a portable EKG machine, and brought out a defibrillator, while one EMT performed CPR.

Clear!

The electrically charged paddles were placed against the dead man's chest.

"Nothing," shouted the EMT worker as he watched the portable EKG.

"Give me more juice!" He zapped the man again.

"Still nothing" the worker repeated. The process was repeated over and over. Back and forth they went like a scene set on replay.

Nothing!

Give me more juice!

Another worker recited the obvious with monotone clarity. "This man is dead."

"Give me more juice, and double it. If this doesn't do it, nothing will."

The last big blast bolted into the man's chest. Finally, a loud shout came from the worker who monitored the EKG machine. "We have a pulse!" Whomp, whomp, whomp.

****

As the emergency chopper was landing, stabilization was required. They had stabilized me and loaded me into the aircraft. The helicopter took off for Ft. Myers-Lee Memorial Hospital Trauma Center. Naples Hospital doesn't have such facilities. I had always wanted to ride in a chopper; weird thought, right? Hell of a way to do it.

I don't remember anything about the day of November 17, the day before the accident. The trauma team at the Ft. Myers Lee Memorial Hospital trauma center worked on me like my life depended on it, well Duh! I learned later that I was placed into a medically induced coma. My first recollection of being aware of my surroundings was when I heard my neurologist ask me questions. Who is the President? What day was it? Of course, I didn't have a clue. He asked more questions. He wanted to know if I was a vegetable. I guess I convinced him I wasn't just before he put me back into a coma again for a couple weeks.

Next thing I knew, I woke up in the Intensive Care Unit. Eventually, I was moved to a private room. It was really weird because I didn't have much of a reaction about where I was. I remembered someone telling me that I was involved in a terrible automobile accident and was at the Ft. Myers Hospital, and the hardest hitting information I would ever receive. They told me that I was totally blind. I had stuff stuck all over me. Things were sticking into my arms and I had a feeding tube jabbed into my stomach. Ensure: yummy, yummy, yummy! I was getting stuck with needles all the damn time. But you know what? It didn't bother me in the least; It just didn't bother me. I guess I was so doped up, I didn't care at all.

People visited me; my girlfriend came and she gave me a hug.

"I'm blind, what the hell happened?"

"We crashed the car."

I don't remember how the conversation went after that, in fact, I don't remember saying anything else.

I couldn't believe I was really blind, I kept seeing things. I could see people moving about me, I could hear a television and looked around and I saw The Lion King was playing. I was told that my son and his girlfriend came to see me, but I don't remember. My two brothers and my sister came down from Indiana when I was in the trauma unit, but I don't remember. I do remember my friend Jimbo and his wife Rita. We went outside to have a smoke. I wish I would have forgotten that I smoked cigarettes, but I still had the urge to smoke; I don't remember anything we said.

When I started to know my surroundings it was really eerie. I finally came to realize that I was in the hospital and I was indeed blind. After a while, most of the things that were stuck to me were taken off. I think they were medical monitors to show my vital signs. I was out of the danger zone. But they keep sticking me with needles. They stuck me so many times it became hard to find a useful vein. I talked with my doctor, I guess. I was to have another operation on my left eye. My right eye was not repairable

My mind was in an altered state. I floted in and out in and out of this altered state that I was in. My mind was in one place and my body was in another demention. I can remember everything about the altered state I inhabited, even though it was a dream-like state.

I was in a room with a black woman and we were naked, I had sexual feelings; just felt very horny, but I never got off. I guess just before my second operation I was on a high gurney and was being pushed into a room with really weird faces all around me. The faces were not realistic but cartoonish looking. The colors were very brilliant. I felt a little strange, but not scared. Then suddenly I was in a very large barn. It was very freaky; it looked like it had been there for a hundred years, with musty cob webs all over. Monsters were walking around, crawling up the walls, walking on the ceiling, spiders all around. Some were crawling over me. I was in a baby's high chair, a very large one. I kept struggling to get out. I made progress inch by inch. I never felt scared, and I remember thinking that was strange. I had no fear whatsoever. It was like I was in a nightmare, but I was cool as a cucumber.

In the real world, I was, indeed, struggling to get out of something. In reality, I was in the recovery room and I was strapped to a gurney, I was not being watched by the hospital staff. I finally got out to the point where I was so far out of the gurney that I fell backward and crashed my head on a chair. That is where the staff finally noticed me and I was rushed to get a CAT scan. I hit the back of my head really hard. I had a cracked skull and they were afraid that I could have further damaged it. I will never know, What if I never hit the back of my head? Might the second operation have repaired my sight?

Meanwhile, back in my room, I was visited by my eye surgeon. I have forgotten his name; oh yeah, his name was Doctor Doom. I remember his bedside manner and personality was like a rock. He didn't say much to me except that the operation was not successful. He was real cold; he didn't give me any encouragement or anything. He was concerned about my right eye lid. He was trying to make it stay closed. He took me out of my room and we moved into another room. I don't know why.

He said to me "Your right eye is very damaged and clouded over, and I think it would be better if it would stay closed."

I said "How are you going to do this? It doesn't bother me."

"You would just look better."

"How are you going to do this?"

"I am going to numb your top lid and then staple it to the bottom one." The only pain I had while I was at the hospital was him putting a needle into my eyelid. He started the procedure, and I never felt such pain.

"TAKE THAT THING OUT, TAKE IT OUT, TAKE IT OUT!!!" I screamed.

I said to him "Who gives a damn if my eyelid is not closed, I sure don't."

Needless to say, Doctor Doom and I didn't have a very good rapport.

The nurses were really nice. One of them would take me out from time to time to have a smoke. We had to go outside and she smoked also. At some point I was taken to the rehabilitation room and had to do some exercises, just to keep up my strength. The exercises were ridiculous; the session lasted about 10 minutes. Another part of my so-called rehab was that I was taken to a room that was outfitted to resemble a small apartment. I was guided by a nurse and I had to walk around and touch things just to get a feel for my surroundings. This I had to do several times, which I thought was really stupid.

I remember some people from, shoot, I can't remember, oh yeah, the Head and Spine Injury Department of Florida. I was asked a bunch of questions. The people from the Department of Medicare also asked a bunch of questions, and Medicaid also asked a bunch of questions

The Medicaid woman said, "One thing you won't have to worry about is that you will not have to pay the hospital bill, we will take care of that." My final hospital bill was $275,000. I don't know how or why they came, but I guess the hospital staff called them. I guess that was status quo.

I remember one time a nurse asked me, "Why won't you keep your gown on? You are naked without it."

I said "I don't like it, it feels very uncomfortable. Why should it bother you?"

"Well, we don't like to see you naked."

"That is stupid. You are a nurse and seeing me naked shouldn't bother you. I should be able to be as comfortable as I can, plus I have a sheet over me."

"I will find something more suitable for you to wear and both of us will be happy"

I don't remember why I remember that, but it stuck in my head. I thought how screwed up is it that a nurse is embarrassed to see me naked- too much!

I had more visits from my brothers, Bob and Jim. I don't remember these visits, or those of my son, Billy and his girlfriend Amber. Jimbo and Rita came to visit, but the only thing I remember is smoking.

After a while, I got to eat solid food. It wasn't real solid, but kind of mushy. They stopped the wonderful and delicious Ensure. The feeding tube was left in my stomach. My doctor came by and said another operation might be helpful.

I said "Not by you, you are not touching me ever again, you didn't do anything anyway."

"You make me feel so wanted. There is a place in Miami called the Baskin and Palmer Eye Institute of the University of Miami. You can go there after you are out of the hospital a few days. Just call them and make an appointment." He gave me their address and phone number.

The head nurse came by and I said I wanted to go home.

She said "We would like for you to stay a little bit longer"

I said "What is a little bit longer?"

"Maybe a couple of weeks, you had a very serious head injury and we want to make sure there won't be any more complications."

"Well I want to go home today, so make it happen."

She went and got one of the head Doctors and he said the same thing the head nurse said.

I asked him "Will I ever see again?"

"Well, we have done everything we can, but after you are out and you go to Miami and see the doctors there, well, we just don't know."

"Then I am getting out of here."

The head nurse said I had to finish one more bottle of antibiotics.

"How long will that take?"

"Just a couple of hours."

I called Billy and said, "Come and get me, I am coming home!"

I finished the last bottle of the antibiotics. The nurse couldn't find a vein, she kept poking me, and it took her about six times to fine one. It took about four hours to finish the bottle.

I called my son and he came up from Naples and picked me up. I signed myself out of the hospital against the wishes of everybody there. Leaving the hospital was really weird, we didn't know how to navigate, there is a certain way a blind person has to be guided and we didn't know how to walk together. My son asked me

"Dad you sure that you want to leave the hospital?"

"Yes, I am sure."

Naples is about an hour from Ft. Myers and it is flat as a pancake. I said to my son "I am seeing things all around me."

"What are you talking about? Dad, you are blind, you can't see anything."

"Yes, I can. I can see the road ahead of us, there are high cliffs on my right and I can see speed limit signs."

"Dad there is nothing but flat land all around, everything is flat."

"I don't give a hoot, I can see stuff all around and I know I am blind. It is weird!" He must have thought that I was crazy, but I was actually seeing what I said.

Arriving home was a relief and very strange at the same time. My girlfriend was working and I went straight to bed. Leaving the hospital was tiring, my neurologist, Dr. Savage, prescribed Dilantin, he was afraid that I might go into a seizure and the stuff made me very sleepy.

My Ophthalmologist thought that I would benefit from another operation on my left eye and he set me up an appointment with the Baskin and Palmer Institute at the University of Miami. This was on the other side of the state in Miami. Billy drove me there, my girlfriend had to work. It was pretty easy to find and I was seen by one of the leading Ophthalmologist in the country. He took a look into my left eyeball, called one of his colleagues into the room and he took a look. I was seen by four other Doctors and they all agreed that there was not a chance that my eye could be repaired.

He said, "If there was one chance in a hundred I would take the chance and operate."

He gave me a pamphlet with about six phone numbers and other information about being blind and sent me on my merry little way. He did show us how to have us walk in the proper way.

"Mr. Greely take hold of your sons left elbow. That will be much easier for both of you. It will take a little time but you will be able to navigate very well in no time. Good luck Mr. Greely."

****

The ride back to Naples was not very pleasant knowing that I will be blind for the rest of my life. I was hoping and praying that at least they would be able to fix my left eye, a very big bummer! The ride back to Naples was very somber, I was thinking what am I going to do now. This is not real, how could this happen to me? What was in my future? How will I survive? Even though I survived the accident I died on November 18, 1998. I know that sounds stupid and you might think at least you are alive and can still do things. Well, that is true but I was and still am, half of a man. I made my living as an artist and a photographer, not anymore. We arrived back to my house and went straight to bed.

# Chapter 2

### Crazy House

I got the low-down on what was going on in my house. My ex-wife, my older and younger brothers were down for a spell. My older brother, Bob, was drunk all the time, he threw my gas grill into my pool, pissed his pants in front of my ex-wife who came down from New Hampshire to try and get my son to go back with her. My younger brother, Jim, said he couldn't take it there, too much drinking, and went back to Indiana. It was a mad house. Billy wasn't even staying at my house; he stayed with his girlfriend, Amber. He and Cheryl, my girlfriend, couldn't stand each other. Why did my brother throw my grill into my pool? Who knows he is a lunatic.

Let me tell you about my house. Cheryl and I moved into the house and it was in shambles, a real mess. Well, long story short, we fixed it up spent thousands of dollars, many hours of labor but got it in showroom condition. It was an open concept interior. We painted every room, remodeled the kitchen, even fixed up the garage. I put in a white tile floor, we put in new carpet, and from the living room, it had sliding glass doors. We hired a carpenter to make an arch and I painted around the arch to look like very old bricks, it looked awesome. The closed in porch called a Lania in Florida, I painted the floor to look like tiles. Out the back door, we had a great swimming pool with a diving board, around the pool I put up a stockade fence. On one of the walls, we planted flaming red vines it looked like a red wall, gardenia's between roses around the perimeter, also a Banana tree in the corner it was really beautiful and was a great place to hang out. We had a hot tub, table with an umbrella and in the Lania, or a back porch, we had a very modern slate pool table. We had 3 mango trees, a key lime tree, a lemon tree, night blooming Jasmin, a passion plant, and a star fruit tree. I had many of my paintings hung all over the house as well as some of my photographs. We were renting to own but got shafted when our lease was up by David Steinberg. In the lease agreement, there was a Claus that we had to purchase the house with cash, no loan from the bank. We took the lease to a lawyer and he said he was in his right to expect cash and we were out of luck. Between Cheryl and I we spent around $30,000. All that work for nothing. We should have known because somehow we heard that Steinberg did this to someone else. He was just an rip off. Cheryl and I had dreams of owning this house and put our heart and souls into fixing it up. About three months before the lease was up is when I had my accident. Just before my accident, I finished a job which I had been working on for a while, and I was owed a sizeable check from an interior decorating company.

****

I called the person who was responsible for payments and asked for my check. I told him that I had been in an accident; I told him that I was blinded from the accident. This is what the jerk said to me "I wish you would have been killed."

I asked, "What did you say?"

"I said you moron, that I had wish you were killed in the accident. Do you know how much trouble you caused me?"

I said "Are you crazy, I am blind and you wish that I was killed? What kind of an anasty person are you?"

"I am a pissed off person."

I said, "You owe me money and I want it."

He said, "The job is not finished, there are some places that are not correct and I want them fixed."

Let me explain what I did for a living, I was a Decorative Artist. I would paint "faux finishes." I could do outstanding painted finishes. Here is a definition of what I did for a living; Faux painting or faux finishing are terms used to describe a wide range of decorative painting techniques. The naming comes from the French word faux, meaning false. Thirty years ago when I started "Faux Painting," the word was not used in everyday language, however, today I hear faux this and faux that, and faux everything. It is kind of funny. I get a kick every time I hear this word in context. In modern day faux finishing, there are two major materials processes used. Glaze work involves using a translucent mixture of paint and glazes applied with a brush, roller, rag, or sponge, often mimics textures, but it is always smooth to the touch. Marbleizing is used to make walls and furniture look like real marble. This can be done using either plaster or glaze techniques. I could imitate any kind of marble; I used a turkey feather to make the veins look like real marble, among other applications. Another thing I did was faux painting a wood design, called graining, wood graining, or faux bois (French for "fake wood"). It is often used to imitate exotic or hard-to-find wood varieties, or wood that is too expensive, like Birdseye Maple. Trompe l'oeil, is a French term that means "To trick the eye." It is a realistic painting technique often used in murals, and to create architectural details. Color wash is a free-form finish that creates subtle variations of color using multiple hues of glaze blended together with a paint brush. Stride, from the French word for "stripe" or "streak", is a glazing technique that creates soft thin streaks of color using a paint brush or a wallpaper brush wrapped around with cheese cloth. I used cheese cloth in many glazing applications. It is a technique often used to simulate fabrics such as linen. Rag painting or ragging is a glazing technique using twisted or bunched up rags to create a textural pattern. Sponging is a free-form finish achieved by applying glaze to the wall by dabbing a sea sponge, in various shapes to achieve either simple design (resembling the wall papers) and more sophisticated ones. I had over 250 different finishes that I could use. I also could match any color, I had many clients who had a color swatch and they want something done in that exact color. There was not a color I couldn't copy using bottles of color tints. I was one of the top Decorative Artist in the country. Not bragging, just stating a fact. The job for which I was owed money was a painted garage floor, it was a very large space and what I did was make the unpainted floor look like "slate" in a very appealing herringbone pattern. I put a small block of wood under the garage door so that it would not fit tight against the floor, and I told the jerk to let the finish set up for several days for the paint to cure. Someone shut the garage completely down without the block of wood. When the door was lifted up it pulled up pieces of the paint, no big deal. After I talked with the jerk my girl and I went back to the job and touched up the places where the paint had lifted. I called the firm and told them I had touched up the places and was going to stop by and give them the touch-up paint. My son drove me to their business and gave the jerk the touch-up paint and he went off on me again, I said what about my check? He said, "I will go take a look and if I think it is finished to my satisfaction you will get your money." I called him a couple of days later and he approved the job and they cut me a check. I sent my son to get the check; I could not deal with that jerk ever again! Billy came back with the check, my girlfriend and I went to their bank to cash the check. I wasn't up to it but we needed the money.

Walking into the bank I felt really weird. We had just passed a very large African American woman and her child, and I said to my girl, "We just passed a big fat lady and a little girl."

"How in the hell did you know that?"

"I don't know but I just felt it."

I could imagine the whole interior of the bank. I started freaking out in my mind and had to hurry up and get out of the bank and go home and back to bed.

Several days later I was in bed and the phone rang. Before I was blinded I was searching for an interior decorator that I knew who did a lot of high ended decorating on a very large scale. I had been trying to get a firm like this for years. Having this firm as a client would have set me up for huge profits and work for years to come. Well, the phone call was from this firm, the man on the phone spoke to me.

"Mr. Greely, I have heard of your reputation and the quality of your work and I would really love to have you as my head artist, would you be interested?"

"What bad timing," I said.

"What do you mean?"

"I was involved in a terrible automobile accident and I was blinded by it, I'm out of the art business."

"Ah, man is you kidding me?"

"No, I am quite serious."

My chance-of-a-lifetime flew right out the window.

# Chapter 3

### Hey! You're Going the Wrong Way!

Want to hear about my tragic accident, right? Well, I can only tell you what I was told by Cheryl, the biggest liar on the planet because I don't remember anything. She told me that I had picked her up at my house where she was just hanging out waiting for me to get home. We had plans to go and get a drink. I had no idea how drunk she was, she was sleeping or rather passed out on the living room couch, from drinking her beloved Vodka. We went to Sweetwaters, our neighborhood bar, and grill. This was around midnight and we stayed until around 2:00 a.m. closing time, according to Cheryl. She said that I was too drunk to drive, so she called a taxi but I would not leave my custom car in the parking lot at the bar. I simply refused to take a taxi. So Cheryl drove, this wouldn't have been bad but the stupid woman took the wrong way home. Everyone who has a favorite place to have a good time and get a little drunk have a secret way they can drive home without too many problems about getting stopped by the cops and we were no exception, you know it is the back way home.

Sweetwaters is on a busy street called Airport Road in Naples and it is the most dangerous way to get to our house. Yep, that is the road she took. The sheriff's accident report laid out the details on the entire incident. A tractor-trailer was stopped in the north lane on Airport Road, waiting for the traffic light to change. My 1990 Mazda RX7 convertible that was driven by Cheryl came up behind the truck. The car swerved to avoid the truck, but hit the rear end of it, spun into the southbound lanes, and then sped up because the gas pedal got stuck. The vehicle jumped the median before plowing into some trees. The upper part of the car windshield struck me in the head. That is when I was Medifaxed (air-lifted) to Lee Memorial Hospital in Ft. Myers, in critical condition. Cheryl was taken to Naples Community Hospital. Now get this, she told police she was not driving, and that I was behind the wheel. Cheryl's blood alcohol level was .365, with a BAL this high she couldn't remember a thing, in fact she was close to death. This was Cheryl's second DUI and she was taken to the Naples slammer and booked for vehicular homicide. At the time, the cops thought that I was dead. They didn't know the EMT's revived me. The charges were changed to DWI with a serious body injury.

Ok just bear with me for a second ok? I know this is very boring but you might not know what the levels of Blood Alcohol Levels are and this is an explanation.

"0.02-0.03 BAL: No loss of coordination, slight euphoria, and loss of shyness. Depressant effects are not apparent. Mildly relaxed and maybe a little lightheaded.

0.04-0.06 BAL: Feeling of well-being, relaxation, lower inhibitions, the sensation of warmth. Euphoria. Some minor impairment of reasoning and memory, lowering of caution. Your behavior may become exaggerated and emotions intensified (Good emotions are better, bad emotions are worse)

0.07-0.09 BAL: Slight impairment of balance, speech, vision, reaction time, and hearing. Euphoria. Judgment and self-control are reduced, and caution, the reason and memory are impaired, .08 is legally impaired and it is illegal to drive at this level. You will probably believe that you are functioning better than you really are.

0.10-0.125 BAL: Significant impairment of motor coordination and loss of good judgment. Speech may be slurred; balance, vision, reaction time, and hearing will be impaired. Euphoria.

0.13-0.15 BAL: Gross motor impairment and lack of physical control. Blurred vision and major loss of balance. Euphoria is reduced and dysphoria (anxiety, restlessness) is beginning to appear. Judgment and perception are severely impaired.

0.16-0.19 BAL: Dysphoria predominates, nausea may appear. The drinker has the appearance of a "sloppy drunk."

0.20 BAL: Feeling dazed, confused or otherwise disoriented. May need help to stand or walk. If you injure yourself you may not feel the pain. Some people experience nausea and vomiting at this level. The gag reflex is impaired and you can choke if you do vomit. Blackouts are likely at this level so you may not remember what has happened.

0.25 BAL: All mental, physical and sensory functions are severely impaired. Increased risk of asphyxiation from choking on vomit and of seriously injuring yourself by falls or other accidents.

0.30 BAL: STUPOR. You have little comprehension of where you are. You may pass out suddenly and be difficult to awaken.

0.35 BAL: Coma is possible. This is the level of surgical anesthesia.

0.40 BAL and up: Onset of coma, and possible death due to respiratory arrest."

(From Wikipedia)

According to this Chart Cheryl didn't have a clue of what was going on and I suspect that she was in a black out when we left Sweetwaters. Cheryl is 5 foot 3inches and weighs 98 pounds and she is a very seasoned Alcoholic that is why her BAL was so high; she had developed a tolerance to the Alcohol and according to the accident she also had marijuana in her system.

# Chapter 4

### The Murder Weapon

Robert Zollinhofer, I considered my best friend. I will call Robert Zollinhofer, Bob because his name is too funky. Bob and I were best of friends for many years. He was my next door neighbor when I lived in Amherst, New Hampshire. Bob was extremely intelligent, was a top antique dealer.

I am not real sure how this all came about but at some point, Bob called me in Florida and wanted to get together for lunch. We met at the "Hard Rock Café" in Orlando Florida. We hooked up and it was great seeing Bob, he reminds me of Elton John both in looks and demeanor. At first glance one would think that Bob was "Gay" but I know he is not. Cheryl and I drove up to Orlando and met Bob. Bob's father lived in Jacksonville Florida so it was not unusual for Bob to be in Florida.

Well, anyhow we sat at the bar for lunch.

My Dad died in 1995 and my Step Mother died in 1996 soon after my Dad. I inherited a tidy sum of money. I had to go to the bathroom at the Café and I think that Cheryl told Bob that I was pretty flush. I am not really sure about this but after I got back from the bathroom Bob's "Horse Trading qualities came out" and he hit me hard. Bob could sell ice cubes to Eskimos, he was an awesome salesman. One of his sidelines was converting 1990 Mazda RX 7's into extremely beautiful, exotic automobiles. That was the subject that Bob would talk about, oh, we would shoot the shit but the conversation would always come around to the Custom Mazda's that Bob was having built. He told me his best customers were from Japan and that he sold quite a lot to them. What did I know, he was my best friend and I trusted him.

We finished lunch and we decided to find a motel for the night. Of course, it had to have a bar and a restaurant. I followed Bob, who was driving one of his Custom Mazda and it was beautiful. His was all black, we found a nice place, got settled and met Bob outside to check out his car. It was awesome, it had a front spoiler and a rear spoiler, and all of the Mazda markings were taken off. The interior had racing seats, totally tricked out. He put some kind of baffle to the tail pipe so it sounded like a Ferrari and the tires were racing tires very low and the wheels were totally chrome. The seats were black and hot pink, very nice, and of course, it was a convertible. His car was just beautiful and very sexy!

We went inside the restaurant to eat dinner then into the bar for cocktails. Bob went on and on about the Mazda RX7, he was very knowledgeable. One thing he said that really sold me was the fact that traffic radar would not be able to track how fast the car would go.

"The radar can only detect a flat surface and the car is only flat on the sides, and built into the wheels there was a little gizmo that would cause the radar detector to not be able to be read," he said.

I thought that was pretty cool not that I was going to be speeding all over Naples but was nice to know, that I would not get busted for speeding.

The Mazda had a Wankel engine, kind of confusing but it was not a conventional engine. If you are very interested just google "the Wankel engine." I will tell you that they are a lot smaller than a regular combustible engine good for 200,000 miles with no problem.

We talked, or Bob did, until about 1:00am in the morning. We woke up, had a good breakfast and left the restaurant. Cheryl and I got into Bob's car and drove it around a while, it was awesome, very quick, and drove like a dream. Bob had to get back to Jacksonville and we had to get back to Naples. I told Bob I would think about buying a car from him.

I thought about it and decided to buy one and called Bob who was still in Florida. My crazy idea was to buy one car and sell it buy another and sell that one and buy one more so I could get one for just a few thousand dollars. He was going to Disney World so I told him that I would meet him there and give him a down payment to get the ball rolling. I told Bob that I wanted a candy apple red, and gold plated wheels, other than that I wanted it just like Bob's car. He told me that it would be rebuilt from the ground up. He said that he could deliver one in about a month because he was working on one at the time. That sounded pretty cool. It was about a month later that Bob called me and said, "I will be in Naples in about 10 minutes, you're going to love what I did."

He pulled into my drive with my Candy Apple Red Mazda RX 7 and it was indescribable. It was beyond words. It was tricked out like Bob's but mine was prettier. The paint job wasn't metal flake but it had sprinkles of gold leaf in the paint, it was so beautiful, red and black racing seats, a custom leather steering wheel, front, and back spoilers, all markings were taken off and the wheels were gold plated and it had the baffle that made it sound like a Ferrari. The antenna was neon red and under the car, the bottom was lined with red neon, at night it glowed, it looked like a space ship. It was a bit over the top but oh well! It was a real work of art.

We drove it around town for a while; this car was a real eye catcher. We got admiring looks from other drivers, stopped at a stop light and the driver next to me said "Nice car."

Bob said he had to make some minor adjustments but it wouldn't take too long but he wanted to start in the morning. That evening Cheryl and I took it out for a spin and we noticed that the neon lights were not working. When we got back to the ranch I told Bob and he said no worries he would take a look later. He worked on the wiring, I am not sure what he was doing but he worked on the car for about 3 days and never fixed the neon lights. He had to go back up to Jacksonville. He told me nothing was very seriously wrong with the car and he would be back in a week or two.

Things started to get under my skin, the master brake cylinder went out and I had to take it to my mechanic to get it fixed. I was not happy with the stereo system, it was the original one. I got an awesome sound system; it should have already been done. Bob isn't music savvy; he thought the one it came with was very good. I updated the alarm system, I put in way too much money for buying what I thought was a brand new car.

The car was a real show stopper. I took it to about twenty car shows and I won first place every time and I had twenty huge beautiful trophies to prove it.

This was the kick in the ass, I was stopped for speeding. I didn't get a ticket just a warning but I felt like Bob stuck it right up my ass. Can't get stopped for speeding? Bull Shit!! He was lying up one side of me and down the other, lied, lied and lied!

I talked with Bob and he said to me "If you are not happy with the car; I will come down in two weeks and give your money back."

"Bob it is not what you told me it was, you just made a pig look pretty," I said back.

Cheryl was complaining that she hadn't even taken it out and she said it was her idea, I thought it was mine, so I was correct thinking that she told Bob that I was rich, I gave in and let her take it. She took it to work. She was such a moron. When she parked it she went over the concrete barrier and she backed up and she tore off the left side of the front spoiler. She was so stupid the car had a 4-inch clearance and the concrete bumper was 5 inches tall. Unbelievable there goes $12,000; Bob would never take back the car now. I could have killed Cheryl and should have.

About three weeks after that, the accident happened. After I got out of the hospital Bob came back down to Naples. I thought to see how I was doing but he came down to see the car and see if it could be fixed. I am not sure how I ended up with the car at my house but Bob wanted the salvage rights to the car. It wasn't me he was concerned about it was the car because I hadn't paid for it yet.

We had to deal with the insurance company who wanted to give me just $5,000 for the car but that was not acceptable and we, Bob and myself, had to negotiate with the insurance company. This was about a month between when Bob came down to look at the car and when we met with the insurance company. Bob had to come down two more times and we finally got about $5,000 more for the car. All this time Bob was concerned about the car and the money and not me and our friendship. I really didn't realize this until I moved out of Florida and moved to Tennessee. Where I was living in Tennessee was ten minutes from interstate 95 and Bob passed by the exit to where I was living many times because that is the route he took to do antique shows in Atlanta and visiting his sick Father in Jacksonville. What a jackass Bob was, he wasn't a friend at all! All he cared about was his money; I haven't heard from Bob after that, he never stopped to see me once.

# Chapter 5

### Strange Visions

I was having trouble sleeping and I got some sleeping pills from a doctor; that didn't work worth two hoots. I went to bed in my room and this is so weird, I was inside a space ship or something like that. It was very strange looking, strange gadgets, and a reddish brown color to the whole room. Cheryl came in the room about 20 minutes later and I told her that this room looked like a spaceship.

She said "It is not, it is just like it was before the accident"

I said, "I don't care, we are in a spaceship."

While lying in bed I was facing away from Cheryl and I rolled over and there was someone different in bed with me. It was a lady, I am assuming it was Cheryl, she was up on her hands and knees and really creepy and ugly. Scared the hell out of me. The vision lasted just a minute and then the vision was gone, but I was still in the spaceship. The sleeping pills would make me see these fuzzy things come above the end of the bed and I was covered from head to foot and they kept coming and coming. I wasn't freaked out about it and it was really kind of funny because they were so cute.

Another really strange thing was my whole bed was on a very busy highway and I was just riding. Cars were passing me, horns were honking, the wind was blowing the bed sheets, and the road was I-95 going into Boston. I know this because along the side of the highway there was natural gas holding tanks that were painted by Alexander Calder. He is a famous artist. He invented the mobile. Too weird, I had no control over the bed just going with the flow. Remember I am blind but I had sight throughout all of these weird things going on. These are just a few of the weird visions I had; I will include them throughout this book.

# Chapter 6

### The White Cane

A man showed up at my house to help me learn how to use a white cane, I think his name was John. We worked inside of my house the first couple of times he came over, however, sometimes I felt really bad and could not do any training, this is just a couple of days after getting out of bed and exploring my house. Where I lived, it was within the city limits. It was in an area that was kind of secluded. So there was no place to work. We drove to a spot very close to my house that was very suitable for our work.

There was a place where John could park his car and a long stretch of sidewalk, about a hundred yards with a stop light at the end. Now remember I am still not physically fit and was weak, but we jumped right in. There is a special way a person has to use the cane. I had to start out in the correct manner and that was holding the cane in the proper way and always leading off with my right leg and had to keep the cane feeling the sidewalk. Generally a sidewalk has some kind of landmark on each side and in this case, it was the edge of the grass. I would get it wrong and had to start over. This went on for about an hour to just getting the feeling of the cane. However, the sidewalk was next to a busy street and I was so mortified and embarrassed, I mean I am sure people I knew saw me doing the blind man thing. I know you might think, "so what? Right? Well, I have been independent all of my life and here I am blind and learning how to walk all over.

I said something to John and he said, "Don't worry about it; you are doing what you have to do so get over it."

I am thinking this really sucks and I hate this feeling of hopelessness. The session lasted an hour, then we went back to my house and I went back to bed to get some rest. I saw John about three days a week. He told me to keep working around the house and maybe walk down the driveway. No way, the sidewalk was bad enough, plus I didn't have the confidence to do it on my own. I trained with John for about a month before I threw in the towel and said this is not for me; I am going to get a guide dog.

I have had a pet dog all my life and I felt I would have more independence with a dog. I am not saying that I didn't learn anything from John. because I did learn. He taught me to listen to the traffic that would tell me where I was walking down the sidewalk. At the stop light, he taught me to listen to which way the traffic was flowing. If I heard traffic stopped on my left that meant the traffic at the crosswalk right in front of me had the right of way and when I heard the traffic on my left start to move, the traffic that was stopped and I had the right of way, so theoretically it was safe to cross the street that was in front of me, and vice versa. This was really confusing and took a lot to get the hang of it.

# Chapter 7

### Cheryl's' Court Finals

If you have ever been to court, who hasn't, you know how many times you have to go before you will get a decision from the judge, right? Cheryl had to go around 6 times before a final decision was handed down by the judge. She was put on probation for five years, got a large fine, community service, no drinking and she lost her driving privileges for life. We were fighting a lot, even after Bob moved out. It got so bad that her probation officer came over one day and he heard how much we were fighting that he said this can't go on, something has to give. When we lived on North Road, Mark, who lived there, moved to Ft. Lauderdale on the east coast. She got hold of him and she was allowed to move to Lauderdale by her probation officer. I don't know if she was boinking him on North Road but I don't think so. I wasn't freaked out about her moving, the sooner the better. But that left me hustling to get some roommates. I put an ad in the Naples paper for a roommate. I had several calls and I let three people move in. I forgot their names but I remember one was from South Africa and was into paganism and fixing up boats, and another person was a younger, about nineteen or something like that. His parents kept bugging him by calling him all the time like he was a little kid who couldn't blow his own nose without his parents to help him. He couldn't stand them, I was the one who always answered the phone. Pam Walston was another person who moved in and she was pretty cool. I did have my son living with me at the time, as well as his girlfriend. Cheryl had a dog, a German Shepard that was the biggest pain in the ass. Of course, she left the dog at the house. The dog wasn't housebroken very well because Cheryl didn't take the time to train it. I finally lost it when the dog took a dump right in front of my bedroom door and yep, I stepped right in it. A lovely feeling stepping in dog shit first thing in the morning. I love dogs and I have always had one but this dog was such a pain. I felt bad I was so pissed off when I stepped in the crap that I grabbed that dog and literally picked it up and threw it out the back door. I placed an ad in the Naples free pets section of the newspaper and luckily I got rid of the thing. A man came over and was glad to get the dog, he wanted to use it as a guard dog for his property, and I said good luck.

The owner of the house was Dan Gonzales. He was the biggest jerk on the planet. He had a friend that lived right across the street from the house and he was the jerks spy and would call him on every little thing. My toilet got stopped up and I called old Danny boy and he came over with a plumber and got the toilet working again. Dan came into the kitchen where I was sitting and dropped a spoon on the table from about a foot off the table, he could have just placed it gently down and said this was your problem. He was very rude and acted like I put the damn thing in the toilet on purpose. He also took a shine to Pam and tried to hustle her but when she rebuffed him he got pissed off and said some crap about her. I asked him about it and he said; "I was just interrogating her."

Like he was some kind of a police officer, I mean who says interrogate when referring to talking with someone?

The refrigerator was a real crummy one, really old. I bought one that we found in the paper that was one of the brands that had water and ice on the outside of the door, really sweet. We put the old clunker on the back porch out of the way.

I was still having visions when I was trying to sleep and I had this buzz in my head all the time. To this day I still have this buzz in my head. It sounds like the sound heard in the summer, you know like insects buzzing around, but not real loud just an annoying sound.

Things were getting real crazy around the house, people coming and going, too much drinking. My son had a bunch of friends that would hang out drinking that really started to bug me. This went on for several months, it got to the point where I would get really pissed off but that didn't do a thing. I felt like Rodney Dangerfield "I get no respect!"

Cheryl and I would talk on the phone quite a lot and tried to get things better between her and I. There was one time we were talking after I had been drinking and I passed out while I was on the phone with her. She tried to call me back but I wouldn't answer the phone and she was freaked out and called the paramedics. Well, I did a really stupid thing, I took a bunch of sleeping pills, the paramedics showed up and took me to the emergency room and I had my stomach pumped. I came out of being passed out while they were still pumping out my stomach; that was really weird. I was released and taken to the loony bin by a cop.

I don't know how or who called Kim Guiliano but she was there for me. I started to get a little lippy with the cop and Kim said "Billy just shut up he is only doing his job. You tried to kill yourself so stop being a baby and take your medicine"

I asked, "Where is he taking me?"

"An outpatient facility so you can get things straightened out in your head"

I asked the cop how long I would have to stay there and he said "Usually for four days"

Well, I was there for only 2 days, I talked to the shrink and I told him that I had an appointment with a counselor on Monday. He must have checked because he let me go. I called my house and talked with my son and told him to have someone to come and get me. He said, "Take a cab; nobody is around with a car."

# Chapter 8

### Kim

I am not real sure where and when Kim Guiliano came into my life, I can only guess. I am pretty sure it was when she started dating my very good friend Rick June who owned a fairly successful moving business. She started being my personal assistant about four months after my auto accident that left me totally blind. It was through the "Neck and Spine Injury Association" that is where she came into the equation. I asked Kim if she would be interested in helping me and I told her she would get paid and she agreed. She and the Spine people were a Godsend for me because of the great help that I got from them

Kim would read my mail to me, help me around the house, made sure that I had food and she also helped with my finances. She would run me around to do errands, you know stuff that normal people do on a daily basis. She would get paid by Medicaid I think maybe twice a month. At the time she was the office manager for a painting company, which oddly enough, I worked for a year or so before the accident. She could type faster than a speeding bullet, man, she was fast! We did fun stuff also like going out to dinner, Kim was very protective of me. Sometimes when we were out and about some people would give me or her dirty looks and Kim wouldn't take any crap from them. When it comes to people most have some kind of prejudices when it comes to people who are different from themselves whether they know it or not.

I was in denial but didn't know it. Hey hold on Buckaroo, I have never been in Egypt that is where the Nile is! Just kidding around. My right eye was completely destroyed but my left, I was told, just had a severely detached retina. When I first got the little booklet with the phone numbers I think I came across a Foundation number and there were several foundations that I called. Everyone said I needed a Web Site and Incorporated. Well, Kim and I set out to develop a Corporation, and were told we needed a lawyer to form a corporation; not if you are like Kim and myself. Tell me no and you can kiss my ass! We did form a corporation, it was trial and error but we did it. Filed all the proper documents and paid all the correct fees. It wasn't really that hard, in fact, it was rather quite simple. The name of our corporation was called "US Aid For the Blind Inc." now we needed a website.

Kim's Step Father, Dominik, was a website programmer and he designed a website for us, with links to other site pertaining to blindness, etc. and other real cool stuff and we hosted it in Geo Cities.

I thought that within several years fixing a detached retina was feasible and what my site was for people could make donations to a bank account we set up and if someone had problems getting financial help we could provide them with the money to pay for accommodations while they were getting their procedures done. Great site, great reason, great services but not realistic we were way ahead of the technology, not even close and it was a flop but we had good intentions. I really thought that after five years or so these kinds of eye surgeries would be possible and people would be able to see again. This operation took several months to do, I thought it would have been a way for Kim and I to get a modest income and help people along the way.

# Chapter 9

### The Bitch is back

Cheryl and I have been talking on the phone, almost every day. I am sorry to say but she did save my life by calling the Paramedics, I still don't know if this was a blessing or a curse. I told her that things really have to change between us. The drinking has to stop but I didn't have room to talk, everyone in the house was drinking except the guy from South Africa and Pam Walston. My son was working just a few blocks from our house, some chain restaurant; I think Applebee's or something like that. His so called friends were over all the time and there were times that Billy would come home not drunk but drunk enough to get busted. Billy was still under age and this really pissed me off. He would have a couple of drinks after his shift at the restaurant. I called the restaurant and talked with the manager and he told me that Billy had the correct documents and as far as he was concerned Billy was of legal age to drink. The Manager would not do anything. I found out the general manager for this chain of restaurants and talked with him at his home. I told him that I had talked with his manager and told him the manager kind of laughed at me. The General Manager said he would do something about the situation, I told him he had better do that because if he didn't I would call the authorities. Billy was fired for lying when he applied for the job and the manager also got the ax, I didn't care. The last thing in the world I wanted was to have Billy arrested for drunk driving and possibly ending up all messed up like me. He got another job waiting tables.

I felt like people were running all over me, showing me no respect. There was one incident where at one time I had a spare bedroom not rented out. One of Billy's friends moved someone's whole apartment furniture into the room. I asked him what are you doing and he told me he was just holding this stuff for a friend. Well, I waited three days and no one had come to claim the furniture so I placed a "free add" in the Naples Newspaper "free nice furniture" just come and take it all. Got rid of the stuff the very next day. I thought that was pretty funny. Billy said it was some girls stuff, I told him, "Tuff luck."

It was New Year's Eve and Billy had some of his friends over, they were drinking. He came into my bedroom and said that there was a Cop who just came into the house. I came out and we went outside, I told him that he has no right to just walk into any house he wants to. There were a bunch of fireworks getting set off and I told him to go and do something about that. Everything is in order here and you broke the law just walking into my house. He left without any other hassle.

I tried to get food stamps from the Children and Family Services, it was a joke. Because I had people who paid rent that was considered income and I were entitled to only $10 in food stamps. I didn't know how to work the system; it wasn't even worth messing around with a crummy $10. I did go to the Salvation Army and they helped me with food and other services. Like health, dentists, and doctors. I was noticing when I went to something like the Salvation Army with a helper the person in the office would talk to my helper and not me. They would act like I wasn't even there. That really pissed me off. I finally told the bureaucrats or the office personnel that I was blind and not deaf and they could address me directly. That would piss them off too bad. When I would go to places where I had to talk to someone I would tell my helper to turn around and not even look at the person I was talking to. That forced them to talk directly to me

Things at the house seemed to be getting out of hand; I had no control on what was happening there. After talking with Cheryl we decided to try to get our relationship back. She asked her probation officer if she could come back to Naples and they allowed her to do so. This really pissed off Billy, like I said they didn't get along. She was allowed to move back to Naples, but before she arrived home I got on the Greyhound to go and get a guide dog, so I wasn't home when she showed up. I went to the Southcentral Guide Dog School, up in Bradenton Florida.

# Chapter 10

### Bingo!

I finally decided to get a guide dog; there was a school in Palmetto Florida that I got in touch with called Southeastern Guide Dog School. There were some specifications a person must meet before they can be picked to get a guide dog. They sent a trainer down to Naples to check me out and I passed. They wanted to see if I could perform certain tasks. He had a harness that he would pull and I had to hold onto the harness and the trainer would pull to see if I could keep up. Well, I did pass everything he threw out to me and I was accepted by the school. I had to set up a time to travel up to Palmetto. The process took four weeks to train and graduate in order to get a dog.

As far as Cheryl was concerned she was in the process of getting things in order to move back to Naples but she had not gotten back by the time I left for the school. My son was not a happy camper; he was really pissed off at me. Oh well, you can't always get what you want.

I got a ride to the bus station and I was on my way to getting a dog, I was apprehensive about the whole scenario with Cheryl moving back, my son, the other people at the house and me getting a dog. Didn't really care about all that crap, I was moving ahead with my lousy blind life and was doing what I had to do

It was very weird upon arriving at the school. I had to get rid of my white cane and just learn to get around the school without it. They didn't just leave us on our own; they would help each of us, there were about eight or nine in each class, so we got pretty much personal help from one of the trainers, but not all of the time. The first thing we did was get into our room. We had a roommate, Mike was mine and he was at the late stage of macular degeneration and could see peripherally, which was a great help to me. I think he was from Texas and was retired from the military. The room was very basic, two of everything; like desks, beds, a radio that would have television stations plus music, you know just basic stuff. He said to me "I like to listen to mood music before I go to sleep, it is very soothing and do you think you will mind?"

I said, "No that wouldn't bother me but I have to tell you that I do snore."

He said, "No that will not bother me either."

After the first night, he said to me in the morning

"Man, you snore like a freight train! Man, you are unbelievable I have never heard anyone snore as loud as you."

I had to talk to the head trainer and demand a private room because Mike will kill me before the four weeks were up and I got my own room. I really liked the privacies but Mike was now a friend and he would help me because he could see peripherally. We were assigned the same dining table where we would take all of our meals.

We had to listen to several lectures about getting and owning a guide dog and what to expect before we actually got our dog. I had a lot of trouble just getting around and this is where Mike came in to be a great help for me. I was completely out of my comfort zone and it was a little frightening. I don't think I really got the hang of getting around the school but just enough to get around.

After about two days we were in the "big" room and this is where we received our dogs except me. The head trainer wanted to talk with me. The other students were given their dogs and there was a lot of stupid cooing and baby talk to the dogs, which they were encouraged to do. After they all got their dogs, the trainer took me into his office and my dog was brought into the room. The trainer said "Bill this is your dog, she is a Black Lab and her name is Bingo" She took to me right away and was very friendly and affectionate. The trainer told me to feel her left back side of her hip, she was completely shaved. I said, "what happened here?" She had something wrong with her left hip and they had to do some kind of an operation but the hair will grow back and she will be good as new. The reason they wanted to talk to me alone was because I was not the first person to have Bingo. Another student had Bingo and went through all the training and went home. This always blows my mind, his kids threw some toys onto the roof of his house and he got out a ladder and climbed up and was on top of his house to retrieve the toys and he fell off and broke his neck and was paralyzed from the neck down and Bingo came back to the school and that is when she had the operation. Can you believe the guy was so thoughtless to get on his roof? Now we all had our new friends and they were with us 24 hours a day, they didn't leave our sides. At the end of the day when we were in our room we were supposed to tie down the dog, by this I mean there was a ring hole screwed into the baseboard of the room by our bed and we had a short chain, about three feet long, that we were to hook up the dog while we slept or were taking a shower. Bingo would cry and whimper, that broke my heart, and she never was tied down after the first two hours with me. The reasoning behind tying down the dog is to keep them from wandering around the room, Bingo just laid down, no problem. Rules are made to be broken.

This would be a typical day. Wake up at 6:00 a.m. and breakfast at 7:00a.m. I must say that the food was excellent and we could eat as much as we wanted. We went back to our rooms to clean up and wait for other instructions. I was a smoker at the time and there was a smoking area that we could go to smoke and hang out. There were several other smokers, that is, where I could usually be found. Around 9:00 a.m. we would be paired up with a trainer and we were explained how to put on the harness and leash and what side the dog should be at. There was a walking path located behind the school, kind of an obstacle course. It had right turns, left turns, benches, landmarks, like a large urn for flowers. The first day we would just walk the dog, just to get the feel of walking with a guide dog. We had a lot of downtime because two of us would take a walk and come back to the building, then another two would take the walk.

The second day was the same but the trainer would teach us the commands to give to the dog. Like sit, heal just very basic stuff. We did every day; there was an area where all of us would have our dogs and we would walk around in a very large circle for obedience training. The trainer would give us instructions, like start walking then a command to stop and have the dog sit or lay down, very basic and easy but as we went along throughout the training instructions got more challenging and difficult. We did this about ten days and the training got more intense. We learned certain commands like saying "left, left" meant the next left turn the dog would turn left and the same for a right, find a seat and the dog would find the closest seat to sit down, right about meant we did a 90-degree turn. The dogs knew about forty commands which is such an achievement for a dog to learn, very impressive. While inside we did training as well but not as intense but still remarkable. For example, if a door was open only half way and I was headed to run into the edge of the door the dog would move right in front of me blocking me so that I would not run into it and knock myself out. When we would come to a set of steps going down again the dog would block the way so that I could not fall down the steps and if the steps were going up the dog would just sit down and I would have to feel with my feet to see why the dog just sat down. In our meeting room, there were a couple of booths just like in a restaurant and we trained how to get into the booth, which was extremely helpful because that is where I would always sit when going out to eat. Of course, in reality, there would be a waiter or waitress showing the way to the booth and the dog would just follow and slide right under the table out of the way. Also, if we came to a door that was closed and the handle was on the left I would open it and Bingo and I would go through, if the handle was on the right I would give Bingo the command "switch" and she would come around my back and I would open the door.

When we took our meals in the large dining room, we sat around about five to a table. The dog would have to lay down right to my left and remain there until commanded to get up. They were trained not to beg but if we dropped a piece of food the dog would snap it up, after all, it was a dog and what dog could resist a tasty little morsel of food!

After breakfast, we would take the dog into the feeding area and feed them, we would stand in line until it was our turn. They would get one scoop of food and we had to sit down with the dog under the seat and we would place the bowl right in front of the pooch. Then next came water to wash down the food. We had an area where we would take the dog to relieve itself, it was an area with gravel and we would have to walk back and forth until they had to go. If they were taking a dump we had to feel how their butt was lower than the head and this would show us where we had to pick up the poop with a little bag and dispose of it. We had to go to this area several times a day, especially when we went outside to walk around the training area. I didn't like that part of the training but had to do it, we had a plastic bad whenever we walked just in case they had to dump.

The school was located in Palmetto but there was a town called Bradenton which was quite large. After about four days we were all loaded into a bus and taken to Bradenton to train. We were just dumped off at some building which was a property owned by the school. It was really boring because groups of students were taken out to train in the city. I would catch myself sleeping because I would start to snore and that woke me up, but other students thought it was funny. We would start out walking with our dogs, this was very interesting. We went into buildings that had revolving doors, escalators, and elevators and of course there were a lot of people walking around doing their business. The revolving doors were really cool. We would get into the doors this way. First, the student would go in and then the dog and just walk through, it was really cool the way the dogs would do this. When we came to the escalators we would stand and feel the revolving handle and we would simply take hold and then step onto the escalator and the dog would just follow. When we got to the top or the bottom we could feel with our feet and we would know that we were at the top or the bottom. The elevators were a snap we would just walk in and just turn around. It was a little tricky to select which floor we wanted to go to, at least for me because all the floor buttons had braille bumps next to the button and I can't read braille. I never had a problem because someone would always help me get to the floor that I wanted. We would walk around town, of course, there were stop lights and we had to learn how to go with the flow by this I mean we would come to a corner and we had to stop and wait until we heard the flow of traffic and determine which way it was flowing; this was very easy. It was a little tricky because traffic could turn right on a red light. After we all had a chance to walk around the town we met back at the starting point and boarded the bus to go back to the school and have lunch. We had an hour break then more training.

We went back into town and did some more training and it was a little more difficult. For example, we were taught how to get onto a city bus and sit with our dogs under the seat between our feet. We would tell the bus driver where we had to go, and the bus driver would announce the street he was stopping at. We would get off and more walking around, coming to streets that we had to stop and listen to the flow of the traffic. I think we got on about four or five buses, and we would walk back to the starting point and then back to the school and we had some down time and then dinner. After breakfast, lunch and dinner we always had to feed our dogs and let them do their business. Throughout the day we had to let our dogs do their business, I would say about seven or eight times a day.

At the end of the training, we would go into a neighborhood and walk on the sidewalk. There were cars parked in driveways and we had to go around, the dogs were trained to do this pretty much on their own. This was easy. We had to do an obstacle course and this consisted of walking and all of a sudden a car would drive right in front of us and the dogs were trained to pull back and let the car pull ahead. We did this several times, there were trash cans in the way and the dog had to walk around. We had to go to the mall and walk around it. There were escalators, elevators, and stairs. We had to maneuver through a store and go around racks of clothes on racks and come to a set of stairs going down, this we had to do without the help of the trainer, this was one of the tests to see if we could properly command the dog and maneuver. We had to do the elevators and escalators as well. There was a drug store in the mall and we had to go in and say something, it didn't matter what we got, we just had to pick something and go to the cashier and pay for the item and walk out.

Then we would go back to the school and have dinner. We then had to go to our rooms, after feeding and relieving the dogs. A couple of trainers would come into our room and tell us if we passed the class and we would have our guide dog. I passed with flying colors. However, there were a couple who didn't and had to do the class again. We had a Vet come in and give us a talk on taking care of our dogs and what not to do and what to do. The last day we had a big dinner where the puppy raisers who did the first part of the dogs training came. We had a great dinner and got to meet our puppy raisers. It was kind of neat because they brought a goody bag for the dog. We were given our documents about the dog that said we own the dog outright along with the Vet instructions we were to give to our Vet when we got home. The next day we all got to go back home with our awesome guide dog. It was a great experience.

# Chapter 11

### Back at the Ranch

I left Southeastern Guide Dog School on a Greyhound, don't remember who picked me up but Bingo and I made it back to Naples. I think the guy from South Africa was gone, Cheryl was back, and my son and his girlfriend were living there. She turned out to be a bitch but that is later on down the road. Bingo stayed on a leash for a couple of days just to get used to her new digs. I got back in May around my birthday, I remember that only because Billy and I went out to dinner, Cheryl was under house arrest and couldn't go which made our dinner that much better.

Who was living in the house? Let's see, Joey, Pam, Billy and his girl Heidi, I think that is all. Everyone else moved or I kicked their ass out.

It was strange that I didn't have any weird visions while I was at Southeastern Guide Dog School, but I did when I got back to Naples. I remember Cheryl and I were sitting in the large living room. My vision that I was having been that there were chairs all over the living room, I mean everywhere. I said to Cheryl "I see chairs everywhere, they were the big overstuffed kind" She said "Nope, there are no chairs anywhere." It was really weird, I knew there were no chairs but my mind was seeing them. The thing about my head injury was that my eyes were broken, but not my brain, which was still trying to see. My eyes were camera's and were connected to my brain through the optic nerve which was not damaged at all. Just the retinas were destroyed. So my brain was still trying to see.

Things between Cheryl and I were the same as they were before she moved out, a lot of tension. I got a call from John, the guy from South Africa, and he told me while I was gone that Mark, a fat ugly troll, spent the night at the house a few times. Mark lived at the house on North Road, our first house and Mark was harmless. I asked Cheryl about this and she just shrugged it off. In fact she told me that John hit on her several times. He said to her "What I don't know won't hurt me." Cheryl and I were having a little spat and she started crying, I asked her why was she crying and she said

"I got raped in Ft. Lauderdale!!!"

I started laughing and said to her "You can't rape the willing!"

That was the end of that little lie. I didn't really care that much any way I just needed her around to make sure the house was clean, and cook. She was a clean freak and a great cook.

Kim G. was still helping me with the website, driving me around, just the same stuff. I remember that she was going to have to stop at some point but that was a few months away.

We lived in a sub-division and I started walking with Bingo trying to learn a walking route for exercise, Cheryl would come with me. That went pretty smooth but some days I went out alone because I thought Bingo had it together. What a disaster, I got lost but there were people walking around that would help me get back on track. It was embarrassing because Bingo had gotten me lost more than once. She was okay with someone walking with us. I called the school and they told me to keep doing what I have been doing and Bingo will come around. She did get a little better.

I remember Kim and I went out to dinner at a Chinese Restaurant and when we walked in the owner got all flustered and said "No, no, no dogs here" I told him he either serves us or goes to jail. He said "Ok, ok, ok, we try it," I told him that it was against the law to refuse someone with a service animal. As we were walking out, the owner followed us out into the parking lot and asked me "Where can I get a dog like yours?" I told him that my dog was a very highly trained service animal. While we were eating Bingo laid down under the table and was quiet as a mouse and this impressed the owner. I thought the whole incident was pretty funny.

I got my first taste of how other people see blind people. I had a court appearance and I had to walk through one of those metal detectors and when I got through the court official said to me "Watch out for those snakes!" what a jerk. When I was coming out he told me how sorry he was that he said what he said, he was really embarrassed. Another time I was trying to get some kind of social assistance from the Salvation Army. As I mentioned before, the questions would get directed to my assistant instead of me. I thought this was very strange but I let it slide. However the next time I had to go to some kind of departments like the Salvation Army and the attendant started to ask my driver questions instead of asking me, I told the person very nice and maybe a little forceful that I was blind and not mentally damage and I can hear just fine so do not ask my driver any questions that she was just that, my driver, and she doesn't know anything about my situation. The only time I need the help of my driver would be to sign something. This would always embarrass the attendant. My point being was that I was a fully functional person and was probably smarter than the person giving the interview. This would happen most of the time and to this day is still the norm.

I think it was getting very close for the lease to expire in a couple of weeks. Cheryl started looking for a new place to live. Billy and his girl were going to look for their own place, so the only person who was going to move with us was Joey. She found a place in east Naples, Billy saw the place and he told me "Dad you will not like the place." I told him I don't like being blind but I am trying to make the best out of it and the same will apply to the new apartment.

Well, the day finally came to move. We rented a U-Haul truck and Billy used the same truck to move his stuff. We got all the stuff out of the old apartment, Cheryl cleaned the place, shampooed the carpet; she did an outstanding job, we moved the old refrigerator back into the kitchen and fatty boy Gonzales had a tizzy fit. He asked what happened to the other refrigerator and I told him that it was mine and I sold it, so you can have your piece of junk back. He went ballistic. Of course, we did not get our security deposit back. He said the carpets were dirty which we knew it was a lie because they were freaking spotless. Cheryl went back a couple of weeks later just to look inside and all the carpets were replaced with ceramic tile. I was glad to get out of that place Dan Gonzales was just a big fat hog!

# Chapter 12

### Gulfstream Drive

I don't know about you but moving is one of the worst things you can do on the planet! I hate it, even though I just sit and let everyone else do the work. We got the truck and got everything into it in one load including Billy's stuff. Let me describe the complex, the first one I have ever lived in, talk about getting out of your comfort zone. It was in the shape of a huge "U" with a courtyard on two sides and a swimming pool in the middle. Our apartment was number 15 on the top floor. Going through the front door was the living room, off to the right a dining area and to the left of that was a small kitchen. In the back through a small hall, a bathroom was on the left at the end was the second bedroom and to the right was the master bedroom with the master bath. Sound pretty decent but it was a dump. The complex was old and the owners didn't keep up the place. I think the reason Cheryl picked it was it was a block from her work as a short order cook at Perkins Restaurant. Billy was right in saying I wouldn't like it and I didn't but what the heck, can't do anything about it.

Before we even moved in Cheryl cleaned the place, like I said she was a clean freak and that was OK. Joey moved in with Cheryl and me, how cozy just the three of us.

She and Joey got everything straightened out and everything was pretty cool, life goes on at Gulfstream Drive!!

I have mention Joey several times, let me describe him a little bit. He was around 20 years old, worked as a waiter, not too sure where. He was a body builder and was trying to win in bodybuilding competitions. To tell you the truth I didn't know very much about him. He was a nice person and paid his rent, what more would I want? I was not afraid that Cheryl and he would screw; Joey had high standards and morals. However he was very narcissistic like most body builders, while we are on the subject, women body builders, I think they have a screw loose in their head. In my opinion, I think a woman should look like one and not a muscle bound man, I mean how gross can you get. I think Sigmund Freud called this penis envy!

Things were running fairly smooth, Cheryl and Joey both worked during the day and at night Joey would go to the Gold's Gym Workout center. I had my guitar set up and was getting pretty good. I am really into the blues and I had a lot of time on my hands. I got introduced to audio books and I got my first one from my ex-wife. I found out how to get audio books from the state library and have been listening audio books ever since. To date, I have listened to over 5,000 books

Slowly I got used to the apartment life. It was really different and there were a lot of illegal immigrants living there Mexicans, Cubans, and Haitians, most could not even speak English. I don't care what anyone says but if they say they are not prejudiced, they are lying. Living around them, I am sorry to say, I became so. It is my belief that if a person lives and works here in the states and takes jobs away from Americans and they get social services they should become legal and become an American or be sent back to where they came from. Sorry if you don't agree but that is the way I feel. They would party most nights and in the mornings there were beer cans and trash all over the place. They were loud and very rude and inconsiderate and their children, oh my God!

I would get three meals a day from "Meals on Wheels" and they were not too bad. Several different people would deliver the meals but I had two people who delivered my meals that owned their own bakery and they would bring me the most delicious bread, pies, cakes and all kinds of tasty little sweets. After my accident, my whole face got smashed up and my nerves in my nose were damaged and that affects your taste. However, it didn't hinder my sweet taste buds. So all the sweet stuff I ate like a hog, I have a sweet tooth anyway. Needless to say, I got fat, almost 215 pounds and I am only 5 foot 6 inches so call me Porky the Pig. I had to stop the sweet stuff but I would still get them but I would give them away. I got friendly with my mailman and he loved blueberry pies so I gave all my pies to him. I had to go on a diet to lose the flab on my short little body and I lost 60 pounds, slowly my other taste buds came back to life! However, that took some time.

There was a person we became friends with, Andre and his wife Janet. Andre came up to our apartment and brought some beer, he offered us one, and of course, Cheryl took one, but I declined and I was kind of rude about it. I guess he was just being neighborly. Andre was a football and a basketball fan and when a game was on you could hear him screaming five blocks away, he was real vocal about his favorite team.

Cheryl continued her drinking and I think it escalated because I would find gallon jugs of vodka. As part of her probation, that was a no no and if she got caught she would have been sent back to the slammer!

# Chapter 13

### Mommy, Why, Oh Why??

When I became blind all of my so called friends dumped me. Not all at once but gradually they all fell off the radar. I guess that is the way it is, people do not know how to act or perceive a person who is disabled and it is easier for them to just slide away. It is sad because the only thing about me is that I cannot see but I am still the same funny and lovable person that I have always been.

"When I had money, I had friends all around but when my money was gone, my friends could not be found."

****

Let me tell you about Cheryl. I first met her at the Oasis bar in Naples. I was with my friend and I said to him I am going to get that woman, he said, "You are nuts." She was sitting with her boyfriend, a pretty mean looking dude. I was smitten with her. I told my friend I did not care. Long story short, I did and she moved in with me as a roommate but soon turned into a romance. She moved in because her boyfriend threw her out of their apartment and I was kind of looking for a roommate. I found out that she and her boyfriend were heavy into cocaine and had to get away from Windsor Locks, Connecticut.

Cheryl had two daughters that she just up and left, she just abandon both of them and left them with her parents. Michele was the older one and Amanda was the real young girl. That should have told me something about her character but I did not find out for a couple of years into our relationship. I became friends with Michele who was around eighteen years old and she would tell me how messed up her mother was. Michele said that her mother hated being a mother to her children and that partying and drugs came first, and to hell with taking care of the children. Cheryl just plain hated kids and the responsibility. They were a big burden to her and her lifestyle.

That being said, needless to say, she hated my son, Billy. She was extremely jealous of our relationship and every chance she had she would bad mouth him. He was living with his girlfriend Heidi. Billy got into trouble with the law several times nothing very serious, most were just stupid things and he kept getting violated for probation. The first time he got busted was a roach in the ashtray, why he didn't throw it out the window I will never know. I bailed him out of the slammer and he said to me "Go ahead and let me have it"

I said, "You should have thrown the roach out the window!"

He said, "Is that all you are going to do and say?"

I said "Yes, just don't be so stupid" That may have been too soft on him but he could not come close to the things I did and got away with when I was his age and I would have been a hypocrite to do so.

This was the ammunition Cheryl needed to justify her feelings for my son. He was a loser, would never amount to anything on and on she would go just going ballistic all the time. Every chance she had to say something bad about Billy she would and she knew this really pissed me off. We would fight like cats and dogs over Billy, I mean it was all the time. Her daughter Michele was not a saint, she was a stripper. She and her boyfriend Sean came down to Naples and she would work at strip clubs in Ft. Myers but that was okay with Cheryl, her daughter could do nothing wrong. However I knew different, I would not throw what her daughter did out to Cheryl.

We were fighting all the time, mostly about my son, like I said. One argument went on for several hours each slamming each other's kids. I said something about her youngest, Amanda, and Cheryl blindsided me with several punches to my head. I mean she could really hit and she hit me in my face right over my dark sunglasses and put a big gash on my skin, I asked "Does that make you feel good? Well go ahead and hit me again, She did; she hit me about five times. That did it. I called 911 and the cops showed up and she got arrested for assault and violation of probation. She went to court and was sentenced to 18 months in a women's prison! Bye, Bye, my love!

# Chapter 14

### If You Love Someone!

Kim Guiliano, unfortunately, got breast cancer and could no longer work with me. She went through all the Chemo and awful drugs and beat dreaded cancer. Maria Love was working at the same place that Kim was and she asks Maria to take over if she wanted to and she did.

I bought my first computer which I didn't know a thing about in fact I bought the computer for Cheryl before she went into the slammer. I also got a program called JAWS which is an acronym for Jobs Access with Speach from Freedom Scientific which cost $900. I got a grant from The Federation for the Blind that paid half and got the other half from my awesome sister, Barbara, whom I love dearly.

I did not get JAWS until Cheryl left. However, Maria was pretty good on the thing and her then boyfriend Scott was a whiz! The program came to me that were all cassette training tapes that I did not get into until I left Florida.

I was really praying and hoping that Cheryl would change her ways while she was incarcerated. We talked on the phone at least once a week and sometimes twice and I had to pay for the collect calls. We talked about getting things together and back to a normal existence. This meant no drinking. She would always agree. I would have Maria write letters to her so she would have something to read and know someone cared. I sent her money as much as I could. I had several things that I sold to send her. I mean I went without so much just so she would have some money. I know how it feels to be in jail and broke, I also know how it feels to be free and broke. Sheryl promised she would stop drinking over and over again and I really believed her. I wanted it so much. I think it is called "tough love" when you are glad someone is in a place where they can get some help. She had to go through several self-awareness and alcohol programs. She said they made her stop and really think about what she was doing to her life and mine. You might think I am crazy to hang in there with her and what a fool I am. There is a reason that I will talk about in part two of this book.

Billy was having his problems as well with his girlfriend, Heidi. He got violated once again and was in jail. Heidi cleaned out his bank account, sold his car, I had loaned them two beautiful leather chairs that cost $1,500 that she also sold. If that were not enough she moved up to Jacksonville with her new boyfriend. She cleaned him completely out and when Billy got out of jail he had no choice but to move in with me, which was okay with me. I was really pissed off because the chairs were not mined but a very good friend loaned them to me. The police were contacted about Heidi stealing his money out of his bank account and everything else and they said it was a civil matter and take her to civil court, that there was nothing they could do. What a hassle to go through civil court so I took care of Heidi myself, but that is another story and I take the 5th on this, don't get mad, get even. I told Billy he had to do something to get his head straight, either join the service or get some kind of an education. He chose an education and applied to a culinary college. Johnson and Wells was the one he applied too and got accepted and was going to attend the school in Denver Colorado. Maria helped with all the paperwork and the loan application, I thought that was awesome.

Billy was hanging with some people who I thought were not good for him and I told him so. He said, "You can't tell me what and who my friends can be." He was right, but I did anyway, I could see what they were doing to him, he was a totally different person and it was not good. I won't go into details but he got arrested again and it was very serious and it screwed up the plans to attend the school in Denver. Because he was in the slammer again, he had to wait to go to the school. Johnson and Wells had a school in North Miami that he would have to settle on because he missed the opening date for the school in Denver. He was put on probation after he got out of jail and the last bust got him violated again, I bailed him out, again! It was very close to Christmas and his violation was a misdemeanor I said to him "Why don't you go back up to New Hampshire for the holidays?" He asked, "How would I get there?" I told him to take the bus and he did. I thought to myself he is going to be either in jail or on probation again but for a felony this time, so he had nothing to lose. He was up there hanging with his friends and was planning to call his Mom a few days before Christmas. He didn't get the chance she calls down to Naples. I talked with her and told her he was up in New Hampshire and she freaked out. She exclaimed, "I don't want him around my two other sons, I don't want a criminal influencing them." I told her there is no problem he is not a criminal he just has bad luck, and it was my suggestion that he come up there. She said to me "Well you gave him the wrong advice I am going to send him back to Naples."

I said to her "Look who's is talking, who went through Alcoholic Anonymous for being a drunk? You are just a hypocrite, are you forgetting who screwed one of your students? I think his name was Tim, screwed half the town, screwed my best friend, who listened to one of your lovers blow his brains out over the phone, who got the clap and gave it to your eunuch boyfriend? So don't throw stones." I talked with my son before he got on the plane that his Mom paid for and I told him that I changed his ticket from coach to 'First Class' she used her credit card, tough luck! Billy arrived back to Naples and Christmas came around and my son broke down and started crying he was so hurt by his Mom. I just hugged him and let him cry, it was so sad because I know how vicious his Mom is.

# Chapter 15

### Abigale

Amber was Billy's girlfriend for the first couple of months before he started going out with Heidi. They met at the high school Billy was going to at one time, he quit right after my accident. I don't know when they broke up and Heidi came onto the scene but they went to New Hampshire and this is where my Granddaughter was conceived.

It was right after Billy and Heidi broke up and he started living with me that Amber informed him that he had a daughter. He was taken back and wasn't prepared for the news. He didn't really believe the child was his because Abby was a toddler around two or three years old, we couldn't figure out why Amber waited so long to tell Billy he had a daughter, so he had a test done to see if he was indeed the father, yes he was!

I must say that with all the things going on in Billy's life he took everything in stride. They went to court to set up the conditions of custody and child support at the Collier Circuit Court the terms and conditions were set and Billy started his part of being a parent.

His Dad was blinded and will never be able to see him again, the trouble with the law and now he is a parent, a little bit overwhelming for a 17 year old teenager. He started taking care of Abby and she would come to the apartment and stay for a week at a time. I was thrilled to have a granddaughter and have her staying with us. She loved Bingo, she would sit on her and Bingo would love the attention. She would get up before Billy and I was always up and she would come around the table where I always sit and say "I hungry" I would pick her up and set her on the counter and held her while I put some cereal into a little bowl and we would sit at the table with her on my lap. I had a lot of stuff on the table and she needed to play with everything. I had a tape recorder that we both would play with, I recorded her and me talking and she thought that was so funny. I would have to set her down; she was a little wiggly worm. By this time her Daddy was up and would take over, changing her diaper and would play with her or put on the greatest babysitter in the world, the television, and she would sit next to Bingo and watch cartoons. Sometimes she would come into my room where I had a TV and watch cartoons. Her favorite was "Sponge Square Pants Bob" or something like that. It was great fun, of course, I couldn't see but I could hear the cartoons and hear Abby laugh. I loved it. I would always say to her "You are lucky" and she would respond with "Leave me alone please" I don't know where she got that but I thought that was so cute. I was sitting on the couch and she would climb onto the couch, climb up the back and sit on my head and wiggle her little fanny. I always wished I had a picture of this, it was so funny. I would be sitting at the table and she would say, "Grandpa, cookie please. After that, she would come back in a minute and say it again and I would give her a cookie and again she would come back and ask for another cookie. My son was sitting on the couch and would say to me "Dad! Stop giving her those cookies she is just giving them to Bingo" she was a little sneak! I said to her if she wanted a cookie she would have to sit on my lap and have her cookie. I just loved being a Grandpa and loved Abby so much, she was such a joy to have around.

I don't know why but Amber decided to move up to Massachusetts, I think she had an Aunt or something. But Abby was gone but certainly not forgotten. I would call Amber in Massachusetts and would talk with Abby, which she was getting to be a little chatter box. She loved the snow and playing in it.

Where they moved to was fairly close to New Hampshire where Abby's Dad use to live with his Mom and the rest of his family. Abby was invited to spend a weekend at Mary's home. But that was the only time. I talked with Mary several weeks later and she said that she was afraid that Abby would get hurt and Amber would sue them. I thought to myself how shallow can someone get. Mary was calling Amber an opportunist and a gold digger. And Abby never visited Mary's lovely place in New Hampshire and lost her only Granddaughter. I think several years down the road when Abby was much older Mary tried to reconnect but the damage was done and Abby didn't want anything to do with her. It was Mary's loss because Abby is a beautiful person both on the outside and her heart.

# Chapter 16

### Bye Bye Baby

Kathy is an old friend of mine and before Cheryl went to the women's prison, Kathy came down for a visit. She had a friend that lived on Marco Island, a town very close to Naples. Kathy came to our apartment for a visit. She was battling Hepatitis C with Chemo that she was doing on her own. We went out to dinner a couple of times. It was great having her down; I have known Kathy for around 35 years and she is one of my oldest friends. She told me if I ever wanted to get out of Florida I could come to Tennessee and she said she would come down and get me.

Things were moving along as well as expected for months and it was getting close to Cheryl getting out of prison. I was just taking things day by day and the time to go get her came very fast. It didn't really seem like she was gone for 18 months. Maria, a friend of hers and me went up to the prison to get her. I didn't know what to expect just hoping that everything would go smooth. It was nice having her back but things were not the same. We got along at the beginning not all lovey Dovey but it was okay. Cheryl was never very affectionate and was a crummy kisser, I am great! Kissing is an art along with other oral manipulations! I bought her a bike to get around; she got her old job back at the Perkins Restaurant. For the first week I am sure that she was sober, but after a few weeks, I would find gallon jugs of cheap vodka. Shit if you are going to drink at least drink something good. I could read the writing on the wall. I would always let her have her freedom and didn't restrict her in any manner except the drinking. She would go out and party with her friends but would always come home. She didn't come home one time and I asked her where she had been and why she didn't come home. She said, "I was with Ned and his girlfriend, they are getting ready to move to Chicago and when I came home I didn't have a key and you didn't hear me knock so I went back to Ned's and crashed on their couch." Ned uses to live with us at our first house. Strike one, I didn't say anything but when anyone knocks on the door my dog Bingo goes cuckoo and barks her head off, so that was lie number one. A week goes by and she doesn't come home again, I found a note and I had Maria read it to me and it was a phone number with a woman's name on it. I ask Cheryl why she didn't come home that night and she said; "I went to an outdoor concert with a girl from work and I got kind of lit so I just crashed at her house, no big deal." Well, I called the number on the note that was the number for the woman that Cheryl went to the concert with and I asked her how was the concert? She said, "What are you talking about?"

I asked, "Didn't you go to the concert with Cheryl last night?"

She said, "I just talked with Cheryl over the phone because I had a room to rent and she was interested in maybe renting it." Strike two! I didn't say anything about this. Another week went by and she didn't come home again, strike three, I had a restraining order I didn't release, but that is another story. She came home the third time and I heard her bike downstairs and I locked the door and she went ballistic when she found out that she couldn't get in. I called the cops and said there was a woman that I had a restraining order against and she is trying to get in my apartment by going through the kitchen window. The cops showed up and she was told to leave, that she can grab a few things but she had to leave and then arrange a time later to get the rest of her stuff. See you later baby! One of the cops said to me that the way I went about it was a dirty trick, I said; "Screw you, always have an Ace up your sleeve and you can also get your ass out of my apartment." He didn't like that, oh well.

She made arrangements with me to get the rest of her stuff and she came to get them. We were sitting at the kitchen table and I asked her "We have been together for nine years, how many times have you cheated on me?" she said "Not very many" Well if you did it once you did it a lot, ask a drunk how many drinks did you have and they will say not very many when in fact they had nine or ten. If she cheated just one time that was one time too many! Especially when I was faithful as an old hound dog! I said to her "Cheryl you are one shitty person I don't know how you can live with yourself."

# Chapter 17

### Operation Hernia

Now it was just Joey and me living at the apartment. Billy was in jail for violation of probation, so what is new? Joey informed me that he will be moving out at the end of the month that left me a couple of weeks to find his replacement. I put an ad in the paper and got several people interested and I picked a man named Paul. Paul worked at a local automobile dealership, single and was a computer freak.

Cheryl had been gone for a couple of months and we went through all the things all couples go through when they break up all petty crap. But at least that part of my life was over and I was moving on. I have had a hernia on the right side of my crotch, had it for years but it got really bad. So I went to a doctor and he discovered that I had one on my left side as well. Wasn't too happy about that. I had some other matters to take care of before I could have the operation, so it was about two months before I had it.

Billy got out of the slammer and was back living with me, he got a real good job at some Italian restaurant very close to the apartment.

I was scheduled for the operation and Maria took me to the hospital, I was a little apprehensive about getting the operation. I had a good reason for that feeling, I had the operation and it was successful with no problems what so ever. It was while I was recuperating that the problems happened. No one informed the kitchen that I was blind and they would just leave off my breakfast while I was still asleep and I didn't know it was there. I asked the nurse "When am I going to get something to eat" she said "You have already had your breakfast but you didn't eat any so it was taken away" I said "Are you stupid or something" You know, how was I supposed to know I had food if I couldn't see. I told the staff when I first went in I wanted just finger food so that I could just pick up the food and eat. The nursing staff was not very helpful to me. I asked Maria when she called me and told me that she was coming for a visit and I asked her to bring me something to eat, like a Big Mac or something like that. Maria got really pissed off and told the nursing staff off. You would think people in the health business would be informed about people with disabilities and especially blind people but they don't have a clue and are quite ignorant about them. You would also think that they would at least have some understanding.

I was able to go home after about two days and I called Maria and she came to get me. I got dressed and she and I waited for around 30 minutes, I asked the staff what is taking so long to get a wheelchair. It is all hospitals protocol to have the patient wheeled out of the hospital. I said to Maria "They are just messing with us, let's just walk out of here" and that is what we did. We couldn't believe the way the nurses treated me, I mean I just had a hernia operation and they wouldn't get me a wheelchair. The doctor was cool but the hospital was a bunch of jerks, very unprofessional.

I went home to recoup, I asked the doctor how much pain will I be in and he said "You will have a little discomfort but not too bad" well let me tell you it hurt like a mother! I swelled up as big as a soccer ball, it seemed like. I just had to stay in bed for the first couple of weeks and then could stand only for a few minutes at a time usually around fifteen minutes or so.

I gradually got to where I had no pain, went back to the doctor and he said I was okay and released me. I had some side effects, I lost my right testicle and a little more I don't think I want to reveal. I lost my libido which sucked.

Abby and her mother came back to Naples from the snow country and Abby came for a visit, she couldn't understand why Grandpa was sick and it was hard to explain to a five year old little girl. I just told her I had a sore back and had to take it easy. It was great having her around again, she lay in bed with me and we watched cartoons just like we did before except she couldn't sleep with me. I wouldn't be able to take her moving all around the bed while she slept, the last time she jumped around like a Mexican Jumping Bean.

Things got back to normal, I was back to listening to audio books, playing my guitar I was still on my diet and I had lost around 30 pounds which was pretty good. I was still getting "Meals on Wheels" but not all the sweet goodies. I was barely making it financially because of you know who. It was real hard to make ends meet.

I was sitting around and listening to the news on the TV and the date was 9-11-2001, I ran into Billy's room and said "You've got to come and check this out on the TV", just then I got a knock on the door and it was the cable guy and he was there to collect the money I owed for the cable or disconnect it. I said to disconnect it, I don't have the money. Billy got on the computer to listen to the planes crashing into the towers. There are things in history that you know what you were doing at the time the event happened, like the murder of JFK and Martin Luther King Jr. and the murder of John Lennon.

I kept hassling with the landlord about fixing some things that needed fixing but he would just ignore me so I stopped paying the rent, I couldn't afford it anyway. This went on for several months until I got an eviction notice from the Clerk of Courts. I decided this was the time to get out of Dodge! I called Kathy to see if she would come down and get my ass out of Florida. As it happened she was coming down to Florida anyway to get some of her stuff from where she stayed on Marco Island. It takes about six or seven months to get someone evicted out of their house or apartment. I told Billy that I was moving out of Florida and he could stay here as long as he could and it worked out he stayed until he had to move to Miami to start school at Johnson and Wells College. Color me gone!

# Chapter 18

### The Theft of Bingo

One late afternoon I took Bingo out to relieve her. We went to one of the walks through which is next to the parking lot with Gulf Stream road on the left. A stupid mistake on my part I let her off her leash. I figured she would just go and do her business and come back like she always did. I heard a car on the road and someone says "Come doggie get in the car" and I heard them take off. I freaked out; someone just has stolen my dog. I called my good friend, one who had not dumped me, and told him that I thought someone ripped off Bingo, he said to sit tight and I will call you back. In the mean time, I called the animal control people and told them what had happened because Bingo had an animal control phone number on her collar and a Southeastern Guide Dog School tag as well. Jimbo got back to me and he said he called a radio station and told them what had happened and he also got in touch with the local newspaper and things snowballed from there. There are three television stations in our area and all three called me and wanted to do a story on how someone could be so heartless to steal someone's dog let alone a guide dog. A very popular radio station called me and wanted to do a live show on me and Bingo which I did. There was such a media blitz that everything went crazy

I did all of the media things, the radio show, the TV stations came to my apartment and did their segment but not all at once. There was such a blitz that after all the hype I got a call from the Sheriff's dispatcher and she had Bingo. She just lived right down Gulf Stream Drive. I think Bingo freaked out so much she was hard to handle and the people who took her stopped and let her out. I asked her why she didn't call any of the numbers on her collar and she said "I did but nobody knew who you were and didn't know Bingo" I said you are a liar, you just tried to steal her because if you had called any one of those numbers you would have gotten my phone number. The cops got really pissed off at me because I made them look like fools. I even had a stupid Detective ask me if I saw anyone around who could have taken her. I said, "What are you that stupid, I am totally blind so what do you think?" I got Bingo back the next day by one of the Deputy's and I could tell he had a real shitty attitude towards me. He had to ask me some questions that he wrote down, but he asks in a real pissed off manner.

Bingo was my first guide dog and I have had two others. Casey who was a Doberman Pincher that I got from Pilot Guide Dogs in Columbus, Ohio. She was a handful, way too hyper. She bit someone and she was bounced out of the program.

I had to go back to Ohio to get another dog from Pilot, a Golden Retriever, her name is Amber and she is a genius of a guide dog. I still have her and I plan to keep her.

# Chapter 19

### Tennessee Bound

I called Kathy to tell her I was ready to get the hell out of here. She was coming down in a week to get some of her stuff that she had on Marco Island, this was early fall around October. She was coming down in her mother's big double cab truck.

She arrived and we loaded up all of my stuff which wasn't very much because I sold most of the junk. Billy was still using the apartment. He had until the first part of January until he had to go to Miami to start school. He still had plenty of time before he could no longer stay there because of the eviction notice, it takes a long time to kick someone out of where they are living, at least it does in Florida.

I couldn't believe I was on my way to Tennessee, I was very apprehensive about what was in front of me. I was scared but it was a move I had to do whether I liked it or not. Mama said there would be days like this!

We, at some point, hooked up with Kathy's mother and we had a little caravan headed up north into Hill Billy country, YAHOO! Maybe I will get to taste some Moonshine.

It was around 2:00 a.m. when we got to Kathy's house in a little town called Sweetwater and it was not as cold there as I expected. Kathy had a roommate, Pat. They all unloaded the truck and Kathy's mother left to go to her house. On the trip up before we met up with Kathy's mother we stopped at this little town where Kathy's cousin lived, I will never forget the name of this town, and it was called Yankee Town. I found out later that the town was founded in 1886 by some man from Indiana. It was about half way to Kathy's house and it was a good stopping point for a rest.

Kathy's house was a complete and weird change for me. I had to get familiar with just getting around the house. I was totally lost all the time, the two women couldn't understand why this was such a big deal. I was in a strange place, it could have been a big cave because everything was new and very strange for me. It took a couple of weeks just learning how to get around Kathy's house. It wasn't all that big just confusing but I did learn.

The living room was kind of my place. I had my computer set up as well as my guitar and amp. The television was in the living room, I would like to listen to the news and Jeopardy at night. My computer was set up right under the stairs that went up to Kathy's bedroom. I had instructional cassette tapes that taught me how to use the program I got from the Federation for the Blind, it was real difficult to learn, and I kept making mistakes and would start over and over again. It was very frustrating but I was finally getting the hang of it. The program was called JAWS which is an acronym for Jobs Access with Speach.

I had to get all of my social security, Medicare, and Medicaid changed to Tennessee and also had to set up a bank account for my direct deposit, plus I had a fairly large check I had to deposit that I received from a business deal.

Kathy had a hair styling salon in her house where she would do hair for both women and men, she also had a stained glass studio where she did stained glass and glass trinkets. Pat, who is a woman, worked at a boat factory and she was gone most of the day. It was weird living with these two women. For the first couple of weeks things were pretty cool, but I guess I was getting on their nerves and the nit picking started, what a drag! Everything I did was not right with them, I would roll my own cigarettes but I guess I made a mess according to Kathy. I know that it was a little but I always cleaned up my mess but she still nitpicked. She smoked little cigars and I tried one and they were not too bad, so I started smoking them. They got all freaked out when I used the bathroom; I guess I was a slob. I thought to myself this sucks the big one.

Kathy and Patricia are man haters, if you get my drift, and were still living in the hippy days; I mean they hadn't moved forward what so ever. Smoking pot, doing hippy stuff and they were even dealing pot to make extra money. I moved out of that stage about 30 years ago and had no desire to go back.

I wanted to get some exercise walking with Bingo and I asked Kathy to show me a route down her road and back. We walked down about a half mile to a small bridge and back. We did this several times and I asked her if there were any places to turn into, she said no that it was a straight shot to the bridge. I thought that was easy enough. The first time I went out I got lost, I kept walking, and walking and knew I was way off course. I had my cell phone and I called the house and I talked with Pat and she said she would get in her car and come and get me. She couldn't find me. Bingo and I were just walking down the road and all of a sudden I heard a stampede, I thought to myself "oh shit, we are going to get trampled." It was a bunch of cows that stopped about four feet on my left side right at a fence I am thinking. Bingo was so cool; she didn't even slink away or even bark, I think she was in shock. I knew I was. I heard a vehicle coming down the road and I flagged it down by waving my white cane up and down and the people stopped. I told them that I was lost and had no idea where I had to go to get back home. I called Pat and she talked with the driver and he drove me home. I thanked them and said good bye. Kathy forgot that there was one place to turn into before I would get to the bridge, I just love to exercise! That was my last walk down the country road.

I knew I couldn't live here and had to think of something to get my ass out of Tennessee. I thought why not try and continue my education. I went to a small college in Indiana when I graduated from high school way back in 1968, what the hell I got nothing to lose, so I applied to Indiana University and used my brother address who lived in Nashville Indiana as my address. I was accepted, awesome I was moving back to Indiana. Jimmy was my brother who lived in Nashville along with his wife Amy who helped me get an apartment in Bloomington, Amy said that it was a very nice place and very affordable. I also got in touch with Vocational Rehabilitation in Bloomington; they were going to help me with me getting into the University and the financial part.

I called my older brother and told him what I was planning to do but I needed someone with a truck to come down to Tennessee. He called our cousin Craig and told him what was going on. Craig called me and he had a huge mobile home that he had and he and my brother came down and got me. There was some stuff that I left in Sweetwater but I could live without them. I left Kathy's and Pat's place under very strained conditions, it was too bad because Kathy and I had been friends forever but Pat was just a lesbian dyke. I never did get to taste some Moonshine!!

# Chapter 20

### Back Home in Indiana

My cousin Craig arrived at Kathy's house and we loaded up his mobile home and off we went. Kathy and Pat were not even home to say good bye, oh well, no big loss. Another friend down the drain, I guess she wasn't much of a friend; I just don't get it, after 35 years of friendship. We had a nickname for Craig we always called him "Fuzzy" been that way for as long as I can remember. The ride back to Indiana was very cozy and comfy in the mobile home, riding in style.

I think that we hooked up with my younger brother, Jim, and transferred all of my stuff that was in Fuzzy's mobile home into Jim's pick up and we all went our separate ways. Fuzzy back to Indianapolis, Bob back to Crawfordsville and Jim and I to Nashville Indiana

Jim and Amy lived on a very small gentlemen's farm, about 20 acres, a small fishing pond, animals, and they had a pet turkey they called Mister Gobbles, a great garden and an old house which they fixed up very artfully. They are both artsy fartsy. They had a very large back porch where we unloaded the pickup truck and it had a small bed where I could sleep. I smoked at the time and both Jim and Amy are nick Nazis. They quit several years ago so NO SMOKING in their house which I could understand. I couldn't move to Bloomington for a week so I just hung out at their house and ate the best food on the planet. Jim and Amy are both awesome cooks, but to tell the truth I think Jim is just a tad better. Jim is, for sure, the best bartender and his Martini's are the best, but I thought he was a little stingy. It was very rare that I got more than one. I guess one is better than none. It was time to move into Bloomington. Jim and Amy loaded up the pickup and off we went to my brand new apartment. Before we moved Amy and I met with the apartment manager a couple of days ahead of the move to go through the apartment to inspect it and sign the lease. It was a one bedroom, a bathroom with a washer and dryer, and a large living room and a small kitchen. It was just perfect and I told Amy "Great job, this is perfect, thanks." So we moved in all of my stuff, set up my entertainment center and computer. The apartment was situated in a very convenient location. I could walk down the street and I would be in a shopping center with a grocery store, a fancy restaurant and a deli. Across the parking lot was a couple of more stores. Two streets up from the shopping center was the College Mall on one of the main drags.

It took several weeks to get real familiar with the new digs. Just inside the front door I had a coat closet and the wall just to the left of the closet came down to about five feet down and one time I had to pick up something from the floor and when I bent down my face slammed onto the edge of the wall, I saw stars let me tell you, it almost knocked me out. I had a small porch where I could sit, a small yard where Bingo could go to do what dogs do and Covenanter Drive was right to my right. I had a corner apartment. The whole move from Tennessee to Bloomington went so very smooth, it was really great, and life goes on!

When I moved into my new apartment, it happened to be my birthday, May 12, 2003 which fell on a Friday. Before I left Tennessee I had transferred my Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare to Indiana. Jim was with me that Friday and I needed to get a Doctor so I called an approved doctor in Bloomington, a Doctor Kumar and believe it or not she was able to see me that very same day, what are the odds of that? I had all my medical information sent to her. Saturday I had a birthday dinner, Jim, Amy, my sister Barbara and my brother in law Mike, I think my brother Bob, Erica my niece and my cousin Fuzzy were all there to celebrate my birthday and my big move to Bloomington, it was awesome having most of my family there, good food and great company.

The following Monday I got in touch with Vocational Rehabilitation, Brad was my councilors name. We talked about my plans, went over what was expected of me and what Voc. Rehabilitation was going to do for me. I had to sign some documents and was all set up with them. I had talked with Brad before I even moved out of Tennessee and I was under the impression that my apartment would be paid for by Vocational Rehabilitation, I was incorrect. They would have paid if I wasn't a resident of Indiana but I was so they didn't pay a cent. I was pissed off. Everything went so very smooth and this was the first snag and a big one. Even though my apartment was for low income and disabled the rent was still $444 which I could afford, but it was a stretch. I had applied for Section 8 Housing which would pay a huge chunk of the rent and they sent my approval to my brother's house in Nashville but they didn't realize it was important and threw it away or lost it but at any rate, I didn't get it. It took almost two years to get the program.

Vocational Rehabilitation were still going to pay for all my expenses at Indiana University and all the tuition that they paid for came to me which was something I didn't really expect or even knew it. It was around $11,000 a year, so I was able to breathe a little easier.

# Chapter 21

### Summer Classes

I thought it was so cool that I would get that much money just from going to college. I did not know that I would have to pay all that money back after my graduation.

There is a department at Indiana University called "Students with Disabilities" I thought they would help me get around the Buildings, Classrooms and just navigating the campus. The department heading would suggest this to be true, right? WRONG. I was on my own and they offered no mobility instruction what so ever. The directors for Students with Disabilities was Martha and we got off on the wrong foot from the get go. The only thing that I could get from their department was getting course testing, if the Professor did not want to handle giving me the quizzes and exams. I told Martha in reality you really don't do a thing that would really help a student with a disability, I told her to change the department name.

After talking with Brad he hooked me up with Carol Gardner. She is an Obstacle and Mobility Instructor. She and I had to do some instruction before I started school, which was coming up very fast. I was advised to take two summer classes because I had been out of the academic arena for 40 years. I don't remember who advised me on this but they were totally wrong. Taking a summer class at I.U. is a full year jammed into six weeks, it is an accelerated program. The classes that I was advised to take were American History 1 and Social Psychology and they were in two different buildings. The way Carol and I worked on getting around I.U. was very interesting. We did a technique called sighted guide, which is Bingo on my left, with me just holding on her leash, and me taking Carol's left elbow and we would walk this way learning a route from a starting point to my classroom and a seat. We did this several times and then just Bingo and I would do the route until Bingo and I knew how to get into and out of the building and classroom and back to the starting point. The starting point is the place where I would be dropped off by Bloomington Transit Access, which was a van that would pick me up at home and drop me off at a certain point at I.U. to get into the building and classroom. How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice. The same is true getting around the I.U. campus, practice, practice and more practice. We also worked on getting around my apartment area, like going to the grocery store and getting back

I am all ready to set the campus on fire! My first day of class was hectic, when we first trained there were no students around, but the beginning of the summer semester there were students all around and this was extremely confusing both for me and Bingo. However we got through it and I made my first class and I embarrassed the hell out of myself. The desks in the classroom were those kinds that have the desk top built together with the chair. I was nervous and I tried to sit down and I forgot that I had a backpack on and when I tried to sit down my backpack hit the desk and it moved and I fell flat on my fat ass! There were about five students in the classroom you would have thought that at least one student would help or ask if I was okay or needed some help, right? Nope they did nothing. I can kind of understand, here comes into the room this blind old man with a dog, how weird is that? After 40 years I am back in school, my Mommy would be so very proud. The class had about twenty students and the teacher was a Graduate Student, they are called Teaching Assistant and she was from South Korea and no one could understand her, her accent was very profound. I thought to myself I am going to hate this class if I can't understand her, plus she was so boring, she was just pitiful, and I am sure that the rest of the students thought the same

My next class was Social Psychology and it was in a different building. This class was taught by a real Professor and she spoke English. At least she and the subject were interesting. It lasted about an hour and a half, same as my first class. When it was over Bingo and I left to be picked up at the designated pick up spot. The first thing that we did in each class was get a syllabus which would give us the run down for the class, assignments and reading assignments etc. I got my books for these classes from RFB and D which is a company that has thousands of class books and they would come in a bunch of cassettes tapes that I would listen on a tape player.

Before I first came to Bloomington I was in touch with the Adaptive Technology Center at I.U. and they said they were excited to meet me. There was one person in particular, Mary Stores, who was blind herself and we had talked on the phone a couple of times. I went to their office and talked with most of the people there. The ATC were going to be instrumental with my success at I.U., they would take the hard text books and put them into an electronic format so that I could read the books on my computer among other things they would help me with. For example if I had a problem with my computer one of the ATC employee's would come to my apartment and fix whatever was going wrong with it. I met with Mary and another person who would teach me the nuts and bolts of the information about Indiana University, how I used the computer, my typing skills, which there was a lot of stuff to learn. They tried to teach me Braille which I tried for several weeks but I gave up, it was just too hard and I felt that there was enough electronic stuff that I didn't really need to learn Braille. I admit that if I had learned Braille it would have been very helpful but I was an old dog and you know the saying "You can't teach an old dog new tricks." I don't really believe that I was just hard headed and stubborn because it was extremely hard to learn; I can see someone learning Braille when they were very young but I was 55 years old and didn't have the patience.

So the two departments that was supposed to help me, Students with Disabilities, a big joke and The Adaptive Technology Center who were the best on campus and the most helpful. They were a great team, I can't say enough about them!

I am not making excuses but offering reasons. I didn't know how things really affected my son on my accident, and all the other crap that was going on but I do think it did. I could always take it or leave it but when I was with someone that drank, I would do so as well, but if I didn't have it did not matter. Billy was one of those people who were affected by alcohol in a very bad and dangerous way. There was one time that he and I went out to a local bar and had a couple drinks, or maybe a little more, and on the way home, which we did take a cab, Billy just snapped. He went ballistic on me. I could not believe it, it seemed like Frankenstein was kicking the shit out of me. He head-butted me and broke the bridge of my nose. He had a friend that said that Billy felt so very bad and cried like a baby and admitted that he had a problem with alcohol. I could have had him arrested for assault, and assault on a disabled person is a very serious offence, something like 5 to15 years in prison but I knew he had a problem and that would not have done a thing. I knew Billy was a very sweet and good person but had some snakes he had to stomp.

# Chapter 22

### First Semesters

The summer classes were over and what a pain in the butt. I got "C's" for both of the classes. The books that I used I got from a company called "R F B and D" a company that specializes in text books, when I first started I.U. They came in a cassette format, which I had to listen to with a cassette player that supported four track recordings. They soon had their text books in a "CD" format, however if they didn't have the book I would buy it and have the Adaptive Technology Center transpose the book into an electronic format and they would email me the book.

I was using a transport company that was part of the Blooming Transit called BT Access; they would pick me up at my apartment and drop me off at the building where the class was held. They would take me where ever I needed to go, for example to the Doctor, or just anywhere I needed to go. I just had to give them 24 hours in advance

I had two weeks before the start of the first semester, so Carol, Bingo and I had some work to do. I was taking four classes, a psychology class, Personal Health and two others that I can't remember. Each class was in a different building and classroom. Carol would pick me up at my apartment and we would go to where the first class was held and learn the route to and from the classroom. We practiced over and over for several days until Bingo and I were able to navigate without a hitch to each of the classes. Remember there were no students on campus very much but oh, my GOD the first day of classes was hell. There were thousands of students everywhere but all in all Bingo did extremely well. I do remember my first class was Psychology 101 and I walked into the middle of a class in progress, it was not my class so I waited outside the classroom, very embarrassed. Mine started about twenty minutes later. I sat through the whole class and at the end the instructor came to me and said " I don't think you can take this class because there is a lot of visual things going on" What did I know, it was my first class that was in regular session, so I dropped the class and moved on. Well about two months into the semester I got a call from the registers office and they told me that I was going to be charged for the cost of the class because I dropped it. I said to them" I was told by the instructor that I was not physically able to take the class because I was blind" I also told them that Indiana University is setting itself up for a big law suit, it is called discrimination, it is not up to me, it is up to Indiana University and the instructor to be able to teach any student blind or not." The matter was dropped and I was not charged, I don't know how they dealt with the instructor, it was probably a Teacher's Assistant and they were so full of themselves. The other class that I remember was Personal Health and was taught by a real Professor. She was from Guiana, she was a hoot, I think that she was kind of new at I.U. because she was not familiar with American slang and she would laugh real loud when she heard the slang and we told her what it meant. She was one of my favorite Professors. In all of my classes I would have a note taker that would take notes for me and email them to me at the end of the week. When we had a quiz or an exam the Professor, and the note taker would give me the quiz or exam. Most of my classes were done in that way, it was both easier and more personal than having Students with Disability's give me them.

I found out right away how different classes were. My very first class which was American History 1, the Instructor was very boring and so full of it and then I take a class Personal Health with a real Professor that was very unassuming and had a great since of humor, she did not take herself so seriously and then my first class in the regular session, Psychology 101 who was a complete Jackass, he was a Teacher's Assistant, which is a student working on his PHD.

I had only three classes now. It was very confusing for the first couple of weeks until I felt half way comfortable with my Academic world but I did fairly well. Come to think about it, I think one of my other class was "Comparative Literature" Fantasy and Science Fiction.

I am not going to list all of my classes in chronological order but I will list the ones that were memorable. My degree that I was working on was General Studies, which used to be called Liberal Arts.

I.U. had two internet programs that were so very confusing that I wanted to kill myself. One Start was how a student got tons of information and was able to sign up for classes. I was never able to use it in the proper manner. When I needed to sign up for classes I would be able to pick the class from the program but to actually sign up for it I had to call the registration department and they would sign me up. The other program was called On Course which I never mastered but I got good enough to get around.

# Chapter 23

### The Second Semester

The first semester came to the end, which was the Christmas break and classes reconvene around January 10th or something like that for the second semester. I was able to sign up for classes before any other students, about two weeks earlier. I used the registrations department to help me. Indiana University's policy, in order to get a degree, a student had to fulfill certain criteria's. There were levels of classes a student had to take according to their major with levels 100-600. The level 600 classes were the hardest and for students getting a certain major. I was taking level 100 or 200 classes. There were many really weird classes that were available. For example, Bass Fishing, Ballroom Dancing, Downhill Skiing, Judo, Aikido, Kung Fu, Tae Kwando and Karate, Billiards, and Yoga, just to name a few. I talked with a student who was taking Bass fishing and I asked him if they went fishing and he told me no, all they did was go out into a field and cast a weighted lure, I thought how stupid was that? What I thought was real cool were their History of Rock and Roll classes, which I took every class except The History of Jazz.

I had a very strong interest in all of the Rock and Roll classes. I took "The History of the Beatles" taught by a great Professor Glenn Gass, He was so very passionate he even took a trip with several students to England and toured where the Beatles lived and recorded their albums, this was a couple of years before I started at Indiana University. That had to be really awesome. It was such a great class that I had changed my impression about the Beatles because I was a Rolling Stones fan. Because of the way Professor Gass taught the class I was able to appreciate the Beatles in a way I would have never thought about if I never took the class. What was really cool was that I got all the Beatles albums, very cool Professor Gass also taught the History of Bob Dylan, just an amazing class. When we all are dead and buried Bob Dylan will be the "William Shakespeare" of the 21st century again I got so much of Bob Dylan's music. I saw him twice at Indiana University. Professor Gass taught the 50's and the 60's and the British invasion, again my music library was getting pretty full.

Professor Andy Hollinden taught the 70's and the 80's. He just as passionate about his classes, and he had a great since of humor. He also taught the History of the Blues, which was very cool. I have always been into the blues but his class made me love the blues that much more. It was one of the hardest classes I took at Indiana University. When he gave the exams, a student had to know the name of the song and who sang it and that was hard as hell. I got a massive amount of blues music. He also taught the History of Jimi Hendrix, a very sad story, Frank Zappa which I was not into but Professor was such a great instructor his enthusiasm just rubbed off on me. The Mothers of Invention was Frank's band that he got famous, his drummer was named Jimmy Carl Black, he came to I.U. while his band was in Bloomington and he had an impromptu lecture, very cool. Professor Gass' exam giver was named Jake, a very nice fellow; I think he taught a Song Writing class. Professor Hollinden's exam giver was a very beautiful lady named Mandy. She was really cool. We became friends. I became friends with both of my Professors as well. It was a wonderful experience to take all of those History of Music classes.

I didn't take all of the History of Music the last semester of my first year but I am pretty sure I took the History of the Beatles. Our spring break came up and I thought we had two weeks, I was sitting in my neighbor's apartment and I called the school and that is when I found out that we had only one week. I wasn't prepared because I had about two hours to get ready. Spring break is a big deal, and students went berserk. They would drive down to Florida, for example, spend a day or two and then drive back, I thought how stupid that was but it is a tradition among every college student in America!

My son, who was attending Johnson and Wells in Miami, wasn't doing very well. He got himself kicked out of living on campus and had to find some place to live and take classes. I had talked with the housing administration department and they told me that Billy was causing trouble. Not too sure what he did but he found a house where he could live and he asked me for the money to rent a place, which I did. He had stopped going to classes and stopped going to his probation officer as well. There was an arrest warrant out on him, which I didn't know. Very close to end of the second semester he came to Bloomington. I thought he was on his spring break or something like that but he was jumping bail. We went out to a club called the Bluebird, and we sat at the bar and the seats were just bar stools without a back. I leaned back and fell flat on my ass. The security at the club thought that Billy knocked me off the bar stool and they jumped him and threw us both out of the club. When we got out the door there were the cops and took Billy into custody without knowing there was a fugitive warrant out on him. It took Florida a couple of weeks to respond to the Bloomington police that they had Billy in the slammer. They finally did and sent a police bus to Bloomington to get him. This bus went all around several states picking up people who were wanted. They went up to Detroit and he got to use someone's cell phone they smuggled in and he called me, I flipped out when he told me that he was in Detroit. They went all around the Mid-Atlantic States picking up and taking them to drop them off at different jails. Billy got to see a lot of jails on his way down to Florida. Each night they would stop at a different jail for their meals the driver would stop at McDonalds and buy food for all the prisoners. The cons were handcuffed and had leg irons the whole trip. He said it really sucked, I said "Well yeah." He said it took him about a month to make the circuit to end up in Florida, I think he did about six months at the Collier County jail. At the end of his time in jail he came to Bloomington. He didn't have any other place to go and he was off probation. In May, school was over and I was able to sign up for the fall classes, with the help of the Registrations' administration.

# Chapter 24

### Bad, Bad Boy

My first year at Indiana University went pretty smooth. I don't have to go back until September so I have a long time off. I have Billy as a roommate; he is going to get his head screwed on straight, hopefully. He will have to get a job and there are not that many around but there are some. Where my apartment was located was on Covenanter Drive there are a lot of shops, restaurants and such, very close to my apartment. His background was the restaurant business and there is a restaurant right across my parking lot. The place is "The Limestone Grill" he applied there and got a job, how handy was that, he had to just walk across the parking lot and he was there; and it was a great job with great people who own the place. Luckily for Bill they were very nice, Billy got drunk one night and got inside the restaurant and trashed the place. He brought me home an awesome present he got while trashing the place, a slop mop! Good bye to that job. It didn't take him very long to find another job, this time it was cooking at a Fraternity House on campus at Indiana University. It was an awesome job. He was well paid, got all the vacations all the students got with pay. He was able to move out of my house. He lived with me for two years, rent free and finally moved into his own apartment.

Things didn't work out in my son's favor, he got arrested August 23, 2005 for a misdemeanor and was put on probation and he just went downhill from there. He lost his job at the Fraternity because of his drinking and nose candy. I could write a whole book on my son but this book is not about him but how certain situations fell into the scheme of things for me. I spent a lot of money helping my son out. Some people thought that I was crazy for putting up with all the bullshit my son did and put me through. He met a woman while going to therapy named Jessica. He told me about her but I had my own opinion.

"You're nuts if you hook up with her," I said.

"She is beautiful," he relied as he ignored my words.

They did eventually get together and soon after that started to live together. She grew on me over time as much as I resisted in the beginning. I am the first to admit that I'm generous to a fault, which is just the way I am. I try to look at the good side of everyone and my son was no exception. I knew inside my son there was a good and kind person, he just had to stomp out those snakes.

I got sucked into their problems, of course it was my decision. I was paying for everything for both my son and Jessica. Rent, utilities, groceries, and court fines everything, I even bought Billy a car before the shit hit the fan. All told, I spent over $33,000 on Billy and his mess. I wish I could turn back the hands of time but I can't and I have to live with it.

Billy committed a felony and it was very serious and he was facing a lot of time in the slammer. Judge DeCoff was an outstanding judge, in the end she made my son go through this thing call "Drug Court" and house arrest for a while; he had to report to the Judge once a week and had to go through counseling.

He also had to report to probation as well. This went on for seven years and in the end, I am proud to say, that he stomped the crap out of those snakes. He quit the drugs and the drinking, started at a community college, called Ivy Tech, graduated and now is attending Indiana University, has a great girlfriend, his own house, a good car and is the person I knew he always could be, it is called unconditional love. Too bad our children don't see things in the same manner; they forget what a sacrifice a parent makes for their children. I planned to move to a cheaper community but I lack the funds because of my generosity that I bestowed upon Billy.

# Chapter 25

### The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

My plans at the start of this here book was to list each semester and year that I attended Indiana University. I think that would make this here book too boring and long so I am just going to tell you about my high and low points. Is that okay with you? That is great. So hold on to your little red hat!

Professor Arvin taught a great class called Living Well. It was a great class because you learned how to live with good habits. Such as learning about good foods and bad foods, exercise, and making the right decisions. We learned a little about Yoga and Bryan Stednitz gave a lecture about using supplements. The good ones and the bad ones because many are not good for you to take. Supplements are not regulated by the FDA. I am into taking supplements and this was especially interesting for me. One thing that stood out about this class was Professor Arvin had each student set a goal at the start of the semester. It didn't matter what the goal was but we had to reach it. Mine was to stop smoking. We had to keep a journal about our progress, and at the end of the class each of us had to tell the class how we did in attaining our goal. I was able to meet my goal, at least for several months.

Bryan Stednitz was a director for the Students Recreational and Sport Center. This was a great facility. He set me up with personal trainers for exercising, I have always been into working out, and I used the Center for my whole career at I.U. I would work out three times a week, including my summer breaks. Close to the end of that year the Center gave a banquet and would recognize certain students with their accomplishments. I was invited to this event and to my surprise and delight I won the "The Fitness Inspirational Award." I won this nifty trophy and a $500 scholarship. I got an arousing round of applauds, it was very awesome. My son was able to attend the dinner and celebration. It was a very proud moment for me. I have the trophy displayed at my apartment and I point out my little trophy to everyone who comes to my place.

I consider both Professor Arvin and Bryan Stednitz my friends. Bryan Stednitz turned me onto a blues guitar player Joe Bonamasa way before anyone ever heard who this master bluesman was. I am a blues aficionado and guitar player.

Men's Health was another healthy class. It was all about what the title says. It was taught by Professor Billie Pierson. She was an outstanding Professor Women's Health also taught by Professor Pierson.

Life Span and Divorce on Children both were taught by Professor Bob. He was one of my best Professors; he would give me all the exams. I would go to his office and he would give me the exams. We were about the same age and we had a lot in common. I went to his office to take the third exam and he said to me "Bill I just don't feel like giving you an exam, what would you say if I gave you a B for the class?" I said "That would be okay with me." We sat around and just talked. I was failing in the second class he taught, I took two exams that he gave me. He talked to me about half way through the class and he told me "Bill you are failing this course" I told him that I knew it and he said "Because of your age and your life's experiences I will give you a C for the class. I said "Thanks and you are right I have been through the ringer and I can relate to the class but I am not really into it."

After my first year at I.U. I changed my major to Social Work I took several classes and there was one that was especially satisfying for me. There is a program called "Stone Belt" that helps people with certain disabilities and it is a really great program. My assignment was to go to Stone Belt and spend ten hours working with the "Coffee Club" this club was about ten clients, all with different afflictions. I had Bingo and they all fell in love with her. I took her off the leash and let the people pet her and play with her. I also took my guitar and played for them. They loved me playing; I sang this one song that included a client in a verse until I included all of them. I went there twice a week and I had one hour left to complete my assignment and it was the end of the winter party. The whole experience was really satisfying for me. One of the councilors told me while I finished playing my guitar that she told me they have not seen several clients smile for years and that I had made them all smile and have a ball.

I was discouraged with this Social Work course and I changed to Telecommunications. I took several classes in this major but found out that it was really difficult for me, because most of the classes were very visual and I dropped that major. I went back to General Studies.

I took so many classes during my seven year career at I.U. that I can't remember them all. The worst class that I took and was a requirement was Bio Anthropology because it satisfied my math requirement. It was mostly about monkeys and they were hard for me to remember. The class was taught by this snooty, uptight professor, Professor Mike Hunt, I missed one of the quiz's and he told me that he would let me make it up, but at the end of the semester he still had not given it to me. He said that he wasn't going to give it to me you promised me this make up quiz and it was very important that I take this quiz because I had a D and this was not acceptable.

There is a department that students can use and they will take a stand for a student if they are in the right, it is called "Advocate for Students." They went to bat for me and Professor Mike Hunt had to give me the quiz. He told me "You are the most disagreeable student I have ever taught" I told him "I am not a little 19 year old student afraid of the big bad wolf. I stand up for my rights and if you piss me off get the hell out of the way." He gave me the quiz and that raised my grade to a C which is what I needed in order to have Vocational Rehabilitation continue to pay for my classes.

There was another Anthropology class that I got an F in. It was "The End of the World" according to the Maya Calendar I told the Professor that I could not understand this class because of my screen reader and because of the Maya words, it was way too confusing. I talked with him and I told him what I was going through and I asked him for an incomplete and he said he would and he understood my predicament. But at the end of the semester he refused because I didn't attend any of the classes after we had talked about the incomplete. I talked with my counselor and she asked me if I cared about my GPA, I said I did not. She said just flunk the class because I had more than enough credits to graduate. So I did and I emailed the professor that he was a jerk and his class sucked rotten bananas.

There was another class that I had a big disagreement with the professor. The class was "The History of Indiana." It was very interesting because I am a Hoosier. The disagreement was between Oscar Robinsons and Larry Bird. The Professor said that Oscar was the greatest Basketball player that ever came out of Indiana and I said that Larry Bird was. We had this friendly thing going on between us. I asked the Professor at the very last day of class why he thought Oscar was better than Larry and he said "Larry came to Indiana University but changed his mind and went to Indiana State!"

I did make the Dean's List one time, I made straight "A's" for one semester and I got a letter stating that I was an outstanding student, I was going to frame it along with my Degree Certificate but when I moved I lost it.

Biology was a course that I shined in. It was all about the six senses and I was especially interested in sight but it covered all of them. I wanted to know how sight was formulated in the brain and all of its components. The brain has many "rooms" for seeing, for example a room for color, texture and so forth. I did not use a note taker for this class and I had the second highest grade in the class. I think I have a knack for Biology, I remember that I did really well in high school.

I took one class that I thought was kind of weird but it turned out to be an interesting class it was called "Death and Dying." We learned how different cultures dealt with death and dying.

I took Human Sexuality and it was to my surprise was not very easy as I thought it would be. It was everything associated with sex. If you can think SEX we talked about it. At the end of the course a home based company like Tupperware or Amway came to the class. They had all of these sex toys and you should have heard the women go crazy about some of the toys. It was so funny; the instructor asked me "Bill is there anything you might want?" I said "Yea, you got any blow up Dolls or I know give me a Butt Plug" That got a laugh from all the students. It was a great class, we had gays, bi-sexual, transgender and lesbians come into class for a lecture. I was told that Indiana University had a huge Gay community. They were very open about their sexuality. I was extremely interested in their view because I think I had someone very close to me who I thought was gay or at the very least bi-sexual.

I took a lot of Psychology classes, including Abnormal Psychology. And what I learned from that class was that people can be addicted to another person and I think Cheryl and I were addicted to each other. I think that Cheryl was bi-polar and a little psycho, I don't think, I know, and I also think she was a pathological liar.

# Chapter 26

### How come you don't FART

I was sitting at my apartment minding my own business when I got a call from a very old girlfriend. It was a complete surprise to me. I hadn't seen this lady for at least 25 or 30 years and she asked me why I hadn't gotten in touch with her. I thought this was weird but flattering at the same time. We talked for a while and I told her that I had been in a relationship for several years and I told her I was involved in an automobile accident that left me totally blind. I also told her that I was going to Indiana University and that I was in my second year. It was about a month before Thanksgiving, we had been talking quite a bit on the phone and she said that she would love to get together again someday. I asked her to come to Indiana for Thanksgiving and she accepted. While we were waiting for the day, she would email me all these blind sites on the net, like I haven't already searched for them on my own. She was crusading for me it seemed. She said she had seen where I lived and I said "how did you do that." She said that she did a Google Satellite view, this blew me away. I had no idea that this could be done. She said she could see where I lived and my surrounding area, I thought to myself too cool. I didn't have a clue this could be even done and I thought I was kind of savvy with the computer

I had to change some things around in my apartment, I had only a single bed, so I needed to get a bigger bed, and I was expecting to get very lucky! I think Billy wasn't in jail at this time and he helped me get a queen sized bed. He had his own apartment, I think. My "girlfriends" name was Cindy, she was from New Hampshire.

I don't know how but I met her at the Indianapolis International Airport I guess I took the airport shuttle from Bloomington because there are no buses going to Indianapolis. I think a porter helped me get to the right place to where Cindy would be able to find me and she did. She gave me a huge hug and a big kiss. Of course I looked pretty cool as usual. How could she resist? She had made reservations for a car to rent and she got an awesome upgrade. We were off to Bloomington; while we were riding she told me she got a boob job, awesome of course I just had to check those bad boys out! Let me tell you they felt pretty damn good.

Cindy owned her own Internet business called "Full Loom Moon" if you would like to check out her site, take the spaces out and put '.com' at the end. I was very impressed, she said she had been doing the site for a couple of years and she was doing pretty well. I told her that she could write her whole trip off on her taxes. She asked "How would I do this?"

I told her "You were here to hire me to do her business as a Satellite hub for her business and you could write everything off, food, the plane fare and housing expenses." I told that I could write her receipts that I charged her rent and board while she was in Indiana and that is what we did.

She asked me "How do you know all this?"

I said "You know I owned my painting business for 30 years and I knew the ins and outs of business, after all you worked for me for a couple of years if you remember."

We had a great time, getting reacquainted once again. We ate out most of the time and just hung out. The first night was not the best in the world but it was still pretty good and I am talking about the sex part. That is all I will say on that matter except for a male sex is extremely visual. I have two diamonds in my left ear and she gave them a flip and said that she didn't like them; I said "What? I got a $500 ear lobe and you don't like them?" She was fixing us breakfast one morning and I was standing next to her and I heard the water running in the sink and I told her that the sink was pretty full she said "I can't believe it a blind man had to tell me the sink was full." Billy and Cindy cooked the Thanksgiving meal it was pretty tasty, my son is a great chef. Cindy said something I thought was pretty weird "Why don't you fart?" This took me by surprise and was kind of flabbergasted I said "My Dad taught me to be a Gentleman and I don't pass wind in the presence of women." After she left I told Billy what she said and he started laughing, he said the same thing "Dad you taught me to be a Gentleman, what is up with her?"

Our time together went very quickly and it was time for her to leave, she was very emotional and I told her she would see me again before she knew it. She drove back to the airport and was on her way back to New Hampshire.

We talked on the phone when she got home and she said she had a wonderful time and asked me if I would like to come to New Hampshire for Christmas for two weeks and I agreed. I didn't really think too much about the traveling, I thought it would be a breeze. Not true it was a horror show from start to the end. When Cindy was leaving Indiana I read more into the way she felt than was real.

The trip to New Hampshire was something I will never do again. I had to first fly to Atlanta change planes and had a connecting flight to Manchester New Hampshire. There was supposed to be someone at the gate to help me get to my next flight, I didn't have much time between flights. There was no one to meet me and the gate personnel had to hustle someone to help me. By the time they got someone my flight had left and I was not to get another flight for five hours. The person who helped me could even hardly speak English; I was really pissed off. I blame this crap on the airline. The helper, for a lack for a better word, took me to a smoking area and I just sat there with others who for some reason missed their flight or whatever. I was so pissed off and remember I had Bingo my trusty guide dog with me. I said to hell with it and asked someone who was sitting next to me if there was a restaurant around and was told that there was one just down the concourse, just go out the door and turn left and the restaurant will be on your left and if I got lost I could just ask someone and they would help me. Well the person who was helping me was still there with me, I thought he left and he in his very broken English said he would take me. We walked for a long time and we went into a door that I thought was the entrance to the restaurant and he sat me down onto a chair. A man asked me if he could help me and I said "Yes, I would like a cold beer" he said "Sir, you are in the Security Office" I said "you've got to be kidding me, my stupid little helper was supposed to take me to a restaurant." He said don't worry I will take you there, it turned out that the restaurant was right across my connecting gate. What a pain in the ass. I thought to myself what crap.

Well anyway I got a hamburger and several beers and I sat next to a very nice lady from Europe and we had a very nice conversation. After five hours I was back into the friendly skies on my way to New Hampshire wondering what else could go wrong.

Cindy picked me up; she had to just hang around the airport just waiting for my flight. We landed and she met me and she drove to where she lived in New Hampshire, about an hour north of Manchester from where the airport was. Once we got to her little house, things went down the slippery slope. I was completely out of my comfort zone. Even though she had a small house it was my first time there and I was always getting lost and this is something Cindy and her family couldn't understand. Of course she explained the lay out of her house time and time again but I found out that it takes a lot of practice to learn new surroundings. I was very uncomfortable and a little embarrassed. She did have a guitar which was a life saver for me, but I was told I played pretty good but I had an awful sounding voice. I had sent her an expensive box of chocolates and a beautiful cashmere sweater for Christmas gifts, they were awesome. She gave me a crummy CD that a band she knew and of all things a stupid T shirt of Ray Charles. I couldn't believe it. In her tiny little no class low class brain that because I am blind I would love to walk around with a picture of another blind man. The day after Christmas Cindy, her sister, her boyfriend and I went out to dinner. It was okay but I wasn't comfortable at the dinner, I felt invisible but I tried to make the best of it. I didn't sleep with Cindy that night and when I woke up I tried to find the bathroom and I hit my head on her spiraling staircase and exclaimed "I hate this crummy house" and Cindy heard me. I told her that I wanted to go back to Indiana. Out of the two weeks that I had planned I was ready to go home after four days.

She didn't understand and was a little upset but in reality I am thinking she was relieved. My son was visiting his family in New Hampshire and Billy, and his two brothers met Cindy and me at some restaurant. Cindy was a little bitchy to the waiter, I didn't understand why I thought everything was okay, but when Billy and I were both back in Indiana he said Sammy, his brother, said both he and Tyler thought Cindy was a bitch.

We got to the airport and got out of her car along with my suitcase and the porter rushed me away and that was the last I saw of Cindy. I called her on her cell phone and I asked her "Why didn't you come and wait with me?" she said "I thought you didn't want me around so I am on my way home, call me when you get back home so I won't worry." I made it back to Indiana better than I got to New Hampshire. What a trip! I have not talked with Cindy after that awful trip, the thing that got me was she thought of me as a blind man and not a person, like so many people do.

# Chapter 27

### Covenanter Drive

I lived at Covenanter Drive also known as Renaissance Rentals, I moved in in 2003. It took me some time to get familiar getting around my new apartment. It was a new environment and it took some running into corners with my hard head, once I hit my nose so hard that I thought I broke it. It was a nice apartment; I loved having a washer and dryer that was in the bathroom. And the central location to shops and eating establishments. My apartment manager was Debbie and she was very helpful and very friendly. She took good care of us, by us I am referring to my neighbor, Tootie who had bone cancer. Debbie would visit Tootie and I was often at Tootie's place. Tootie and Debbie would smoke a joint; the Pot would help Tootie's cancer pains. I didn't smoke pot but I did smoke cigarettes at the time it was comfortable having an apartment manager who was very compassionate to people with disabilities.

It was the winter of 2004 and it was very cold and my furnace went out. It was around 2:00 a.m. I called the 24 hour after hours fix it person who would take care of problems arising after hours. I called the number and I got what sounded like a fairly young lady. Instead of doing her job and coming to my apartment like she should have she tried to walk me through resetting my furnace. I don't think the stupid person knew that I was blind. I thought that maybe I could handle resetting the furnace but I couldn't and I told her that I couldn't because I was blind and I don't know what the heck I am doing. She kept trying to tell me check this knob, check this lever and flip this lever. I got so frustrated that I yelled at her to get off her lazy ass and do her job. She came down and fixed the thing. I smelled booze on her breath and she was probably stoned. She just didn't want to do her job in the middle of getting high. I had an issue with my oven and I called the office, it was during business hours and the owner himself, Steve Bobi, a real jerk, came down and fixed what was wrong. On his way out he said "I don't appreciate the way you talked with my employee's"

I asked "What are you talking about?"

He said "When you called her about your furnace, you were rude to her"

I said "I wasn't rude she was just a lazy pot smoker and a drinker and she just didn't want to handle her job because it was two in the morning" he continued to say something I just threw up my left arm and I yelled at him "Goodbye! Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out!" It didn't matter what I said I was wrong and his little helper was right.

My son stayed with me for two years, he got busted for something and his name was in the Herald Times, the Bloomington newspaper. Because we have the same name Bobi thought I got busted, like it was none of his business. He had Debbie called me and asked, I said "No I didn't get busted my son did and I get his mail at my address." I had an oven fire and the fire department came and by the time they got to my apartment the fire was put out. A word to the wise if you can avoid using a home fire Extinguisher, do so at all costs. The acting agent is this really fine powder and is a pain in the ass to get up. The fire department brought a huge fan that blew all the smoke out but at the same time spread the powder all over my living room. What a mess!

Every winter was such a drag. The apartment complex didn't clear off the parking lot or the sidewalks and I was always calling them and they wouldn't do anything at all. It was very dangerous for me and my neighbor as well.

Renaissance Rentals didn't really care for people who stood up for their rights, they would rather just ignore us and that is what they did. We had Debbie who was not this way and she would help us to the best of her abilities. My window blinds were all yellow and she had them all changed which was pretty cool. Unfortunately Debbie found a better paying job and we had a real bitchy new apartment manager and she bit the big one.

There were four units in our area and the lady in the last apartment was an old cranky bitch. I was three apartments away from hers and she left a note on my door written out asking me to turn down my guitar like I could read it or something. I asked Tootie my very next door neighbor and she said she could hardly hear me play. There was one time I was walking down the side walk to get onto the B.T. Access bus and she called my dog "Here Doggie" I said "Please don't talk to my dog when she has her harness on, she is working" the old bag said "I will talk to her if I want to" I said "Do it again and I will have her bite your old wrinkle ass!" She was such a miserable person, she moved out but before she did she put on my door handle to my exterior door a handful of dog poop. Some people are just nasty people and ignorant.

In general I got along with everyone at the complex and was pretty friendly. I was at the apartment complex from 2003 to 2009. It was mid-March when Bobi and the new apartment manager knocked on my door and informed me that they were not extending my lease and I had to find another place to live. I said "Not a problem what so ever because you are such a jerk, you don't care about your tenants and if someone stands up for themselves you don't like that that I was going to move out anyway." I got ahold of Area 10 Agency on Aging to see if they could help me out finding a new apartment. As luck would have it they did. It was during my last year at Indiana University.

# Chapter 28

### Wylie and the hand JIVE and my trip into hell!

I was given an apartment on Wylie Street which is right behind the Bloomington Hospital and is isolated. Like everywhere I lived, it took some time to get use to my environment, it took about a full month before I knew how to get around the apartment and it is kind of small. It was a two bedroom apartment, which I set up the spare small room into a home office, a small living room and a good size kitchen. It was adequate but nothing fancy. It had a small area off the kitchen and a small patio with a yard which was good for Amber. The rent was cheap; I was in my last year at Indiana University.

Carol Gardner came to teach Amber and me a walking route around my area. I noticed the side walk was up and down hills which were okay with me but I noticed my left hip started to hurt and I mentioned this to Carol. After working on the route for a couple of times I said it was starting to hurt too much and we discontinued the training.

I received a letter from my old apartment complex and the letter stated that I owed them $3,500 for damages and repairs. That was allowing for my security deposit. They itemized everything and the amount was outrageous. There was no way that I owed that much. For 30 years I was a painting contractor and one of the things that my company did was refurbished apartments when a tenant moved out. So I knew exactly how much was involved it in preparing an apartment for a new tenant, I got $900 per unit that my company refurbished, so their bill was outrageous. Bloomington is a college town and all apartment owners pull this bullshit trick because they know Mommy and Daddy will pay the bill without complaining. Well not me. I told Mr. Bobi he could stick his bill where the sun doesn't shine. I got several letters threatening me that they were going to take me to court and they hired a lawyer and I would have to pay his fee which was $700. I told Mr. Bobi go ahead and sue me you stupid ass you wouldn't get a dime from me, and you will lose in the end. I even offered to have the place painted and cleaned up with my own funds, he declined. Indiana University has a department called "Legal Services for Students" and they help students in trouble with legal matters like mine but nothing criminal. The department is really great, they will assign a graduate student in their last year to represent a student. I was assigned a very nice young woman. She filled out the proper papers and documents, she had to go to court a time or two but I didn't have to go at all. With all said and done Mr. Bobi couldn't collect a dime from me because my only source of income was Social Security and no one at the time could touch my money and Boring Bobi was out the money he had to pay his lawyer and the cost of painting and fixing up my old apartment.

My left hip continued to hurt, I went to my orthopedic doctor and he gave me a cortisone injection which helps only for a few days and then the pain came back, but the pain was getting worse. He gave me some pain killers, and the pain would not abate. This went on for several months, and I still had a lot of pain. He made an appointment with a nerve doctor, I don't know what they are called. What he did was put me on a table and injected something straight into my nerve, the nurse kept talking to me, asking me questions to take my mind off the intense pain and in the end all that quack did was hurt me more than I was hurting before I saw that jerk. This went on for months and all my orthopedic doctor did was give me more and stronger painkillers he even gave me "Oxycodone and that just messed up my head.

My pain got to the point that I couldn't even walk, I went to see my doctor again and I told him that I am going to see my Chiropractor Doctor Jordan, he wasn't very supportive of my decision but I told him you are not doing a thing to help me except getting me addicted to painkillers. I went to Doctor Jordan and after two visits I was cured with no pain what so ever, I went through all that pain and suffering for nothing.

A couple of months later I wasn't feeling well and I thought I had some kind of a virus and I went to the I.M. a. walk-in clinic, and asked them for a prescription for some kind of antibiotics. I wanted a shot of penicillin but they said they had something much better, Rocephin, I said what ever. I was sitting in the room , waiting and waiting I said "What is taking so long?" they said "We have to mix it up" I thought that was strange, I thought all you had to do was just stick the needle into a bottle and draw out the drug. They gave me the injection in my hip and gave me a prescription for some pills called Levaquin, which I didn't take.

I had an allergic reaction to the injection that almost killed me. I went into a state of dementia for seven days. I was in my apartment and things got really weird, and I mean real weird. A state of dementia is where your mind is in one place and your body is in another. I was on the floor of my apartment screaming and pounding on the wall screaming "Help me, Help me" my neighbor heard me in the morning and came over and saw me on the floor bare assed naked and picked me up and sat me on the end of my couch and put my sweat pants on and told me he would be right back, I said "Don't leave me they are trying to kill me!" He said he would be right back. The EMT's came and rushed me to the Bloomington hospital; I was told much later if I had been ten minutes later I would have been dead. My whole body was shutting down. I don't remember getting to the hospital but there was one time that I was losing my bodily functions and messing myself and I remember a nurse scrubbing my backside real hard so hard that I came out of my fugue state and I said to her "Huh, do you think you could do that a little harder?" I was dying and this nasty nurse was pissed off because she had to clean me up. I found out several years ago that I had only one kidney so I was very close to knocking on heaven's door. I was put into the quarantine department. I don't know why and still don't to this day. In my weird state I was on some kind of bus that was driving around without a road it was so very smooth, the really weird thing about this was that I had sight. I would come out of my fugue state for a minute or two and I yelled why are you taking me all around the country side and I was told by a nurse "You are in the hospital and you have been here all along" then I would slide back into my fugue state. It was so weird it is hard to explain what I was going through but it seemed like hell. Another episode, I was on a bus and my Father was on the bus along with my step Mother. I pointed to my eyes and my Dad said "I know" he was indicating that he knew that I was blind; remember I had sight through this whole ordeal. The bus drove by my house where I grew up in Yorktown Indiana and it was out in the country. I looked at my house and behind the house there were thousands of barrels stacked up past the top of the roof. I thought at the time they were barrels full of hazard waste. Next thing I could see was my Father and step Mother Roller skating down the road in front of the bus and all of the sudden there was a flash of bright light and they disappeared. I was then back on the electric bus and it was passing by strange people on the side of the bus on the right and on the left. They were spaced a long distance apart, they were cooking on an open fire. In the back of the bus there were two people riding on the bus with me. A young male and a young woman, they were young adults and they would talk by sign language and their movements were super-fast and there was a wood stove on the bus as well; too weird. I could see the countryside and we were headed for a collision into the side of a mountain and at the very last second doors opened up and the bus went through and slowly came to a stop and I was suddenly back in the hospital room. I have no idea of time but I think I was coming out of my fugue state. My younger Brother Jim was next to my bed and he kept telling me that I hadn't left the hospital that I was in my room, I didn't believe him. I finally felt kind of normal and my doctor came and talked with me and he didn't have a clue what happened to me, I said to him that I knew I was given a shot of something that I was allergic to by the walk in clinic. He said he could not pinpoint why, of course he wasn't about to blame the walk in clinic because he was part of the system. Instead of giving me what I asked for at the clinic I was given the shot that almost killed me, why? Because it cost $250 and of course they got a big chunk from my insurance company. I was allowed to go home and Jessica, Billy's girlfriend, came and took me home and put me into bed. I was still feeling pretty bad. Everything I tasted was horrible and I couldn't eat. I lost about 30 pounds.

# Chapter 29

### Back to Hell

Jessica got me home and I went right to bed. Everything was going pretty good but after about two weeks, I noticed my left knee was starting to get swollen, my son was over and he took a look at it and asked me if I wanted to go back to the hospital. Hell no! Well my right knee started to get swollen as well and I didn't want to go to the hospital, I thought the swelling would go down. They swelled up to the size of a soccer ball and I couldn't even stand. Again my son was over and I told him to call the paramedics and back to the Bloomington Hell Hole I went. They didn't admit me I just stayed in the emergency room for the night and they gave me a morphine drip. The next day the nurse drained both of my knees, they could never tell me why they got so swollen but I went home that afternoon.

I started to recuperate and was feeling pretty good. I was in my office, sitting on my awesome Lazy Boy recliner my son bought me. I stood up and BLAM! I fainted and I fell down. I fainted for only for a second and I tried to stop my fall with my left arm and I broke my left shoulder and yep back to the hell hole I went. Doctor Ferrell was my doctor and he put me in a sling and gave me painkillers called Norco. It took me around nine months to recover and be able to use my left arm. In the healing process I got addicted to the Norco's, which he was very liberal prescribing them to me. Until he stopped, he couldn't wing me off of them he just stopped and I went into withdrawal symptoms. But before this happened, about six months into my treatment for my shoulder I was feeling kind of weird and I started to have panic attacks. I had about five of them and I had my son drive me to Memorial Hospital, they took my vitals and gave me some drug to stop the panic attacks. It was the Norco's that were giving me the attacks. My jaw started to hurt about three weeks after the panic attacks and I took a Norco and that stopped the pain, it wasn't really a pain just a very annoying feeling. About three weeks I had that feeling again and took a Norco and was okay. Jannell, my personal assistant and I were doing some errands, but my jaw started to hurt before we left my apartment and I took another Norco. However this time the Norco didn't abate my pain and I knew I was having a heart attack and I told Jannell "I am having a heart attack get me to the hospital." The people in the emergency room didn't waste any time they rushed me into the operating room and the doctor put three stents in one of my veins going into my heart. I had to stay in the hospital for four days which really pissed me off because my niece was getting married and I had to miss it.

My doctor released me but before he did he had a talk with me. He said the reason I had the heart attack was because I smoked for 45 years and my arteries were clogged up and I had to think about stop smoking or next time a heart attack would probably kill me.

I didn't smoke cigarettes but little cigars that were cheap and probably a lot worse than regular cigarettes which I could not afford. The little cigars cost me just $13 a carton. They had a stop smoking program at the Bloomington Hospital that would give me free stop smoking patches. I did the whole program and I did quit which I thought was amazing because I thought that I would never be able to quit but it was fairly easy, you just have to make up your mind to quit.

About four months after I quit I was having trouble breathing and was very short of breath, I called the Paramedics and I told them to take me to Memorial Hospital which they did. The prognoses was I had Bronchitis. The doctor came into the room and told me that he was going to admit me into the Bloomington Hospital. I had no choice in the matter because I told him no way. He told me "Yes you are, I would be doing you an injustice because you have Chronic Bronchitis and your blood pressure is 125 over 190 and I don't know why you are still alive. Your Potassium is near the critical point." Back to the Bloomington Hospital I went, where they got my Potassium levels stabilized. Remember I have only one kidney. I was eating a lot of food with a lot of Potassium, like banana's, potatoes and dried prunes.

I am working on my second year of not smoking and have been seeing my Cardiologist and my kidney doctor and things are okay. I just have to watch what I eat and keep smoke free. I was given a nebulizer to help me breathe. The whole scenario took three years and I am still working to get my health back on an even keel. I gained 26 pounds from quitting the ciggies and that is another story because I can't seem to get the flab off!

# Chapter 30

### Well this sucks

What happened to me when I had my accident was my eyes got crushed, OUCH! My nose got smashed and I had a tremendous blunt force to the right side of my body. I did not find out for several years that because of the accident my right kidney got deflated and I have third-degree kidney disease. There are four stages of the disease. So I have to watch what I eat. If my body got to stage four I would have to go onto dialysis and that is not an option for me. I would rather die than go on a dialysis machine for four hours at a time for three days a week. But I have my diet under control and see my kidney doctor four times a year. I just have to limit my potassium intake. This is not a problem.

Even though my eyes got smashed my optic nerve and none of my visual cortex in my brain got damaged. So my brain is still trying to see and it does. I see but I can't see like you, what I do see is shades of colors. For example right now I am seeing a very light shade of grey and continual movement. Strange, huh? This changes throughout my day, but I do see movement and it causes me to have vertigo all the time. Sometimes my vision is almost black with tiny spots of faint light, kind of like if you would look up to the sky at night and saw your whole field of vision very muted or very faint and the stars were very faint. Sometimes my vision is a whole bunch of colors, like a calico quilt. I see very bright flashes of light, like light explosions, I see bright flashes of streaming lights, imagine bottle rockets going off on a very dark night. Here is a test to give you an idea of what I do see at times. Take your fingers and press very lightly onto your eye ball with kind of hard pressure and you will see brightness. I see floaters going across my field of vision from right to left and the floaters look exactly like a newspaper crumpled up into a ball with shades of gray. I use to but not too much now, I would have a calico vision stage and something would morph out of the vision usually arms and hands of a person, talk about weird and then it would morph back into the calico vision. If I was really tired I would see hallucinations but they were just flashes of pictures, it could be anything. Sometimes I feel like I am blinder than I really am, I know that doesn't make any sense. It is usually when I first wake up. Speaking of waking up, I think my brain is still in the dream stage because I feel like I am still in the dream. I see when I dream, because I had sight for almost 50 years before I became blind I know what things look like. That is why I get freaked out of my blindness but of course, there is nothing I can do about it. I have talked to people who were blind from birth and they dream in feelings which are hard for me to explain, but because they have never seen they don't miss what they have never seen. I woke up once and all I could see were very bright yellow wicker chairs all over the place, another time I woke up in a huge warehouse, imagine a huge Walmart store empty and you were in one corner and all you could see was empty space and the walls. Once I woke up in a field with tall weeds and lots of snow all around me. It is so strange what the brain can do, I hear things too, like my phone ringing but it will only ring once. I have to be really tired of most of these things to happen. This is really weird, I listen to books on tape, to date I have listened to over 5,000 books, but sometimes when I am waking up I am still in the story of the book, that is a really weird feeling.

I was having an occurring dream where I was flying an airplane, it was so real. I would even go through pre-flight inspections and I have no flying experience except when I took LSD! Just kidding around. But this dream was so cool because I thought I was really flying an airplane. In other dreams, I would be driving a car and I knew that I was blind but it didn't matter I would still be able to see. I had a lot of dreams like that. Not too much anymore but I do have weird dreams. It is like living in the Twilight Zone all the time!

# Conclusion

I hope that you were able to get something out of my book. I know that there are many disabled people who are worse off than me and I am grateful and lucky I am not that way. I can't tell you that I am a lucky person and that I am not bitter because I am and I didn't ask to be blinded. I will admit it was totally my fault because I let things get out of control. I should have dumped Cheryl Griggs a long time before I did. If I had kicked her ass out of my life when I should have I would still have sight. I didn't know at the time that she was a Sociopath, bi-polar and an extreme alcoholic and she drug me down to her level. I was weak. But you know the old saying that love is blind, no pun intended. On the other side of the coin, I wouldn't be where I am today even though I am blind I am still the same person I always was, except I have a great education. After my accident I lost all of my friends, I can't name one person who I use to hang with that is still my friend. I did what I did just to survive and I overcame many obstacles and conquered them all. The main thing that I am proud of is that I was a top student at Indiana University; an education is one of the best things a person can do for themselves. But after seven years at Indiana University, I still don't have a single friend. It is not me because as a person I know what I am. I do have faults and I am the first to tell you. My biggest fault is that I am generous to a fault, if you need something and I can help then that is what I will do. Before becoming blind it was not unusual for me to see someone who needs a helping hand and I will help. For example, I was in Key West at Christmas time with Cheryl and there was a very sad looking man sitting on a bench looking so downtrodden and I walked up to him and gave him a $20 bill and said "Merry Christmas" he started crying. I have done this kind of thing many times. I supported my son and his girlfriend for a couple of years, why? Because I could.

Where I live now I hate with a passion, I am so isolated, it is like I am under house arrest. I get two hours on Mondays with my wonderful Personal Assistant, Jannell and then on again on Friday and Wednesdays I have Rosy who comes to my apartment to clean. Other than that I am locked up. Of course, I have my son, but he has changed his life around 180 degrees and his time is taken up from working a job, playing in a rock and roll band, and attending Indiana University but he helps me when he can, we usually grab a bite to eat a few times a month. I want him to get his education first and foremost. Hey,Mr. Greely, do you want a little cheese with your wine? How true, I know things will turn around for me socially and spiritually, it always has, I just have to have a little Faith.

If you have any comments or suggestions or complaints you can e mail me at greelyco1@gmail.com!

Thank you very much for reading my book. William Leslie Greely

Real Cool and Very Niffty Stuff!

This is a life saver for people who use JAWS or Microsoft's screen reading program!

Microsoft has a free program in which technicians fix computers for people with disabilities. You give permission for them to remote into your computer and they are able to make adjustments to settings. Hours of operation are 8:00 AM - Midnight Eastern time on weekdays and 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM on weekends. (I'm not sure if the service is intended for worldwide availability.) The toll-free number to seek assistance is:

(800) 936-5900

I have used Microsoft many times and they have saved my bacon so many times I forgot how many, they are fantastic. Their service is worth the price of this book!

Here are some other nifty phone numbers, E mail address and links that you might be interested in.

En Vision America Inc.

Normal, IL. 61761

En-Vision America has successfully introduced several voice-enabled products like i.d. mate, the talking bar code reader, and Scrip Talk, the talking pharmaceutical reader. Originally founded by Philip C. and David B. Redistrict in 1996, the cornerstone of the company was based upon one single premise: To provide customers with greater independence through technology.

800-890-1180

www.Envisionamerica.com

A great list of Guide Dog Schools

CALIFORNIA

Eye Dog Foundation

512 North Larchmont Blvd.

Los Angeles

California 90004

(213) 468-1012

Area Served: Unlimited

Guide Dogs for the Blind Inc.

Post Office Box 151200

San Rafael

California 94915

(415) 499-4000

(800) 295-4050

Area Served: US and Canada

Guide Dogs of the Desert

Post Office Box 1692

Palm Springs

California 92263

(619) 329-6257

Area Served: US and Canada

International Guiding Eyes

13445 Glen oaks Boulevard

Sylmar

California 91342

(818) 362-5834

Area Served: US and Canada

CONNECTICUT

Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation

Post Office Box 142

Bloomfield

Connecticut 06002

(203) 243-5200

Area Served: New England and NY and FLORIDA

Southeastern Guide Dogs

4210 77th Street East

Palmetto

Florida 34221

(813) 729-5665

Area Served: Sunbelt

HAWAII

Eye of the Pacific Guide Dogs and Mobility Services, Inc.

Suite #407

747 Amana Street

Honolulu

Hawaii 96814

(808) 941-1088

Area Served: Hawaii, AK and Guam

KANSAS

Kansas Specialty Dog Service

123 West 7th

Box 216

Washington

Kansas 66968

(913) 325-2256

Areas Served: KS, CO, MO, IA, OK, TX, ND and SD

MICHIGAN

Leader Dogs for the Blind

1039 South Rochester Road

Rochester

Michigan 48307

(313) 651-9011

Area Served: Unlimited

NEW JERSEY

The Seeing Eye, Inc.

Washington Valley Road

Morristown

New Jersey 07960

(201) 539-4425

Area Served: US, Canada and Puerto Rico

NEW YORK

Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind

371 East Jericho Turnpike

Smithtown

New York 11787

(516) 265-2121 or

(800) 548-4337

Area Served: International

Guiding Eyes for the Blind

611 Granite Springs Road

Yorktown Heights

New York 10598

(914) 245-4024

Area Served: Unlimited

OHIO

lot Dogs, Inc.

625 West Town Street

Columbus

Ohio 43215-4496

(614) 221-6367

Area Served: US, Canada and Mexico

****

Please be advised that all phone numbers and links may or may not work, but there is still a vast array of resources that you can utilize!

A great radio show on all kinds of things related to the blind.

"Eyes on success"

www.Eyesonsuccess.net

Web Sites, Phone and Fax numbers you might be interested in!

American Foundation for the Blind

www.afb.org

this organization provides a very rich and deep resource for a variety of information pertaining to visual impairments.

www.benetech.org

Hadley School for the Blind

www.hadley.edu

setting the standard for distance learning, Hadley School For The Blind enables both persons who are blind, and their sighted family members, the opportunity to receive quality Braille instruction through the vehicle of "distance learning".

Browse their website to discover other classes offered by Hadley School for the Blind.

www.nbp.org

National Braille Press provides Braille content in a variety of formats with the intent of promoting Braille literacy for both its blind beneficiaries and their sighted family and friends.

National Federation of the Blind (NFB)

www.nfb.org

the largest consumer group to amplify the voice of those of us who are blind, and who do not view equality with our sighted peers as a privilege, but an inalienable right, of which no person, law, nor edict will deny us.

National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS)

www.loc.gov/nls/

This Federal Organization has stated its mission _"that all may read"_ — a mission for which those of us who are blind are eternally grateful.

Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic(r)

www.rfbd.org/

This organization is responsible for getting many of us through high school and college.

Do a search on other states for some sites!

RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE OF INDIANA

435 Limestone St.

Indianapolis, IN

317-269-2247

FAX 317-267-0606

Email - bjohnson@rmh-indiana.org

www.rmh-indiana.org

The Ronald McDonald House is a home-away-from-home for families of children being treated at Indianapolis area hospitals, primarily Riley Hospital for Children.

SEEDLINGS BRAILLE BOOKS FOR CHILDREN

14151 Farmington Rd.

Livonia, MI 48154

Contact Person: Therese Vick

seedlink7@aol.com

800-777-8552

800-777-8552

FAX 800-777-8552

Email - info@seedlings.org

www.seedlings.org

Seedlings Braille Books for Children is a non-profit organization providing low-cost, high-quality braille books for blind children. Our goal is to help raise the literacy rate among children who are blind by providing access to many of the same books that their sighted peers enjoy and by helping parents introduce the tactile alphabet and books at an early age. By making popular children's books available in braille and affordable for families, Seedlings offers visually impaired children equal opportunity to develop a love of reading and the tools to become lifelong readers. Visit www.seedlings.org for more information or contact us at 1-800-777-8552.

SELECT SPECIALTY HOSPITAL

898 E. Main St.

Greenwood, IN 46143

317-884-2332

www.selectmedicalcorp.com/hospitals/indianapolis.htm

Select Specialty House serves patients in the hospital who need a longer acute care stay due to

Chronic illness, multiple injuries, trauma, or medical complications. Often these patients are too ill to go into rehabilitation, a skilled nursing facility/sub-acute residential setting or other lower levels of care. These patients benefit from a specialized setting for optimal recovery. As a Long term Acute Care Hospital, Select Specialty Hospital serves chronically ill or seriously injured patients with special needs, treating the whole patient (physically, emotionally, and socially) through an interdisciplinary team under the direction of a physician. Specialized services treat a variety of conditions including Medically Complex, Pulmonary/Ventilator, Neuro/Trauma, wound Care, Cardiac Conditions and Infectious Diseases. Select Specialty Hospitals are licensed as acute care hospitals and are Medicare certified, JCAHO accredited and approved by most insurance plans.

SHALOM COMMUNITY CENTER

620 S. Walnut St.

PO Box 451

Bloomington, IN 47402-0451

Contact Person: Forrest Gilmore

forrest@shalomcommunitycenter.org

812-334-5734

812-334-5728

FAX 812-334-5736

Email - admin@shalomcommunitycenter.org

www.shalomcommunitycenter.org

Shalom Community Center is a daytime resource center, serving people experiencing homelessness and poverty. We serve breakfast and lunch each weekday, provide showers, laundry, mail and phone services, transportation assistance, employment support, legal advice, ID and birth certificate support, and rental and utility assistance. We also provide access to many of the social service agencies in town, including Social Security, Volunteers in Medicine, and the VA.

SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN

SHRINERS INTERNATIONAL HEADQUARTERS

2900 Rocky Point Dr.

Tampa, FL 33607

800-237-5055

 www.shrinershospitalsforchildren.org/?gclid=CJHTtqapl7ECFSQDQAodpGpahg

Shriners Hospitals for Children is an international health care system of 22 hospitals dedicated to improving the lives of children by providing specialty pediatric care, innovative research and outstanding teaching programs. Children up to age 18 with orthopedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries and cleft lip and palate are eligible for admission and receive all care in a family centered environment at no charge, regardless of financial need. Canada toll-free: 800-3617256.

SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

515 W. Patterson Dr.

Bloomington, IN 47403

812-334-4222

FAX 812-334-4229

TTY 812-334-4220

www.socialsecurity.gov

The Social Security Administration processes applications for new and replacement social security cards. Provides information about and processes applications for benefits: retirement, survivors and disability. Assists with changes to entitlement records for beneficiaries. Assists with applications for extra help for Medicare prescription drug program.

SOUTH CENTRAL ARTSWORK INDIANA

c/o IIDC

2853 E. 10th St.

Bloomington, IN 47408

Contact Person: Jane Harlan-Simmons

jeharlan@indiana.edu

812-855-2167

812-855-2167

Email - jeharlan@indiana.edu

www.art

maxiaids.com

www.maxiaids.com

Everything related to products and services for the disabled.

Products for Independent Living

Low Vision Products

Talking Products Mobility

Talking Watches

Products for People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired.

American Printing House for the Blind

1839 Frankfurt Avenue

P. O. Box 6085

Louisville

Kentucky 40206-0085

U.S.A.

(502) 895-2405 Voice

(800) 223-1839 Toll Free

(502) 899-2274 FAX

E-Mail: Company contact page.

Company description: They sell bold line paper, raised line paper, 4-track recorders, braille equipment and more. A catalog is available on request.

Ann Morris Enterprises, Inc.

551 Hogner Mountain Road

Stormville

New York 12582

U.S.A.

(845) 227-9659 Voice

(845) 226-2793 FAX

(800) 454-3175 Orders only

E-Mail: Company contact page.

Company description: Products include no-spill ice tray, microwave oven cookware, computer cookbooks, (I've never eaten a computer before... sorry) large digit items and gift wrapping service. Catalog available free in large print, cassette and IBM format disk.

 Aster Synthetic Speech Application

(at Cornell).

(617) 621-6637 Voice

E-Mail: -  raman@crl.dec.com

Company description: AsTeR (Audio System for Technical Readings) is a computing system for rendering technical documents in audio. AsTeR was developed by T. V. Raman for his PhD.

AudioBooks Online

RR 1 Box 60

Richmond

Virginia 05477-9702

U.S.A.

(802) 434-5550 Voice

(802) 434-5550 FAX

E-Mail: Company contact page.

Company description: Purchase your audio books on-line.

The Campanian Society, Inc.

P. O. Box 243

Rhinecliff

New York 12574

U.S.A.

(845) 876-0303 Voice

(845) 876-2037 FAX

E-Mail:  campania@one.net

Company description: Tours designed for the blind.

Carolyn's Catalog

P. O. Box 14577

Bradenton

Florida 34280-4577

U.S.A.

(800) 648-2266 Voice

(813) 761-8306 FAX

E-Mail:  support@carolynscatalog.com

Company description: Some of the products available include CCTVs, watches, clocks and timers, canes, kitchen products, household, personal and recreation items, writing aids, sewing products, medical devices, magnifying glasses, tools, as well as other items.

Descriptive Video Services, (DVS)

P. O. Box 64428

St. Paul

Minnesota 55164-0428

U.S.A.

(612) 637-4704 Voice

E-Mail:  dvs@wgbh.org

Company description: Making television and movies more accessible to people who are blind or have low vision! A service of the WGBH Educational Foundation in Boston.

Dolphin Computer Access LLC

Suite #48 and #49

4th Floor

100 South Ellsworth Avenue

San Mateo

California 94401

U.S.A.

(650) 348-7401 Voice

(650) 348-7403 FAX

E-Mail:  sales@dolphinusa.com

Company description: "Dolphin sells and supports their own range of screen readers, screen magnifiers, OCR programs, Braille translation systems, and speech synthesisers for DOS, Windows 3.1x, Windows 95, and Windows NT 4.0 Workstation. Products include Hal screen reader, Lunar screen magnifier, Supernova screen reader/magnifier, Cicero text reader, Cipher Braille translation system and Orpheus software speech synthesiser."

Duxbury

435 King Street

P. O. Box 1504

Littleton

Massachusetts 01460

U.S.A.

(978) 486-9766 Voice

(978) 486-9712 FAX

Company description: Develop and market software to produce braille in English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Hebrew, Portuguese, and other languages on MS-DOS, Windows, Macintosh, Unix, and other systems.

EconoNet International

11404 Lakeview Drive

Coral Springs

Florida 33071

U.S.A.

E-Mail:  ammirata@econointl.com

Company description: Developers of Simply Internet, an intagrated speech friendly software package.

Emergency Medical Alert, Alarm Systems.

10321 South Beckstead Lane

South Jordan

Utah 84095

U.S.A.

(800) 688-9576 Toll Free

(877) 571-4606 FAX

E-Mail:  info@rescuealert.com

Company description: "Offers emergency medical alert / alarm systems and monitoring bracelets for seniors and elderly."

Enabling Technologies

1601 Northeast Braille Place

Jensen Beach

Florida 34957

U.S.A.

(772) 225-DOTS [(772) 225-3687] Voice

(772) 225-FAXX [(772) 225-3299] FAX

(800) 777-DOTS [(800) 777-3687] Toll Free In continental USA

(800) 950-DOTS [(800) 950-3687] Toll Free In continental USA

E-Mail: Company contact page.

Company description: They design and manufacture Braille embossers.

Freedom Scientific

11800 31st Court North

St. Petersburg

Florida 33716-1805

U.S.A.

(727) 803-8000 Voice

(800) 444-4443 Voice

(727) 803-8001 FAX

E-Mail: Company  contact page.

Company description: Combining - Henter-Joyce, Blazie Engineering, and Arkenstone.

This company sells screen readers and magnification software, Braille note takers, embossers and displays, Scanning and reading software / hardware, and learning systems software.

 Frontier Computing

Suite #406

2221 Yonge Street

Toronto

Ontario M4S 2B4

(416) 489-6690 Voice

(888) 480-0000 Toll Free

(416) 489-6693 FAX

E-Mail:

Sales  sales@frontiercomputing.on.ca

Technical Support  techsupport@frontiercomputing.on.ca

Company description: Their focus is mainly on text-to-speech, print scanning, and low-vision products. They also sell braille embossers, PIM's (Personal Information Managers), and many other devices.

Future Forms

903 Chicago Drive

Grand Rapids

Michigan 49509

U.S.A.

(888) 786-6455 Ext. #227. Voice

(616) 475-0491 FAX

E-Mail:  bsahlberg@futureforms.com

Company description: FutureForms is a developer of electronic forms solutions, their goal is to develop electronic forms and workflow systems that are accessible to ALL employees. Their solutions offer organizations the means to reduce costs and increase productivity. For information call toll free 1-888-786-6455, extension #227.

General Electric Corporation

Consumer Affairs

Appliance Park

Louisville

Kentucky 40225

U.S.A.

(800) 626-2000 Voice

(502) 452-4311 Voice

Company description: Produces tactile knobs for electric appliances and overlays for microwave and washer/dryer units.

Gladys E. Loeb Foundation

2002 Forest Hill Drive

Silver Spring

Maryland 20903

U.S.A.

(301) 434-7748 Voice

Company description: Has guard rail rings for electric stoves, food labeling kits and other kitchen items.

G. W. Micro

725 Airport North Office Park

Fort Wayne

Indiana 46825

U.S.A.

(219) 489-3671 Voice

(219) 489-2608 FAX

(219) 489-5281 BBS

E-Mail:  support@gwmicro.com

Company description: They offer a variety of software and hardware solutions for blind and visually impaired people. Some of the products include Vocal-Eyes, Sounding Boards, Speak-Out and the Small Talk PC family of laptop computers.

Hartzler's, Inc.

P. O. Box 3553

Arcadia

California 91006

U.S.A.

(818) 796-6606 Voice

(818) 445-5223 FAX

Company description: Markets products made by Carex which includes a variety of canes (heavy duty folding aluminum, lightweight folding, folding support canes), kitchen accessories and bathroom safety accessories.

Hooleon Corporation

Buillding B

411 South. 6th Street

Cottonwood

Arizona 86326

U.S.A.

(520) 634-7515 Voice

(800) 937-1337 Voice

(520) 634-4620 FAX

(520) 639-3300 FAX Back

E-Mail:

 sales@hooleon.com

 info@hooleon.com

Company description: Manufactures and sells Large Print Keytop Labels, Large Print/Braille Keytop Labels, and Home Row Key Indicators, which come in different print and background colors.

Howe Press of Perkins School for the Blind

175 North Beacon Street

Watertown

Massachusetts 02172-9982

U.S.A.

(617) 924-3490 Voice

(617) 926-2027 FAX

Company description: Sells braillers, slates and accessories, measuring and drawing supplies, games and more.

Humanware Inc.

6245 King Road

Loomis

California 95650

U.S.A.

(800) 722-3393 Voice

(916) 652-7296 FAX

E-Mail:  info@humanware.com

Company description: Manufactures and sells Large Print Keytop Labels, Large Print/Braille Keytop Labels, and Home Row Key Indicators, which come in different print and background colors.

IBM Special Needs Solutions

11400 Burnet Road

Internal Zip 9448

Austin

Texas 78758

U.S.A.

(800) 426-4832 Voice

(800) 426-4833 TDD

(512) 838-9367 FAX

E-Mail:  snsinfo@austin.ibm.com

InnSeekers

43 Middle River Road

Danbury

Connecticut 06811

U.S.A.

(888)Inn-Seekers [(888) 466-7334]

(203) 798-2543 Voice

(203) 798-0697 FAX

E-Mail:  Tracey@innseekers.com

Company description: A 24 hour hotline for travellers seeking that perfect bed & breakfast or country inn. Anyone with a touchtone phone can search by state, region or city... and not only specify smoking, children, pet and wheelchair preferences, but also request special inn features like clawfoot tub or local activities, like hot air ballooning.

Independent Living Aids, Inc.

27 East Mall

Plainview

New York 11803

U.S.A.

(800) 537-2118 Voice

Company description: Sells watches, clocks and timers, canes, kitchen products, household, personal and recreation items, writing aids, sewing products, medical devices, tools and other items.

Index Braille Printer Company

P. O. Box 155

Hantverksv. 20

Gammelstad

954 23

Sweden

+46-920 25 71 35 Voice

+46-920 25 72 49 FAX

E Mail:  info.brl@braille.se

Company description: Index Braille Printer Company the manufacturer of the full range of INDEX Braille embossers such as INDEX Everest, a double sided embosser for cut sheet paper; INDEX 4X4, the only embosser on the market producing documents in saddle stich binding format; INDEX Basic D and INDEX Basic S, small compact embossers, double and sigle-sided versions for fan-fold paper.

Innovative Rehabilitation Technology, Inc.

13467 Colfax Highway

Grass Valley

California 95945

U.S.A.

(530) 274-2090 Voice

(530) 274-2093 FAX

E-Mail:  peterpro@oro.net

Company description: "In business since 1979, IRTI has been providing everyday useful products as well as high tech innovations for the blind, visually impaired, and individuals with dyslexia. Our general line up of products and services include: Talking appliances and devices, Talking book four track cassette players and recorders, talking document readers, talking computers, screen reading software, speech synthesizers, magnifiers, CCTV, and recreational products by SONY and other major manufacturers. Many IRTI products are available with auto cassette instructions. "

**Publications:** "IRTI offers a free cassette magazine called — Technical Innovations Bulletin."

Innoventions, Inc.

Suite #102

5921 South Middlefield Road

Littleton

Colorado 80123

U.S.A.

(303) 797-6554 Voice

(800) 854-6554 Toll Free

(303) 727-4940 FAX

E-Mail:  magnicam@magnicam.com

Company description: Source of the Magni-Cam, a portable, affordable electronic magnifier for people with low vision.

Interactive Voice News

Building 10-203

2400 Winding Creek Boulevard

Clearwater

Florida 33761

(877) 233-1817 Voice

E-Mail:

Sales info@e-ivn.com

Support support@e-ivn.com

Company description: www.talking-browser.com \- Talking Browser for Android and iPhone.

www.rss-voice-reader.com \- RSS Voice Reader.

www.i-talks.com \- Internet talks.

www.rss-to-podcast.com \- We can convert any RSS into Podcast.

J & K Trophy and Engraving

18693 Levan

Livonia

Michigan 48152

U.S.A.

(248) 473-7871 Voice

(248) 473-7879 Fax

Company description: Braille engraving in acrylic and plastic available in a variety of colors for trophies and gifts. A clear material with braille is laid over a engraved metal plate or multi colored acrylic is used to give one color for the background and another for the raised dots and surrounding area. All the braille is in grade 2 which is used for legal ADA signage.

JTS Micro Consulting Ltd.

RR #4

10931 Lytton Road

Ladysmith

B. C.

Canada V0R 2E0

(250) 245-7224

E-Mail: tslemko@islandnet.com

Company description: Multimedia shareware - speech synthesis and recognition including:

PAM, Talking Appointment Mgr., Text Reader

SAM, A male speaking PAM program

JTS READER, A Complete Text File Reader, Talking Aid.

JTS Bridge Bidding System.

LAB Resources

17700 West Capitol Drive

Building #31

Brookfield

Wisconsin 53045

U.S.A.

(414) 691-3476 Voice

E-Mail: labres@execpc.com

Company description: Computer Products for Education and Assistive Technology. Offering the finest technology, professional assistance and the lowest prices.

The Lighthouse, Inc.

Product Center

36-02 Northern Boulevard

Long Island City

New York 11101

U.S.A.

(718) 937-6959 Voice

(800) 829-0500 Toll Free

Company description: Carries a variety of products including watches, canes, household and kitchen items, personal products, writing aids, recreational products, medical devices, tools and more.

LS & S Group

P. O. Box 673

Northbrook

Illinois 60065

U.S.A.

(708) 498-9777 Voice

(800) 468-4789 Toll Free

Company description: Products include talking watches, bathroom scales, clocks, calculators, large print alarm clocks, computers and TV screen enlargers, TV radios, 4-track cassette machines, voice activated telephones and many other products.

Manning Holoff Company

15757 Stagg Street

Van Nuys

California 91406-1914

U.S.A.

(818) 988-3185 Voice

(818) 988-3969 FAX

E-Mail:

Info - info@magna-lite.com

Susan Black - spinner28@loop.com

Susan Holof - sdhmagna@aol.com

Company description: "Illuminated magnifiers with optical quality lenses and durable, impact-resistant casings. All products come with a convenient locking on-off switch and lifetime guarantee."

Massachusetts Association for the Blind

200 Ivy Street

Brookline

Massachusetts 02146-3995

U.S.A.

(617) 738-5110 Voice

(800) 682-9200 Toll Free In Massachusetts

(617) 731-6444 TDD

(617) 738-1247 FAX

Company description: A wide variety of products for blind people.

Microsystems Software, Inc.

600 Worcester Road

Framingham

Massachusetts 01702

U.S.A.

(508) 416-1000 Voice

(800) 828-2608 Sales

(508) 626-8515 FAX

E-Mail: info@microsys.com

Company description: HandiWARE, a family of adaptive access software solutions that includes screen magnification, word prediction and keyboard alternatives.

MONS International, Inc.

Suite #224

6595 Roswell Road

Atlanta

Gorgeia 30328

U.S.A.

(404) 551-8455 Voice

(800) 541-7903 Toll Free

E Mail: mons@negia.net

Company description: "We sell the Latest technology of products for the Visually Impaired including the V-Max (Headborn CCTV), The Liberty (Portable CCTV), and more. We also carry binoculars, spectacles, Giraffe Lamps, and every type of magnifier including hand, stand, lighted, and hands free magnifiers, and much, much more.

Myna Corporation

239 Western Avenue

Essex

Massachusetts 01929-1102

U.S.A.

(978) 768-9000 Voice

(978) 768-9911 FAX

E-Mail: mynacorp@aol.com

Company description: Products include: Myna talking computer, Talkman player/recorders for Library of Congress speed tapes, Life Scan, One Touch II Monitor, One Touch II voice synthesizer, talking watches and clocks, talking blood pressure monitors, talking credit card terminals and talking calculators.

Ocutech

Suite #2105

109 Conner Drive

Chapel Hill

North Carolina 27514

U.S.A.

(919) 967-6460 Voice

(800) 326-6460 Toll Free

(919) 967-8146 FAX

E-Mail: info@ocutech.com

Company description: "Ocutech is the developer/manufacturer of the VES-AutoFocus, a 4x magnification, spectacle-mounted, bioptic telescope that eliminates the challenge of focusing. Ocutech also offers manual focus telescopes, all of which can help those with macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, albinism, high myopia, nystagmus and similar eye diseases where ability to see detail is lost."

Orbit Research

Suite #585

3422 Old Capitol Trail

Wilmington

Delaware 19808

U.S.A.

888-606-7248 Voice

E-Mail: info@orbitresearch.com

Company description: "Orbit Research develops and manufactures products for the blind and visually impaired, using cutting edge technology to bring to the community affordable aids for independent living. Our latest product, the ORION TI-34 is the world's first Talking Scientific Calculator for less than $200."

Perceptual Alternatives

40 Rowan Street

Doncaster East

Victoria 3109

Australia

+61 3 98 48 96 94 Voice

E-Mail: t.heyes@optometry.unimelb.edu.au

Company description: Electronic travel aids, the sonic pathfinder.

Prophecy Designs

P. O. Box 84

Round Pond

Maine 04564

U.S.A.

(207) 529-5318 Voice

Company description: Braille embossed and large print greeting cards.

Quantum Technology

P. O. Box 390

Rydalmere

NSW 2116

\+ 61 2 9684 2077 Voice

\+ 61 2 9684 4717 FAX

E-Mail: quant@quantech.com.au

Company description: Manufactures and sells Large Print Keytop Labels, Large Print/Braille Keytop Labels, and Home Row Key Indicators, which come in different print and background colors.

Recording For The Blind And Dyslexic, Inc.

20 Roszel Road

Princeton

New Jersey 08540

U.S.A.

(609) 452-0606 Voice

(800) 221-4792 Toll Free

(609) 987-8116 FAX

E-Mail: webmaster@rfbd.org

Company description: Provides educational materials in recorded and computerized formats at every academic level.

**Publications:** Recording for the Blind News, 3/year.

Resource Guide For The Blind.

This page has a good selection of links and information about blindness and related issues and is part of the Smartglasses.Org blog.

RJ Cooper & Associates

Suite #283

24843 Del Prado

Dana Point

California 92629

U.S.A.

(949) 661-6904 Voice

(800) RJCooper [(800) 752-6673] Toll Free

(949) 240-9785 FAX

E-Mail: rj@rjcooper.com

Company description: Software and hardware for young blind children.

Science Products for the Blind

P. O. Box 888

Southeastern

Pensylvania 19399

U.S.A.

(800) 888-7400 Toll Free

Company description: Many products including vendor equipment with speech, custom electronics, low vision aids, recreation products, calculators, computers, recorders; music, large print, and tactile books, toys and games, voice output devices, medical, ham radio aids, etc.

Solutions@disability.com

9151 Hampton Overlook

Capital Heights

Maryland 20743

U.S.A.

(301) 324-0118 Voice

(301) 324-0121 FAX

E-Mail: webmaster@disability.com

Company description: Includes the One Step Ahead newspaper and Evan Kemp Associates.

Sounds True, Inc.

413 South Arthur Avenue

Louisville

Colorado

80027

U.S.A.

(303) 665-3151 Voice

(800) 333-9185 Toll Free

(303) 665-5292 FAX

E-Mail: webmaster@soundstrue.com

Company description: "Sounds True publishes live teaching presentations on audiotape by leading figures in spirituality, psychology, creativity, relationships, and health. Products range from single-cassette presentations to volumes of up to 12 cassettes packaged in vinyl binders. Teachers include Thich Nhat Hanh, Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Caroline Myss, Dean Ornish, Harriet Lerner, and Thomas Moore."

**Publications:** The Sounds True Catalog, published twice annually.

SVEC a SPOL s.r.o.

Stanicna 502

Vrable

Slovakia 95201

Slovakia

+421 37 783 3445 Voice

+421 37 783 3137 FAX

E-Mail: svec@svecaspol.sk

Company description: "Produces mechanical typewriting machines for the blind and partially sighted, Tatrapoint Adaptive and the Tatrapoint Standard."

T. M. T. Direct (Talk-Me-Thru Tutorials)

840 South Sheridan Boulevard

Denver

Colorado 80226

U.S.A.

(888) 936-0001 Voice

E-Mail:

philscov@netcom.com

phil@redwhiteandblue.org

Company description: Phil Scovell sells a wide variety of recorded tutorials designed to help blind people use different computer programs. The Electronic Library is also available.

Telephone Pioneers of America

P. O. Box 18388

Denver

Colorado 80204

U.S.A.

(303) 571-1200 Voice

Company description: Has local chapters which manufacture various products for visually impaired persons. Call the number above for referral to the appropriate chapter.

Telesensory

520 Almanor Avenue

Sunnyvale

California 94086

U.S.A.

(408) 616-8700 Voice

(408) 616-8720 FAX

E-Mail: info@telesensory.com

Company description: "A leading worldwide developer, manufacturer and marketer of innovative, technology-based products to assist people with visual disabilities. Telesensory's product line includes video magnifiers, scanners and computer screen magnification products."

