When I met him he was using a burgundy coloured one. It was well used and the way Bug could operate it, I could tell it was really a part of him. Soon after meeting Bug I noticed a brand new sparkly blue wheelchair sitting in the hallway of his suite. I asked about it. Bug said it was new, but he didn't like it. He said he had trouble operating it. It was unfamiliar.
Bug told me about the wheelchair he had in high-school. It was a black and operated similarly to the wheelchairs I was familiar with.
Since Bug's hands don't work like the average person he couldn't use a joystick to operate it. So Bug uses the headrest to drive his chair. There's a control box bolted to the side within arm's reach that has a power switch, a button so he can put the chair in reverse and another device that can tilt his seat back. On the side is a button that controls the opening of his apartment door.
Bug told me that the black wheelchair he used in high-school became nicknamed Christine after the demonic Stephen King car. Bug had gone outside during a break between classes. Now the headrest on Christine kept popping off, so there was a broken drinking straw used to keep the headrest in place. When Bug got outside, the piece of straw slipped from it's place and the headrest got stuck to one side. Christine started doing doughnuts. Bug's chair kept going around and around and there was nothing he could do to stop Christine from spinning on the spot. That was the day she got her name.
Then Bug got a new chair sometime just before moving on his own. She was known as Christine II. It took time for this Christine and Bug to get used to each other. This Christine liked losing her footplate. Then one time Bug was outside heading out for a walk around. He misjudged where he was on the sidewalk and went partially onto the grass. This tipped Christine II causing her battery to shift and come disconnected. Bug was stranded outside half off the sidewalk in front of his building. Thankfully the building manager was in her office, saw Bug and came to his rescue.
Sometime after I came along Christine II was being checked out more and more by the service people that would come to Bug's home. Finally Bug got the diagnosis that Christine II needed to be retired. Her axle had become stripped and was no longer turning one of the tires as easily. This would get worse and if Bug kept using her, eventually her tire may come off.
There was still the brand new sparkly blue chair sitting quietly in Bug's hallway.
Bug really didn't like this chair. It was a bit fancier than Christine II, but fancier didn't mean better. I went to start sparkly blue for Bug to use and she wouldn't power up.
Oops, the battery was dead. Bug had neglected to tell me that she needed her battery charged regularly. Was it forgetfulness or sabotage?
So the sparkly blue chair was taken off to the wheelchair doctor. It took several trips before this new chair was to Bug's operational standard. The control box needed to be raised, the footplates tightened as they tended to fall off as well and the headrest cut down as Bug was catching himself on it.
It's been almost two years since Christine II was retired and sparkly blue has been in service. Bug is much more used to the latest chair, but still laments about how great Christine II was. Bug's wheelchair is probably the most intimate piece of machinery he could have. They need to develop a relationship with each other and Bug has to learn all the quirks associated with sparkly blue. Without the wheelchair, Bug's independence is severely limited.
Who knows what his next chair will be like, possibly a hoover wheelchair?
Until the next time...
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