LET’S ALL GO TO A BEACH. A REAL VIDEOGAME.

02.09.04

There is still something I haven’t told you. When I went to the country cottage to celebrate Christina’s birthday and after having had an almighty fight with my parents who wanted to sit over my head until all my friends came there, I decided to do a really dirty trick; out of reaction maybe, out of madness maybe, but more out of a dire need. I wasn’t alone on that one. I was with Sophocles and we decided to go to the beach and walk a distance of 200 metres on foot. It doesn’t sound difficult at all. And yet it was a real videogame for me (not for Sophocles, though):

1st stage:

To get out of the house, climb the stairs without holding on to any handrail, slowly so as not to break the branch of the tree that was used as a prop, always turning to the right in order not to fall in the gap to the left. I managed to do all this only in one way. I climbed the stairs on both hands and feet. Afterwards, I sort of slipped and grabbed the walking device. Standing on my feet, I walked through the garden amidst stones and grass that literally immobilized the device’s wheels. I was already bathed in sweat and fully ready to go on to the next stage.

2nd stage:

We climb another six stairs, stuck on the wall next to us (like Spiderman), while we take care not to walk on the fallen figs. Having crushed only one fig under the sole of my shoe, we cross the narrow side street covered in stones, passing through rusty barbed wires and plants that touch our heads. Refusing to accept the offers of help from neighbours, we reach the exit that leads to the large street down.

3rd stage:

Holding the back part of my walking device from the other side in order to use it as a protective barrier for the downhill slope, with the fig always stuck under my shoe, I start walking down. Sophocles is in front of me and claps his hands to encourage me. I am full in sweats and my glasses slip from my nose. Since we have just got out of the house, this is only the beginning.

4th stage:

Walking always by the end of the street so as to avoid being run over by the cars and stopping often to have some rest, we continue to head off in order to pass the next street and cross it and thus reach the second downhill slope that leads to the beach. Throughout this entire journey, people look at us as if we’re aliens. Their intentions are pure. They offer us help all the time and we refuse to take it. In fact, we look like lunatics. A guy with crooked legs who walks like a turtle (literally), pulling an iron thing in front of him and another madman who stumbles upon everything, claps his hands and yells ‘let’s go / pick it up’ and so on.

5th stage:

Having reached the second downhill slope, we have to go down the large stairs that lead to the beach! The slope is now much larger but, thanks to my luck, there are barbed wires on my right side again, which I can grab while making sidesteps. I am worn out but the view of the sea gives me unbelievable strength. Every now and then I take a look behind to see the distance that I’ve covered. Reaching the end of the cement, where the sand begins, I see that there is a difference in height from the ground. I have to make a big jump so as to put my foot on the ground. I decide to hang from the barbed wire and slowly lower my body. Sophocles is standing right in front of me and tries to hold me as I stretch out and touch the ground softly. I feel my hands being drawn out like the hands of the policeman Sainis. I finally step on the sand. Sophocles, who was carrying my walking device all this time on my behalf, places it in front of me. I stand still, looking at the sea like Christopher Colombus who has just discovered America.

6th stage:

I lift my walking device, since it’s impossible to walk around with it on the sand. With my mouth dry and my heart missing a beat, I see the waves approaching me. Or am I the one to be approaching them? The people are looking at us in curiosity again. And yet I couldn’t care less. I love them all, because, regardless of what they believe for me, I’m sure that I will be looking to their eyes neither miserable nor tired. I’ve done something that seemed to be impossible. I can finally rest my arse on the sand, just a few metres away from the sea, and let out this cry of relief or triumph that I had kept inside for an hour. This was how much time we needed to cover the distance of the 200 metres that separated us from the sea. We did it.

Game Over!

Mission accomplished!

All accounted for after that whole dirty trick was: a great accomplishment, my left shoulder almost fallen apart and the pain reaching my nape. The doctor diagnosed some kind of tendon problem because of the burden on the shoulder. The problem existed a long time ago when I was moving my wheelchair alone, walking on the tube’s corridors and crossing the Syntagma square and then Stadiou street in order to go to the university buildings where I took my courses. Those days I can’t sleep because of the pain; plus I find no place to suit me. I barely use the walking device because it is a burden to my whole bad condition and intensifies my pain. I will start psysiotherapy again with special exercises in the coming week.
I didn’t say anything to my parents those days about the adventure I just told you. Later, a full of pride Nicholas confessed everything. Do you know what their answer was? ‘You are stupid, because you exhaust your body and worsen your situation. If you hurt, so much the better.’. They are neither wrong nor right. If only they knew how satisfied I feel when I prove to myself that I am capable of living the way I want. I wanted to go to the sea and I did it. I didn’t think of the consequences and this might make me seem to be immature to your eyes but noone of you can offer me any greater pleasure than whenever I am beyond myself. Bring me the gold (medal) and we’ll see to it. I swear. I wasn’t doped at all.