Greetings, All!!
Just some recollections from my past.. 
"As a fine young lad of 14, even tho' I was still in the process of
"recovering" from my bout with Polio 4 years earlier, I managed to get a
Job (at $.40/hr + all I could eat) diswashing (AKA Pearl-Diving) at a
local Restaurant in Scituate, Mass... The previous years of intense PT
and Swimming all Summer in 45-55 degree Water had "toughened" me up, and
I thought I could handle ANYTHING!! - A Year in Bed with IP had put
about 50 Pounds on me, and I weighed in at around 150 Lbs at 14!! - That
did kinda load my Leg Muscles a bit.. That, plus lunches made at the Ice
Cream Counter of the Restaurant (Hot Fudge Sundaes - A Sea of Fudge
and Strawberries, topped with a a tad of Rum-Raisin Ice Cream and 1/2
Lb. of Whipped Cream ) somewhat increased my Mass!!.... Anyhooo, To
make a long story short, I worked 7-10 hour days, and being by nature
a bit lazy, worked out a plan to minimize the trips to the other side of
the kitchen with the (manually) dried Dishes.. I just built the Pile
higher and higher each Time!! - Great!! - Fewer trips - The Ache in my
left leg subsided between trips!! Got it made.. U-Huhhhh... ( This isn't
getting short, is it..)  As the evening came, the dinner crowd
thinned out, and I had but one more pile of China to put away.. But,
this was the GRANDADDY of piles!! -  A pile to be PROUD of!!.. The
rest of the Kitchen Staff watched (Admiringly, I was sure) as I
started across the Floor with a 2-1/2 foot stack reaching from my
down-stretched finger-locked hands up to my ample double-chin!! Four
feet from the Table, you need not guess what happened... Ol' Lefty,
the "cured" Polio Leg muscle said "FORGET IT!!" and promptly and VERY
effectively decided to collapse.. The resulting crash roused the Manager
and his Wife from the Office (where they were no doubt counting their
ill-gotten gains..), and observing their profit-margin disappearing into
shards of China upon the Floor, promptly sent me scurrying out the
back Door to the assumed safety of the gathering darkness.. As the
Gods of Chance would have it, I slipped into/onto a trail of Grease that
had been dribbling itself into the waiting waters of Scituate Harbor
since time immemorial.. (They weren't too big on Ecology in 1952).. It
being High Tide, I slid down the well-greased Sand Embankment and landed
with a MIGHTY "Kersplosh" in the Harbor!!
The local populace talked for years about the sand-covered being that
had emerged from Scituate Harbor that June night, leaving behind a
trail of Grease and a foul smell, and that had limped off, not unlike
Quasimodo, into the Marshes, never to be seen again..
But now, YOU, my dear Echo Members, know the REAL story of the infamous,
and much-feared, legendary, "Scituate Harbor Swamp-Thing"!!"
"There are a lotta stories out there, some Humorous, like mine, some
poignant and not-so-funny.. Let's share with each other some of our
experiences.. Some of our pains.. Some of our joys.. I want this echo to
foster Friendship and Cameraderie among we who have been surprised by
the return of the demon we fought before, and whom we thought we had
put to rest.. PPS is a rotten trick to have been played on us by Fate,
but we beat (or at least survived) it before - We can do it again,
TOGETHER!!.. OK?? - Let's keep this echo a Sharing, Loving, Supportive
place for a buncha die-hard Survivors like you ALL are!! Love Ya' All!!
                                                Your turn..
                                                    Tom..
                                                    Ye ol' Mod'r't'r"
(tom.mckeever@mit.com)
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(Home of UUCPlog, OTVIEW, & POST_POLIO and CARDIAC Echoes!!)
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