The Wheel Chair Girl

by Claire Chen

Lin Lin wheeled herself into the line for walking sticks. Even though she didn't need one, she felt that she was more protected with it. She loved hiking and today she was ready to undertake the most risky hike there was in all of China. And there she was, bright eyed, and ready to go. She had crooked teeth and thick glasses but most surprisingly, she was sitting in a wheel chair. For all her life, she sat in this wheelchair. She was not known as Lin Lin, but as Lin Lin with the wheelchair. One day, she hoped to be known as Lin Lin, the 14-year-old girl who climbed the highest peak in China.

In her backpack, there was plenty of water, energy bars, allergy medication, and bug spray to go around. In her lap were a journal and a wooden pencil. Her dad accompanied her on her hike. He was a middle-aged man with patches of white hair dotting his sleek black hair. He wore khaki shorts with a baggy T-shirt. A wind breaker hid the many stains on it. On his back, he carried a big tent, sleeping bags for the both of them, and a couple of spare tires for Lin Lin’s wheel chair. He rolled her over to the immense mountain looming over them. Together they gazed up at the giant, stunned by how high the peak was.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” asked Lin Lin’s father.

“Yes I am sure. I have never been so sure in my life,” Lin Lin said as she assured her father.

Hearing these words from his own daughter made him realize that there was really
nothing to fear. Together, they headed of towards the luminescent mountain not aware of any journey that lay ahead.