Near the end of my university days, I took a much needed hiatus with but a few credits to go. I returned to finish my business during a fall semester in the late eighties. On one particularly cool and dreary September morning, I was making my way to a geography lecture with my spirits about as poor as the weather. My spirits were quickly jolted out of the doldrums when I happened to cross paths with two women who were heading in the opposite direction. One of the women was using her left hand to transport her book bag while she made use of her right hand and arm to bear weight on a single aluminum forearm crutch.

The most striking thing about her was the fact that her left foot was encased in a plaster walking cast. Her toes covered by a white sock were forced to remain elevated as a result of the well built up walking heel which had been built into the bottom of her cast. I tried hard not to appear overly interested or otherwise appear to be staring obviously at the gimpette as we crossed paths. Once past them, I stopped briefly and turned sideways, pretended to rifle through my own book bag in order to get another glance at the castee from behind. I liked what I saw. Unfortunately, I was heading off to a lecture which was a moment or two from beginning so I continued on my way. The lecture was hard to concentrate on.

The following week, I arrived at the area a few minutes earlier. My strategy paid off as I was able to see them coming out from the nearby chemistry building. I decided that I would maybe show up late for my geography class and so I followed them towards the main gates of the campus. As they stood along the busy downtown street just beyond the gates, I was disappointed to see the able bodied girl flag down a taxi and see them both get into it and head off.

It was nine o’clock when I saw them so I figured that they must have been coming out of a class in the chemistry building that had begun at 8 a.m. So, the next day that I suspected they would be having class, I was actually in the chemistry building lobby when they exited from one of the main lecture halls. The castee was still using her single crutch much in the same way most people would use a cane. Living in an area where underarm crutches are so popular, this was truly different to see.

The next scheduled day, I actually got to the chemistry building lobby at seven thirty. I sat in the quiet lobby and waited, hoping that they would be entering through the main entrance. I thanked my lucky stars as they appeared at about a quarter to eight. The same pair of young women. What was more, possibly in light of their earliness, they actually sat on a bench directly across the lobby from me and talked about various things.

I was able to eavesdrop and to observe. I pretended to be half conscious, faking dozing on and off, all the while my senses at high alert. Incidentally, on that day it was particularly cold, rainy and damp. She had come through the doors as they were held open by her friend. I soon realized why, in that she had two crutches. I figured that her motivation was that she would be requiring to hobble along using both her crutches in order to keep the cast dry and warm by elevating the thing, in such poor climactic conditions. Once in full view of me, she carried her left crutch and reverted to her more traditional method of using the right crutch like a cane.

Watching intently, I was able to conclude that she had an incredible resemblance to Kimberly of the show Diff’rent Strokes. The actress’ real name was Dana Plato. An actress who herself had played her part on the show while in a medical short arm cast of her own not too long previous. This girl had the same shaped face, similar eyes and the exact same color of hair. It was all too weird. Deep down, I was not disappointed as I had always had been attracted to Plato.

Back to the scene before me, from where I sat, I had a great view of her cast. As she sat sideways, I could see that her heel was a double low profile red Dupuy. What made it interesting was that it was mounted on a really thick (and thus high) platform of plaster. A platform in the shape of a cone or pyramid that had been mounted far to the rear of her foot. The back of her cast kind of came down past her ankle, to a point slightly below her foot, and then just indented forward maybe half an inch, and then became the base upon which the heel was mounted. As a result of the fairly bulky rear and mid portion of the cast, all she could do to cover her toes was wear a toe cap which seemed to be comprised of a white sweat sock that had been rolled up and was bunched in place between her toes and where the heel was placed. As she turned her casted foot at one point, I also noticed that she had what seemed to be gray duct tape placed between where the sock ended and the heel of the cast – only on the underside. I wasn’t quite sure what that was for other than perhaps to ensure that the sock didn’t come slipping off unimpeded.

As I sat there, hoping for the magic moment never to end, another girl came in and expressed glee when she noticed them sitting there. As she strode up to the seated pair, she asked how things were. Her eyes shifted downwards and she seemed to be especially interested in the presence of the cast. In fact, I do not recall how she managed to see the duct tape but she soon commented in an inquisitive way : «is that a form of insulation?». Unfortunately there were more students coming into the building at the time and I was never able to hear what the castee’s response was.

I waited and watched as they got up and made their way to the classroom as eight o’clock approached. Having come this far, and still an hour away from the start of my class, I let a minute or so pass and then followed into the classroom. I spotted the three women in seats down along the left front area of the classroom. It was a large auditorium style classroom where the seats had but armrests for students to take notes upon. I took a seat about a dozen rows above them and to the right.

I was just settling into my seat as I got startled out of my dreamworld by someone who recognized me. It was someone who had assumed I had graduated and so I got asked what my purpose was. I wasn’t able to answer other than to mumble a feeble response about auditing the course. A course which I didn’t even know what the identity was!!

I was fortunate on this day as the castee sat in the seat nearest to the aisle. The best angle I could get of the cast was when she had her left casted leg crossed over her good right leg. That caused the leg of her slacks to slide up along the surface of the cast. More than half of the cast was being exposed. There were no signatures on the portion of the cast between the white sock and that which disappeared into the leg of her slacks. I never thought it would have been possible for me to ever be sexually aroused for the entire length of an Organic Chemistry III lecture, but on this day, it happened. Before class ended, I quickly made my way outside to the lobby. I watched as the castee smoothly crutched her way from the door of the classroom to the doors leading to the outside. She allowed perhaps 30% of her weight to shift onto her casted leg as she crutched. Through the doors to outside and along the usual route, she avoided placing the cast in contact with the very wet ground. I followed from a distance and watched as they flagged the usual taxi from the usual spot.

The next day, I was later so I went right on in to the lecture that was half completed. Once again I had to put up with the strange and confused look of the fellow whom I knew. I sat there and watched as Kimberly seemed particularly fidgety with her casted leg on that day. She would turn her casted leg such that her toes pointed to the left. Then she’d shift and they’d point more toward the front and then she’d cross the casted leg over her right leg. In about 25 minutes, I think she assumed each position about 4 times. It was almost as if she were purposefully teasing all casters present. At the end of class, I remained in my seat and watched as she gathered the one crutch that she was back to and easily climbed the stairs toward the exit at the back of the room.

Perhaps it was a question of being fidgety due to an imminent cast removal as the following week, she showed up without any from of immobilization. She still used one forearm crutch but walked with very little difficulty. I never saw her again.