Читать книгу Safety Harbor - Chuck Cooper - Страница 29

The parade had made its way from the school parking lot, down Maple, out onto Main Street, and was well on its way toward the city park, which was its destination. The crowds had grown thicker. Stores, restaurants, and bars strained to meet the demands for water, soft drinks, and beer.

Everyone knows how a parade should look, so who would have expected that a parade would be led off by some pretty rough-around-the-edges twenty-something musicians playing what was supposed to pass for bluegrass? Who could have even considered that a band of persons with disabilities would lead off behind them, clanging their tambourines and playing their sticks and recorders? Who could have envisioned that blind children would be waving from a bus at a crowd they could not see? It was remarkable.

Fifteen minutes into the parade, Nate wondered why things had come to a sudden stop. What he could not see along with many others in the second half of the parade line-up was that the bus had stopped in front of the De-Light-Full Book Store and Coffee Shop. The students from the School for the Blind wanted to be out with the crowd so that they could experience the parade and the staff had relented.

Each held the hand of another, as they got off the bus. With some assistance, they formed six rows of five in order to walk within the parade corridor. They proceeded somewhat tentatively at first.

A loud cheer broke out from the crowd as the students began the second half of the parade on the street among the people. Gradually, they picked up a beat from the Rhythmatics. Some began to kick their legs in the air. Another roar and rousing applause came from the crowd.

From the hospital room, could be heard loud cheers and hand claps as they watched this phenomenon on KSHO. Such commotion brought three nurses into the room.

“What is happening in here?” asked Ruth Edgefield-Martin, Lou’s attending nurse. “I thought I told you that quiet and rest was in order for you, Mayor Lou!”

Then she turned and saw the spectacle unfolding in front of all of them on the television screen.

“Oh my!” she said. “There’s my angel, Little Therese. See those little feet moving?”

“And that smile,” said Father Callaghan. “That’s a million dollars right there!”

“Oh, it’s worth much more than that, Father!” she said.

A tear made its way down Father’s cheek as he thought of how much this parade showed us how we could be, if only we were willing. Even the hardest of hearts had to be impressed. Even the most cynical among them had to be moved. And so, he was.