Her brain kept insisting that either her perfectly healthy arms had to go or it would instead. A young woman shares her dark secret with the only person she knows who might understand, and, bypassing the legitimate medical community, finally gets what she needs to be truly happy.
Warning: Some people may find this story to be disturbing, and so it is intended for mature audiences only. If you are 18+, read at your own discretion. This is a fictional account of a young woman with a condition called body integrity dysphoria (BID), which is very real. People who have BID typically have an overwhelming, irrational need to be physically disabled in some specific way, a desire which began in childhood and has only become more intense over time. The desired disability is frequently, but not always, the amputation of one or more limbs.
Part 6 is the final installment and conclusion of this story.
Becoming Venus, Part 6 consists of the following chapters:
Chapter 15 – Workplace Accommodations
Chapter 14 – Coach
That winter, Savannah received a call from the middle school where she used to work. When she answered it, Mrs. Shapiro, the principal, was on the other end.
Savannah: Hello?
Principal: Hi, Savannah. This is Rachel Shapiro from Riverside Middle School. How are you?
Savannah: I’m doing well, thank you. How’s everything at Riverside?
Principal: Well, that’s why I called, actually. We were very impressed with the job you did coaching girls’ soccer the past two years. You single-handedly brought the team from being lucky to win a single game to almost making the playoffs. It was a real disappointment when you quit so suddenly.
Principal: We planned on having your assistant take over coaching this year, and hoped that she picked up a thing or two from you during the past two years. But her husband was transferred out of state over the summer, and she’s no longer with us either. Now we don’t have anyone who can coach the team who knows much about soccer. It’ll fall to one of the Phys. Ed. teachers if we don’t find anyone else, but none of them played anything beyond recreational soccer.
Principal: I know you left the teaching job here for greener pastures, but I was wondering if you’d consider coming back just to coach. As you know, you don’t actually have to be a teacher here to be a coach. So if your schedule allows it, I’d like you give serious consideration to being the girls’ soccer coach again this spring. What do you think?
Savannah: Wow. I don’t know what to say, Rachel. Thank you for thinking of me and offering me the position. I’d love to do it, actually, but I don’t know if you’ll want me. You obviously haven’t heard what’s happened to me since I left.
Principal: No, I haven’t. Why don’t you fill me in?
Savannah: I’m disabled now. Both of my arms are now amputated at the shoulders.
Principal: Oh my God, Savannah! What on earth happened?
Savannah: I’m sorry, but I’d rather not get into the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ if you don’t mind. I haven’t worked since this happened, so I do have the time to coach. I’m interested in coaching, if you’re still interested in having me. I don’t see my missing arms as a major impediment to coaching a sport that mostly only involves the feet and sometimes the head. We’d just have to work out some of the practical considerations. I’m definitely going to need an assistant coach, preferably one who knows something about soccer.
Principal: Well, I’m going to think about this some, and talk it over with some of the other faculty. The girls might be traumatized seeing you, especially those returning from last year.
Savannah: My experience has been that people react much better to seeing me if they’ve been told in advance what to expect. I’ll be happy to meet with you in person if it’ll help any.
Principal: Let me get back to you in a few days, okay? Thanks for your willingness. I’ll let you know.
A couple of days later, the principal called back.
Principal: Here’s what we’d like to do. There’s a teacher workday coming up next week, when the students won’t be on campus. We’d like you to come to the school then, and we’ll meet. If it goes well, we might take it to the soccer field and have you demonstrate how you’d actually teach a technique you want the girls to learn.
Savannah: Okay, I can certainly do that. I’ll be there.
On the day of the appointment, Savannah dressed in her coach’s attire she still had from the previous season, as well as athletic-type shoes that she could slip on and off without tying or untying. She put on a small pouch that had a strap that went around her neck, and which contained a few key items she could reach with her mouth.
Savannah drove herself to the school, parked the car, and exited and locked it using the key fob in her pouch. She then went up to the front doors to the school, which were locked according to the safety protocol. There was a call button with an intercom to one side, but it was up high at about shoulder height, too high to easily reach with her foot. She pulled a stylus out of her pouch with her mouth and used it to press the call button.
The administrative assistant asked her to identify herself and state her business at the school. Savannah did so, and then she heard the door closest to the intercom unlock. She reached up with her foot and pulled on the handle to open the door, entered the building and went to the office just inside. Inside the office, the admin and the principal both had big grins on their faces and welcomed her. They were standing in front of a screen that showed live video from various security cameras around the building, including one that showed the door she’d just entered. They’d been watching her the whole time.
“That was a test, wasn’t it?” Savannah said them. “To see how well I’d manage without help?”
“Yes, it was,” replied Mrs. Shapiro, “and you were amazing! I honestly didn’t expect you to be able to even use the intercom, let alone get in by yourself. Very impressive.”
They went into the principal’s office and were joined by two female Phys. Ed. teachers. The three women asked how Savannah would handle various situations, what she was and wasn’t physically capable of doing without help, what accommodations she would need, and so on. Savannah felt that she was addressing all of their concerns satisfactorily.
Then she turned the tables. “I’m concerned that we don’t have anyone with any significant soccer experience to be my assistant. I want to take these girls to the playoffs this season, but even if I still had arms, I can’t carry the whole load myself. I’d like to bring on my sister-in-law Darcy Farris to be my assistant coach. She at least played high school soccer on a team that made the playoffs three of the four years she was there. I know, because I played with her.”
“I appreciate your enthusiasm, Savannah; I really do,” replied Mrs. Shapiro. “I’m not opposed to that; however, she would need to complete the required coaches’ training and certification and pass a background check before she could start, and she’d have to serve in a volunteer capacity. I only have the budget to pay two coaches, and I’m going to insist at least one of them be a current faculty member.”
“I can’t imagine that any of that will be a problem,” Savannah replied.
On the first day of soccer tryouts, Savannah stayed out of sight at first. One of the Phys. Ed. teachers and Darcy were there to get the girls started, with the teacher taking the lead. Some of the returning girls were apprehensive about this season. They knew the Phys. Ed. teacher never played much soccer, and they didn’t know the other woman at all. The two coaches had them do some warm ups and run laps around the field, and then had them sit down as a group.
“If you don’t know me, I’m Coach Jackson,” the Phys. Ed. teacher told them. “This is Coach Farris,” she said as she nodded towards Darcy. “She’s going to be helping out this season. We can only have 18 girls on our roster, so not all of you are going to make the cut. We’ll be evaluating you over the next couple of weeks and decide who’s in and who’s out. If you want to have a chance of making the team, you need to be putting forth your best effort at all times. We have no room on this team for slackers. Since Coach Farris is new this year, I’ll let her introduce herself.”
“Thank you, Coach,” said Darcy. She then addressed the girls. “Hello, everyone. It’s great to be here. I’ve heard a lot about you from Coach Ewing, and I look forward to working with each of you this season. Just to give you some background, I was teammates with Coach Ewing in both middle school and high school, and our high school team made the playoffs three out of the four years we were there, so I know a few things about soccer. When I’m not here, I work as a personal trainer. Coach Ewing and I are close friends, and we’re also sisters-in-law – she married my brother last September.”
Coach Jackson then spoke. “For those of you who are new, Coach Ewing was our head coach for the past two seasons. She was a math teacher here, but she left teaching at the end of last year. However, I’m pleased to announce that Coach Ewing is returning as head coach this season, so she’ll be running this show. She’ll be joining us momentarily.” The older girls immediately began cheering and clapping at this news. When they’d quieted back down, Coach Jackson said, “Here she comes now,” as she looked over the girls’ heads to someone behind them.
The girls all turned around to see, and approaching the assembled group was Coach Ewing, wearing a warm-up suit, and kicking a soccer ball as she jogged toward them. But the girls could see something wasn’t right about her – the sleeves of her jacket were tucked into the jacket pockets, but they seemed to be empty. When she got to the front of the group, she put some spin on the ball as she kicked it so it went straight up, and she then headed the ball to Darcy, who caught it.
Some of the girls looked concerned, some look confused, and some looked horrified. “Hey, girls! I’m Coach Ewing. It’s good to be back,” she said to them, smiling. “We’re going to have a great season; I can feel it already.”
One of the eighth graders interrupted. “Miss Ewing, what’s wrong with your arms?”
“Well, let’s get that out of the way, shall we?” Savannah asked rhetorically. “Last summer, I had to have them removed – amputated. They’re gone now.” One of the sixth grade girls vomited upon hearing that. Coach Jackson went over and attended to her. She helped her up and escorted her into the school building.
Savannah said, “You girls who were sitting near her can move away from that if you want to.” Several of them did so. She continued. “I know it must be a shock to hear that. But I’m doing fine, and I’m determined not to let it stop me from doing what I want to do. That’s why I came back to coach. I’m sure I can do it just as well without arms as I did with them.
“I’ll forewarn you; I’m not going to be wearing a track suit all the time. When the weather warms up, you’re going to see me in clothing that’ll make it much more obvious that I’m missing my arms. If you don’t think you can handle that, I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do about it. There’ll be no judgement on my part if you want to leave now or you decide not to come back tomorrow.” A couple of girls who appeared to be most traumatized took advantage of the invitation to leave and did so.
“The rest of you, stand up. We’re going to get started on drills now.”
Once the team roster became final and the team captain was chosen, the captain, a girl named Brooklyn, called a secret team meeting. Brooklyn told the other girls, “This is the third year I and some of the other eighth graders have had Miss Ewing as coach. She was an amazing coach even when she had arms. We sucked this time two years ago, but we kept getting better and better, and last year we came this close to making the playoffs.
“Who would’ve thought she’d come back and coach us again after losing her arms? It would’ve been a whole lot easier to stay home and feel sorry for herself. I know that’s what I would’ve done. But she came back for us, because she wants to see us get even better this year and actually make the playoffs. Maybe even get past the first round.
“You can see how hard it is for her to do ordinary things we all take for granted, but she does them anyway. The very least we can do for her is to give our maximum effort this season and make her proud. If any of you have the idea that you can coast now that you’ve made the team, you might as well quit now, because I’m going to notice and I’ll personally kick your ass the whole length of the soccer field and back. We’re all going to work as hard for Coach as she is for us, if not more so. Are you with me?”
The entire team shouted their agreement with great enthusiasm and erupted into cheers and applause. Then another eighth grader shouted. “I say we dedicate this entire season to Coach Ewing!” Again, the team unanimously and loudly indicated their approval.
Savannah noticed the difference in the girls’ attitude and effort almost immediately after that. Not that it wasn’t good before, but now it was nothing short of amazing. Nobody groaned or grumbled when she’d make them do some drill over and over or something she knew they didn’t like doing. Even at the end of practice when they were tired, they were all consistently putting forth their best effort. If one of them made a mistake or started to flag, the others would encourage her rather than give her a hard time.
Their effort produced results on the field, as the team racked up one win after another. At the end of the regular season they were undefeated, a first for Riverside Middle School in any sport, boys or girls, and were top seed in the playoffs. Savannah was immensely proud of her girls. They then continued their success, successively winning each round of the playoffs until they found themselves headed to the regional championship game. Their state didn’t have state championships at the middle school level.
Their opponent made it to, and won, the regional championship match more often than not in recent years. Their alumnae included a few Olympic and professional women soccer players. Team captain Brooklyn rallied the troops. “We’ve made it further than anyone thought we would, including me, and now we have one more game to win. We’re facing the team everyone knows is the best around. But that’s only because they haven’t seen us whoop their ass yet! We can’t be intimidated by them. We have to keep doing what we’ve been doing all season, and that’s not worrying about how good the other team is supposed to be, playing smart, and giving everything we’ve got. We can do this! We have to do it for Coach!”
News Anchor: And finally tonight, the incredible story of Springfield’s own Riverside Middle School girls’ soccer team, who against all odds won their regional championship game today. We go now to correspondent Tiffany Yamamoto, reporting from Riverside Middle School.
Reporter: Thank you, Jim. Riverside Middle School is dark and empty now, but earlier today this place was rockin’ as its girls’ soccer team, who were undefeated and top seeded with home field advantage throughout the playoffs, took down perennial powerhouse Middletown Middle School to win their first-ever regional championship by a score of 3-1.
Reporter: Riverside’s season has been truly inspirational, and not just because they rose out of obscurity to take down Goliath. Third year head coach Savannah Ewing had both of her arms amputated last summer and had to give up teaching math at Riverside, but despite that debilitating disability, she returned to again coach her beloved girls’ soccer team. Earlier I interviewed team captain Brooklyn Smith, who takes the story from there.
(on pre-recorded video):
Reporter: Brooklyn, what’s your team’s secret sauce that enabled it to come out of nowhere and defeat a monolith like Middletown?
Brooklyn: (sweaty and out of breath) We have to give all the credit to Coach Ewing. She’s been our motivation all season. We felt like if she could get out of bed and come and coach us even after she lost her arms, how could we do anything less than give our all at every practice and every game? At the start of the season, we girls got together and dedicated this season to her, and we wanted to make her proud. And today, we did that more than we dared to imagine!
(back to live reporting while showing video of the game)
Reporter: These girls left nothing on the field this season, but just watch Coach Ewing during the game, pacing up and down the sideline, shouting out encouragement to her players. Clearly she’s giving her all as well, and it’s no wonder the girls wanted so badly to win for her.
Reporter: Earlier, I sat down with Coach Ewing to get her take on her team’s success this year.
(on pre-recorded video):
Savannah: I had no plans to return to coaching, but the school called me and said they didn’t have anyone else who could do it effectively and asked me to come back. I’d resigned from teaching at the end of last school year, and they had no idea what had happened to me since then. Despite that, I agreed without hesitation, because I’d been with these girls for two years already and had seen them steadily improve since we started together. I knew they were still capable of much more, but without a coach who knew soccer well, they had little chance of achieving it. They’ve risen to that challenge and have utterly amazed me all season. Their teamwork and cohesiveness and positive attitude has been truly inspiring, and I’m proud to call them my girls.
(back to live reporting)
Reporter: Coach Ewing wouldn’t discuss the reason for her amputations, but it’s clear that her determination to persevere has been the inspiration these girls needed to play at the top of their ability, and that hard work has now paid off. They’re the first team in their school’s history to have an undefeated regular season, and they’re now the only middle school girls’ soccer team to win a regional championship with a perfect record since girls’ sports were expanded over fifty years ago. Reporting live from Riverside Middle School, I’m Tiffany Yamamoto.
News Anchor: Thank you Tiff, and congratulations to the Riverside girls and to Coach Ewing for a tremendous season. They all have much to be proud of.
Chapter 15 – Workplace Accommodations
The girls’ soccer team’s undefeated season and championship victory made the entire school extremely proud of them. School spirit was at a fever pitch, and the girls were all treated like rock stars. Their Cinderella story had become widely known, not just because it made for a great story on its own, but also due to the added hook of its head coach being a recent double amputee.
Because of this, Savannah was getting a lot of attention, including offers from other schools to come coach their girls’ soccer teams. Most of these invitations were from high schools, with a few middle schools and small colleges thrown in for good measure. Savannah wasn’t interested in any of these, however. Her heart remained with her Riverside Middle School girls and there was nowhere else she wanted to coach more.
This came up in a conversation Savannah had with the school principal, Mrs. Shapiro. “I had a feeling you were going to have a good season and get us into the playoffs, but I don’t think anyone dared to dream that the team would win every single game including the championship. You’re making me look like a genius for asking you to return to coaching, but really, the credit goes entirely to you. You did an amazing job with those girls!” Mrs. Shapiro exclaimed.
“I know you’re getting looked at by a lot of other schools,” she continued, “and I’m sure some of them have made attractive offers to have you coach for them. I just want to say, I understand if you decide to accept one. You have to do what’s best for you, and I’m not going to hold that against you.”
“Rachel, I’m not going anywhere, I promise!” Savannah replied. “I’m so grateful that you believed in me and gave me a chance even after knowing what you’d be getting. This season has been incredible for me as well, not just because of how the girls performed, but also in that it’s really helped me to recover mentally from becoming disabled. You’ve given me a reason to get out of bed in the morning, to push myself to improve and to accomplish things I never thought I’d be able to do. I’m very emotionally invested in Riverside and in the girls who’ll return next year. There is nowhere else on earth I’d rather coach than right here.”
“Well, I’m very happy to hear that, Savannah,” the principal said. “That being the case, I have something else for you to consider – that’s coming back and teaching starting in the fall. The teacher we hired to replace you isn’t returning next year. After going to the trouble of getting an education degree, he found out that he actually dislikes teaching. Anyway, as well as you’ve handled coaching, I don’t see why you couldn’t teach math just as effectively. However, I realize you had your own reasons for leaving, and you never did tell me what those were.”
“I’ll be perfectly honest; I quit on such short notice because my amputation surgery was moved up,” Savannah volunteered. “I wasn’t leaving for another job or anything, even if I gave you that impression. I very much enjoyed teaching.”
“You’ve never explained why you had to have your arms removed, either,” Mrs. Shapiro pointed out.
“True,” Savannah agreed, “but it might be best if we leave it that way.”
Mrs. Shapiro’s expression changed as she got a vibe from Savannah that she had something to hide. “With all due respect, Savannah, I think it’s best if we don’t. I respect your desire for privacy, but if I’m going to advocate for you, I think I need to know the full story. That is, if you’re interested in returning to teaching here. You can always decline; that’s up to you.”
“Let’s set that aside for now,” Savannah suggested, “until such time that I do decide I want to come back.
“I would need to have some accommodations made. For example, I can use the bathroom at home by myself, but only because I have a bidet seat attached to the toilet and hooks mounted to the wall that I use to get my pants up and down. I can’t use a normal bathroom without assistance. When I’m coaching, I just hold it, or in a pinch I can get Darcy to help me. I can’t count on going the entire school day without needing to pee, so I’d have to have a modified bathroom available to use.
“I don’t see where that would be a problem,” allowed Mrs. Shapiro. “You’re legally entitled to reasonable workplace accommodations.”
“I’d probably have to depend on my students more to collect and pass out papers, write formulas on the board, and that kind of thing. I’m sure I can do all of that, but it would probably be slow and take away from valuable instructional time.”
“Lots of teachers use students like that. There’s nothing wrong with it; it’s just a matter of your teaching style and personal preference,” the principal responded. “I bet we could get some technology that would help you in the classroom, too. Something that would let you write or type at your desk and would display it on a smart board for the students to see. That’s assuming you can write or type; I suppose I shouldn’t assume that.”
“I can do both,” replied Savannah. “I’ve taken my occupational therapy very seriously. I don’t want to be helpless any more than absolutely necessary.”
“That’s the impression you’ve given me all along, from the time you figured out how to get in the front door by yourself. That attitude of determination goes a long way with me, in case you didn’t realize it. It went a long way with the girls on the soccer team, too.”
Savannah realized that she very much wanted to return to teaching, and it was obvious that Mrs. Shapiro would be her ally in getting any accommodations she needed.
“Okay,” Savannah said. “I want to do this. I want to teach again. I’ll tell you my story, but I must have your word that you won’t share it with anyone else. It’s very personal, and most people hearing it would think I belong in a mental institution. You might end up thinking that, too, but I suppose it’s a chance I’m going to have to take. So, please, listen carefully and don’t rush to any judgements. Do I have your word you’ll keep this 100% confidential?”
“You have my word,” promised Mrs. Shapiro. “You chose to have them removed, didn’t you?” she asked. It was easy to surmise based on what Savannah had just told her.
“Yes and no,” Savannah replied. She then proceeded to tell her as much as she knew about BID in general, her own experience with it, and the process she went through to get her arms removed. “So you see, while my arms were perfectly healthy, it was still medically necessary for me to have them removed.”
“And now you’re completely cured?” Mrs. Shapiro asked, trying to understand.
“That’s the simple answer, yes,” replied Savannah. “I’m cured in the sense that I’m completely happy with my body now; I have zero desire to get anything else removed, and I’m certain I never will. I’ll never be cured in the sense that the brain abnormality is still there and always will be. But with my arms gone, my body now conforms to what my brain says it should be shaped like, so it’s no longer a problem. Do you follow me?”
“Yes, I do,” the principal replied. “How many people know about this, the real reason for your amputations?”
“As few as possible, and that’s the way it needs to stay. My doctors, my immediate family, my husband’s family, because they paid for it. A couple of trusted friends. And now you.”
“You’re right; this does need to be kept confidential. The students must never learn of this. You can’t even hint at the reason for this with them.”
“I understand, and I completely agree,” replied Savannah.
“All right then,” said Mrs. Shapiro. “Get you résumé up-to-date, and make sure your teaching credentials are current. I’ll work on the job posting and let you know when it’s out there so you can apply. Technically, I have to post the job internally and consider current teachers who wish to transfer first, but there are ways to get around that.”
And so Savannah got her old job back teaching math to middle schoolers. During the summer break, she repeatedly came to the school to figure out how to use and then experiment with some of the assistive technology that Mrs. Shapiro was able to obtain for her. She practiced trying to do various things she knew she’d have to do in a classroom full of tweenagers. She supervised and gave her approval to the bathroom modifications made for her.
Savannah met with Mrs. Shapiro several times to strategize about how they’d inform the students and parents about her disability in order to prepare them before they saw her in the classroom. They also discussed how she could maintain classroom order if the students sensed weakness or vulnerability on her part. Savannah wasn’t too worried about the latter; she thought her coaching experience would serve her well in that regard.
Ultimately they decided against notifying the students or parents ahead of the first day of school. They’d receive their class schedules and would see that they were assigned to her class, but if they didn’t already know, they’d have no inkling that Ms. Ewing was disabled.
Middle school consisted of the 6th through 8th grades, but Mrs. Shapiro assigned Savannah to teach only 7th and 8th grade classes. It wouldn’t make any difference this year, but her thinking was that in the future, students would have a year to get used to seeing the armless teacher around school before they were actually in one of her classes.
On the first day of school, Mrs. Shapiro was the only adult present to welcome students to each of Savannah’s classes. “Good morning, everyone,” she said to the first period class. “If you didn’t just transfer to Riverside from another school, you already know that I’m not Ms. Ewing; I’m Mrs. Shapiro, the school principal. I’m going to tell you about Ms. Ewing before she joins us in a few minutes.
“This will be Ms. Ewing’s third year of teaching math at Riverside, but she took last year off from teaching. For all of the past three years, she’s also been our girls’ soccer coach, and last spring led the team to an undefeated season where Riverside won the regional championship. We’re all very proud of Ms. Ewing and the girls’ soccer team here at Riverside.
“During the year she wasn’t teaching, Ms. Ewing was recovering from major surgery. It was necessary for her to have both of her arms completely removed. By spring, she was sufficiently recovered that she could return to coaching soccer, and now she’s back to also teach math.”
Many of the students looked at the principal in stunned silence. Despite her coaching while armless the previous spring, it wasn’t common knowledge because she was never in the building during the school day. Even those who were whispering to each other or doodling now gave Mrs. Shapiro their full attention.
“Yes, you heard me correctly. Ms. Ewing has no arms. However, that didn’t stop her from leading our Riverside girls to a regional soccer championship last spring, and it’s not going to stop her from teaching you math. I’ve been personally working with her to develop strategies of how to do that, and I have complete confidence in her ability to teach you well.
“You’ll see her do things differently than any teacher you’ve had. She uses her mouth and her feet to do things you and I would use our hands for.
“Now, what do I expect from each of you? I expect that you won’t become so distracted by seeing her that you forget you’re here to learn math. I expect you to treat her with respect, and to not make her life any more difficult than it already is. And I hope that at least some of you will be willing to assist her if she needs help with anything.”
A girl raised her hand. “Yes, Ana?” Mrs. Shapiro asked her.
Ana replied, “I just want everyone to know that Vivi and I were on the soccer team last year and had Ms. Ewing as coach. We think the world of her, and we’ll make sure there aren’t any problems in this class.”
“Thank you, Ana; thank you, Vivi,” said Mrs. Shapiro. She had strategically placed a few girls from the soccer team in each of Savannah’s classes for this very reason. “I’m confident that there won’t be any issues. But if any of you thinks it would be funny to start causing problems in here, just know that I’m going to have zero tolerance for any of that. Ms. Ewing has my full support, and I will deal swiftly and decisively with any troublemakers in here. Do we understand each other? Good.”
Mrs. Shapiro went to the classroom door and opened it. “Ms. Ewing, will you please join us?” she said. Savannah went to the front of the classroom while Mrs. Shapiro stayed at the door. She was wearing a short-sleeved top that hid her scars but left no doubt that she was armless.
“Thank you, Mrs. Shapiro,” Savannah said, and the principal exited the room and closed the door behind her. Savannah then addressed the class. “Obviously, I’m Ms. Ewing, your math teacher for the coming year. We’re going to do a couple of quick word problems so that we can say we did math today, and then for the remainder of the period, we’re going to get to know one another, and I’ll answer your questions as best as I can. Does that sound okay?”
A few students mumbled their approval, but for the most part the class was silent, still trying to process what they’d been told and what they were seeing and trying to form an opinion of Ms. Ewing.
“First word problem:” Savannah said to the class. “Ms. Ewing was once an anatomically normal woman. If Ms. Ewing had two arms removed, how many legs does she have?”
“Two?” answered one student very tentatively, wondering if this was some kind of trick question.
“Very good,” Savannah replied, as she used her toes to type on a keyboard. On the smart board appeared the text, Number of legs Ms. Ewing has: 2.
“The second word problem is a two-parter, so listen carefully: The act of kicking someone’s ass requires one leg to stand on and one leg to do the kicking. How many legs must a person have in order to kick ass?”
“Two!” several students shouted out confidently. They were getting into where this was going.
“Correct.” She typed and the board said, Legs needed to kick ass: 2. “Now the second part of the problem: How many arms must a person have in order to kick ass?”
Almost the entire class simultaneously shouted out either “None!” or “Zero!”
“Exactly!” Savannah exclaimed. She typed on the board, Arms needed to kick ass: 0.
“Now, based on what you know about Ms. Ewing and ass kicking, can Ms. Ewing kick ass?”
“Yes!” the entire class shouted as they laughed.
“You better believe she can!” Savannah exclaimed as she and the entire class laughed together. “And you thought you hated word problems, right? See, math can be fun if you do it right!”
In just a few short minutes, Savannah had managed to engage the entire class and set the tone for the class for the remainder of the school year. By now, every student in the room had concluded that Ms. Ewing was cool but wasn’t going to take any crap from anyone, and this was going to be a fun class.
“Okay, that’s enough math for our first day. Now, I’m sure you have a lot of questions for me, and I’ll be happy to answer most of them. Only a few topics will be off limits. One, I’m not going to discuss why it was necessary to have my arms removed. You don’t need to know that. Two, I’m not going to go into detail about how I use the toilet. Suffice to say that I can and do use it without assistance and I keep my ass nice and clean, thank you very much. Now, the floor’s open for your questions.”
The students proceeded to ask a variety of questions about whether and how Savannah could perform various tasks, what she had to do to be able to use her feet and toes so well, and so on. They asked her to demonstrate some of the things she could do and she obliged them. The students were amazed at some of the fairly simple things she could do, such as opening a textbook to a specific page almost as quickly as they could, or opening the classroom door with her foot.
Near the end of the class period she said to them, “Now that you’ve gotten to know me a bit better and have had your questions answered, tomorrow we’re going to dive right into the curriculum, so be prepared to actually learn math in this class from here on out.
“Now I have an assignment for all of you: Keep quiet about what happened in here for the remainder of the school day. Please don’t spoil the surprise for your friends who are in my classes later in the day. Let them have as much fun as you did, okay? Once school is dismissed this afternoon, you’ll be free to talk about it as much as you want.”
At this point, Savannah saw Mrs. Shapiro through the window in the classroom door, and nodded her head indicating she was ready for her. Mrs. Shapiro entered the room and said, “I trust everything went well in here today?”
“Everything went extremely well,” Savannah reported. “The students and I have an understanding now. I don’t foresee any difficulties.” She then addressed the class. “Mrs. Shapiro will dismiss you in a few minutes. I’m going to take my leave now so that she can introduce me to the next class. See you all tomorrow.”
Much to her surprise, and Mrs. Shapiro’s as well, the class spontaneously applauded her as she headed for the door. The principal shot a glance towards Savannah indicating that she was quite impressed by this.
And so practically overnight, Savannah Ewing became the most popular and respected teacher in the school. Students who weren’t in one of her classes felt cheated, especially the 8th graders who would move on to high school the following year. Everyone was quick to be the one to open a door for her or to provide any other assistance she requested or they thought she needed. Students who would typically test the boundaries and cause problems instinctively knew Ms. Ewing was off limits.
Savannah was very pleased at how her life had turned out. Her brain and body were now on the same page. She’d become very capable at doing many things without arms or hands. Her family ended up being far more understanding and supportive than she could have imagined. She had a husband she adored and who adored her and wouldn’t hesitate to assist her with tasks she truly couldn’t do, but wouldn’t let her play the helpless card, either. She was back working at the two jobs she loved, coaching soccer and teaching math, and doing both more successfully than ever. She was loved, admired, and respected by her students, fellow teachers and coaches, and her boss. Savannah just couldn’t imagine life being any better than this.
THE END
Author's Note:
Becoming Venus is the fifth in a series featuring the Farris family and limbs missing for various reasons. Excluding Savannah, most characters in this story continue from some or all of the previous four, which in order are Limbless and Pregnant, Deeply Submissive, Truncated yet Tenacious, and But God Pursued Her.
If you enjoyed this story and haven’t read the preceding four, I hope you’ll go back and read those as well.
Go to Limbless and Pregnant, Part 1
Go to Deeply Submissive, Part 1
Go to Truncated yet Tenacious, Part 1
Go to But God Pursued Her, Part 1
Return to the beginning of Becoming Venus