A Secret Introduction | Suzanne Christensen

When I was a little girl I went about my life as normal kids do. I had a bright pink bike that had a large white banana seat and a large white basket with daisies on the front that was connected to the handle bars. I took swimming lessons, climbed trees, broke bones (my own), fought with my brothers and sisters, and even brought home the occasional stray puppy and kitten (much to my mothers despair). The one thing that I never expected was that I was born deformed! Now, this is not a deformity that is very noticeable, apparently not because the first time I noticed it was when I was sixteen years old. I was washing my feet and for some reason took a closer look at my toes. They looked kind of weird, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. As I began to examine my feet closely it suddenly hit me, I have webbed toes! The skin between my second and third toe, on my left foot, is still there! My toes are connected from the second knuckle down. It’s no wonder I could swim so well, I was part fish. I was self conscious about my toes for many years and wouldn’t wear sandals for the fear of someone discovering my fishy toes. When I went to college I had the coolest roommate. She was a fiery red head that loved to have parties. One day at one of her parties she noticed or found out that I had webbed toes. My fear had finally come to pass. Somebody else knew. She ended up telling everyone there at the party and then quacked at me for the rest of the evening. I bet you are wondering how I handled it. Some people would have left and cried while others would have said something rude back. Well, I laughed. I thought it was the funniest thing she had ever said. I had never compared myself to a duck, but I imagine they are pretty fast swimmers too. I guess I realized it wasn’t such a big deal; after all it’s not really a deformity.

Quack, quack!