My face in the Picture

The digital clock was blinking the red numerals, 11:15pm. I sat at the computer. I knew i should've gone to bed 45 minutes ago, but my fingers defiantly typed in the name of a popular search engine. In the box where the blinking cursor laid in wait, I typed in the words " Born without a jaw". I clicked on Search button and as i scrolled down through the results, my mind murmured the titles of the sites. " Born without a face, born without an arm, born without a leg" And all of a sudden, there it was, or rather there he was. "daniel mclellan, born without a jaw" in blue title print. I licked on the link. A subconcious part of me held my breath as I looked down through the website, slowly down the main links of the site, past the article title, until i hit the picture. And suddenly i was staring straight at myself. My mind reeled" His face looks exactlylike mind. He has a trach, look at his jaw. I thought i was the only one in the world..." I was stupified. After the initial shock of the photo, i found myself scrolling down to look at the actual article. As my mind processed the very first sentence of the article, I wanted to laugh. Just fall off my chair and laugh at the irony of the first sentence. For you see, the article claimed that Daniel was the only person in the world that had been born without a jaw. I imagined Mclellan in his home, going to school, blissfully unaware that he wasnt alone. The article stated that the boy of 17 had gotten the attention of a buisness manager who asked him what he wanted most in life. The boy had replied that the thing he wanted more in life was a jaw. At these words of his, my heart felt sad. The boy wanted to be like everyone else around him, and i was also concerned that the Doctors whom the buisness manager had set him up with to do the surgery free of charge for him, might try a technique on him that would take years to perfect. I felt worried ebcause i felt that Daniel might not know how huge of a surgery he was getting himself into. I wanted to share my experiance with him. I wanted to give him knowlege that he might not have otherwize. Because i had watched miedical shows on TV in the past, where surgeons had done a jaw construction, which i knew was going to fail.

I read on to the bottom of the page where Daniel Mclellan pleaded with the readers of the article to give him money for the operation. At the moment I saw his dream. My old dream. The dream that one day i would walk up to a person, open my mouth and say hello. I saw the dream where I would make a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich, with the jelly spilling out around the edges of the crust as i enjoyed it. The dream where i saw myself diving off a diving board, competing in a swimming competition. These dreams had long ago vanished. I would never do any of these things. But I was able to see these old dreams still alive and burning within him as he pleaded with the reader for funds.

It then occured to me that i should contact the website. So, i scrolled down beneath the article, searching for the contact us link. After I clicked on the link and wrote them a long email about how Daniel Mclellan wasnt alone in the world, and how i wanted to contact him. When finished with the email, i shut off the computer and laid down in my bed full of anxiety. Thoughts chased themselves around in my head " would the newspaper respond? Would they even look at my letter? Would Daniel really want to contact me? Would the media want to do a story on us? Would our unamed condition finally be named after all these years? " I stared up at the ceiling, trying to will the rush of thoughts to stop so i could rest. The hurricane continued until my mind tired. At this time the roaring flow finally tapered off and I slept, fitfully.