Anne E. Johnson
Anne E. Johnson lives in Brooklyn. Dozens of her short stories for young readers can be found in publications such as Spaceports & Spidersilk, Jack & Jill, Red Squirrel, and Rainbow Rumpus. Her middle-grade paranormal novel, Ebenezer’s Locker, was published by MuseItUp. Candlemark & Gleam is publishing her series of humorous science fiction novels, The Webrid Chronicles, and they will also release her YA adventure novel, Space Surfers, in 2015. Learn more about Anne at her website, AnneEJohnson.com.
“You won’t believe how strong these legs are,” Dr. Wend said to Leli. “You’ll be able to kick down a building.”
“Please don’t do that,” begged her mom.
Leli didn’t want to kick down any buildings. She didn’t even want legs. She’d lost hers as a baby back on Earth in the same explosion that killed her dad. Walking on her hands had served her just fine for the past twelve years. But now there was new technology developed on the planet Orfo by Humans and the native species, the Dofras. Leli’s mom decided Leli had to have a pair of intelligent legs.
“You’ll learn to control them with your thoughts, even if you’re not wearing them,” Dr. Wend said.
“Even if you’re not wearing them,” her mom sighed dreamily. “That’s a wonder!”
“In fact, they’ll eventually do everything you tell them, down to the last detail. You might even win a dance contest!” Dr. Wend had a nice laugh. He was a good guy. He meant well. “Why don’t you try taking a few steps?”
Sighing, Leli gazed at her two robotic legs covered in shiny silver mesh.
“Just think about standing up,” her mom coached.
“Okay,” Leli huffed. “I can do it myself.” Not knowing how the experiment would turn out, she slid off the exam table and slowly put weight on the legs. She imagined the right one moving forward a few inches. It moved. Then the left leg. It was scary and wobbly up there. When Leli put out her hands, Dr. Wend took them to steady her.
“Well?” her mom almost squealed. “How does it feel to walk, sweetie?”
Leli could think of a whole list of words to describe how it felt: awkward, dorky, fake, shaky. But the tears of hope in her mom’s eyes made her careful not to complain. “I feel really tall.”
But, deep down, she even meant that as a complaint. Although Leli was one hundred percent Human, she thought of herself as mostly Dofra. They had wide tentacles instead of legs, keeping them close to the ground. Just like Leli. She made friends with Dofras more easily than with Humans, and she was proud to identify as one.
“You’re not tall,” Dr. Wend explained. “We had these legs made so you’d be average height for your age. You’ll get a bigger pair when you grow.”
“Just think, sweetie,” Mom gushed, helping Leli to sit down, “you’re going to be just like everyone else now. Isn’t that wonderful?”
Nothing could have sounded worse to Leli. “Can I please take them off?” She tried to keep her lip from quivering. Grabbing the weirdly spongy surface of the left leg with both hands, she yanked it off. She was surprised when the right leg seemed to loosen its grip on her, making it easy to remove. “I guess I’ll get used to them,” she said, not meaning it.
…………………………
Sitting next to Leli on the HoverTram, Mom held the new legs in a black plastic case across her lap. “I’ve dreamed of this day ever since we left Earth almost twelve years ago. They told us the Dofras had medicine more advanced than ours. That’s one of the reasons I gave up our home among Humans to come here.”
“We’re still among Humans,” Leli said bitterly, turning her head away to wipe her cheek.
Her mom knew her too well. “What’s wrong, lovely Leli?”
Sniffing, Leli pointed to the leg case. “Do I have to wear those?”
Mom leaned over and kissed her forehead. “I know it’s strange, but you’ll adjust. You’re smart and you’re strong. You can adapt to anything. Just give them a chance.”
Leli nodded sadly. She gazed out the window of the HoverTram at the glittery orange and purple rocks of the Frabba Canyon below them. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed something on the other end of the car. A Dofra baby had dropped a small green toy out of its slippery tentacles. Being fond of little kids, Leli didn’t hesitate to hoist herself off her seat to go help. She walked on her hands, like she usually did. With no problem she jumped over people’s feet and bags on the tram floor.
“Your kid dropped this, sir,” she said, balancing on one arm and holding the toy out toward the baby’s father. He was short and wide, like all grown-up Dofras, so his face was down at the level of Leli’s head when she was on her hands. They smiled at each other.
“Thanks, miss.” He wrapped the end of a squishy tentacle around the toy. “He’d cry all night if we lost this silly thing.”
In just a few arm-steps, Leli was back at her mom’s side. Looking around her, she saw the usual reactions. The Humans on the tram were leaning their heads together, staring at her and whispering. The Dofras were minding their own business. I really am one of them, she said to herself. It was a comforting thought.
…………………………
“Show me how you put them on,” her mom challenged Leli after dinner. Over their meal of stewed zeptin grasses they’d talked of nothing but those new legs. Leli was so sick of them, she was ready to toss them into the Frabba Canyon the next time the HoverTram floated over it.
“I’ll try them on tomorrow, Mom,” she grumbled.
“But don’t you want to practice with them before you wear them to school?”
Leli felt the blood drain from her face. “I have to wear them to school?”
With a sympathetic smile, her mom pointed to the two metal limbs lying in the corner. “You’ll only get used to them if you try.”
A long, defeated sigh poured out of Leli’s lungs.
“Please, just concentrate,” Mom instructed.
Leli furrowed her brow and stared at the legs. They shuddered to life, standing up and balancing on their silver feet.
“Good, sweetie. Now call them to you.”
The moment Leli pictured them walking, the legs pranced toward her. “Stop!” she shouted right before they crashed into her chair.
“Remember, you can just think the commands,” Mom reminded her. “No need to say them aloud.”
“I know. I’ll get it.”
“Of course you will, sweetie. Do you need help putting them on?”
But Leli had already fitted the limbs to her upper thighs. She pictured herself standing up, and the legs pulled her off her chair. “Whoa!” She teetered and grabbed the wall.
“Think up a balance image, like the physical therapist said.”
The physical therapist was a Dofra, Leli thought. Lucky guy gets to stay down on the ground and not worry about balance.
“You’ll be a pro in no time.”
“If you say so, Mom.” Even her own mother looked different from this new angle, like she was someone else’s parent. Feeling suddenly lost, Leli pulled off her legs and scrambled up the stairs on her hands. She buried her face in her pillow and cried. She knew she’d been doing that a lot the last couple of days, but she couldn’t help it. Things were changing too fast.
…………………………
Going to school with legs was a weird experience. All at once Leli, who’d been able to do everything on her own, needed help doing anything. She toppled over bending to reach her storage cubby, which was near the floor with those for the Dofra children. She got trapped when her legs and her desk’s legs got twisted together. Most embarrassing of all, two kids were assigned to keep her upright while she walked down the hall.
“This was the longest day of my life,” she moaned to her best friend, Volkie, after classes were over.
Volkie blew air out her side vents. “I don’t understand why legs are so important to your mom.”
“That’s because you’re Dofra,” Leli grumbled enviously. “It’s a Human thing.” She pulled off her legs. It was a huge relief to pad over to the HoverTram stop on her hands. Her legs followed obediently.
“You should have a circus act with those,” Volkie giggled as she squished along, trying to keep up. Usually Volkie and Leli found all the same things funny. Today, however, Leli couldn’t see a thing to laugh about.
The two girls took different HoverTrams home. As she was about to say goodbye, Leli noticed Volkie looking at her oddly. “What?” she demanded.
Volkie rubbed her head thoughtfully with a tentacle. “You need cheering up. You should come to my Soarers Club meeting tomorrow. Everyone’s really nice.”
Leli had heard of Soarers Club. It was a science group, mainly for older kids. Volkie was the youngest member. There was only one thing Leli wanted to know: “Will I have to wear my legs?”
“Definitely not,” Volkie laughed, “considering you’ll be the only Human!”
“Oh, I can’t wait.” Leli gave her friend a hug. “Even hugging you would be tough with those dumb things on.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Volkie advised. “Tomorrow you’ll see the sled we’re working on, and you’ll forget all about legs and start thinking about wings!”
…………………………
The moment school ended the next day, Leli removed her legs and waited eagerly by the side door. Volkie hurried toward her, tentacles flopping in all directions. “Our ride’s already here,” she panted. “Don’t want to be late.”
“I’ll stay out of the way,” Leli promised, concerned she wouldn’t fit in.
“I’m sure they’ll love you,” Volkie said with a smile.
On the transitway just outside the school, a black and silver flyboat was in temporary docking. Volkie’s brother, Migo, paced in front of it. He was older than Volkie with darker, shinier skin. “Wow!” he exclaimed, raising two tentacles as the girls approached.
For one horrible second, Leli thought he was freaked out by the way she walked on her hands. But the boy squished right past her. He stopped next to her legs, gushing like he wanted to ask them on a date. “Aw, you’re gorgeous. Look at you, covered in burnished gentak steel mesh.”
“This is so embarrassing,” groaned Volkie, climbing up the flyboat’s ladder. “Come on in, Leli.”
With three pulls of her muscular arms, Leli made it up the ladder and vaulted into a seat. “Comfy!” she declared, patting the leather.
“What are we going to do with these beauties?” Migo asked, holding up one leg. “My flyboat’s built for Dofras, so I’m not sure they’ll fit.”
Leli shrugged. “Just put them down. They’ll follow me.”
Migo’s rubbery mouth plopped open so wide, he could have swallowed one of the legs. “They’re psychically controlled?” he squealed. “Oh, wow!” Lowering the legs to the ground, he bounded up into the flyboat’s driving hutch.
Before Leli could warn him that she didn’t have much practice with her legs, the flyboat took off. They sped along the transitway, snaking around the slower vehicles. Balling her fists and squeezing her eyes shut, Leli pictured her legs sprinting after the vehicle through heavy traffic.
“Volkie?” she whispered, “can you please check if my legs are following us? Because my mom’ll kill me if I lose them.” She pried one eye open just enough to watch Volkie turn and pull herself up the back seat with two tentacles.
“There they are!” she assured Leli. “They’re catching up to us.”
“Woo-hoo!” crowed Migo from the front. “I want legs like that!” With the yank of a lever he turned sharply off the main transitway. Leli dared to peek at her legs. They skillfully jumped out of the way of a honking hovercar and turned onto the side road behind them.
“There they are!” shouted Migo, who never seemed to say things at a normal volume.
Peering over Migo’s shoulder, Leli saw a group of kids in an open field, standing around a large white disc. Migo drove over to them, cheering, “We’re gonna make it fly today!”
“What is that thing?” Leli asked as they climbed to the ground.
“We’re calling it an Air Sled,” Volkie explained. “It’s got this new type of motor we invented that’s thin as a piece of foil.”
“Does it work?”
An older Dofra girl answered. “It works once it’s in the air. It’s launching that’s the problem.”
“Not anymore!” Migo declared loudly. He pointed one tentacle at Leli and another at her robotic legs. “Meet Leli and her legs, our new launching system.”
“Psychically powered?” another boy swooned. “That’s so awesome!” He slopped clumsily over to Leli. “If you let us use those legs to launch the sled, you can be the first one to ride it.”
“Um, oookay.” Leli hand-walked closer to the sled. It was just a thin plastic disc with four handles, presumably to keep the rider from sliding off. “Is it safe?” she asked in a small voice, not quite loud enough to drown out the voice inside her head. That one sounded just like her mom, screaming, “That is not safe, young lady!”
But all the nice, smart kids, down near the ground like her, were smiling and nodding their heads, shouting out encouraging things.
“Sure, it’s safe.”
“We’ll keep you very low.”
“Our remote control is totally reliable.”
Volkie and another Dofra girl had already lifted the disc and balanced it on top of Leli’s legs. “Come on,” said Volkie in a tone that made it seem like a good idea. “We’ll help you get up there.”
Leli felt herself heaved upward. At least the sled seemed sturdier under her than she’d expected.
“The handles were made to fit Dofra limbs,” a particularly pudgy Dofra boy said. “Sorry about that.”
“Just hang on super-tight,” Migo advised. “You get your legs running, and we’ll launch the sled once there’s enough speed.”
Leli’s knuckles went white as she grasped two of the handles. She didn’t want to let on how terrified she was, worried that these interesting kids wouldn’t like her anymore. Yet she really just wanted to go home. “Okay, I guess I’m ready,” she said in a cracking voice.
She pictured the legs walking forward. Almost immediately the sled started to move. Leli could feel the steps the legs took as they carried her. But the ride was smoother than she’d feared, as if the legs were stepping carefully to protect her. She imagined going faster.
The wind against her face told her they were really rolling now. “You’re up to speed!” called one of the kids. “Make your legs stop!”
She did, and was rewarded with a violent jolt. Feeling the disc shift off the robotic legs, Leli hung on for dear life. The sled caught the air and stayed level. The paper-thin engine buzzed under her.
“You look great, Leli!” she heard Volkie shout. “You’re flying!”
That prompted Leli to make a huge mistake: leaning to one side, she looked down. Suddenly the ground came rushing toward her. Before she knew what was happening, the edge of the sled was skidding through the dirt and Leli did a painful somersault.
She would have flipped over a second time, but something held her still. At first she thought it was some of the kids, but they were far away, running toward her. Then she realized she was grasping metal mesh. “My legs! They helped me!” Her robotic limbs bent at the knee so she could pull them on. For the first time, she felt affection for them.
“I’m fine,” she lied to the kids who reached her first. She wasn’t hurt, but she was deeply shaken. The idea of how close she’d come to breaking her neck made her shudder.
Volkie hurried to her, breathless. Too low to the ground to hug Leli in the normal way, she wrapped her tentacles around the robotic legs. “I’m so sorry about this!” she said, looking upward. “Come, on, Leli. I’ll walk you to the HoverTram.”
“No, thanks,” Leli snapped. She wondered how someone she thought was her friend could get her into such a dangerous mess. “I’ll go by myself.”
After one last look at the half-buried sled, Leli pictured herself stepping up the front walk to her house. Her legs sprang into action. Although she wobbled a bit, Leli found her balance quickly as the legs caught a rhythm. With huge, powerful strides, she loped along the side of the HoverTram expressway. She even caught up with the tram she normally rode home.
A bunch of little Human kids waved at her as she passed. Waving back, she thought defiantly, Having legs isn’t so bad. Who wants to be down on the ground like a bunch of dumb Dofras?
In a few minutes she was home, winded and bursting with all kinds of crazy, conflicting thoughts.
“Sweetie? What’s wrong?” her mom asked as she clomped through the kitchen.
Leli hadn’t even realized she was crying. She plopped down on the sofa and yanked her legs off. She’d have thrown them across the room, but they scuttled into the corner on their own as if they sensed danger.
“What is it, honey?”
“Volkie’s a stupid jerk with stupid, jerky friends!” Leli blurted out. Too sad and angry to say anything else, she curled up in a ball. She felt her mom’s comforting hands stroke her head.
“Was Volkie mean to you?”
Wishing she could answer “Yes,” Leli knew it would be a lie. Volkie had tried to be nice. She’d invited Leli to join her special club. And everyone in the club had like her so much that they let her ride the sled.
No! she thought miserably. They liked my legs, not me. “Mommy? Does wearing legs make me a better person?”
“Oh, Leli!” Her mom leaned over and wrapped her in a big, warm hug. “You’d be the same wonderful person no matter how many limbs you had.”
Leli wanted to believe that. “What if I had three arms?” she sniffed.
“Then I’d get extra-tight hugs,” replied her mom, nuzzling Leli’s neck.
“What if I had no ears or nose?” Leli sat up. “Or what if, like, my eyeballs fell out?”
“Leli!”
The gruesome game was doing her good. “No, wait! What if all that was left of me was one single eyeball?” She started laughing.
Her mom laughed, too, shaking her head. “Then you’d be the most wonderful, beautiful eyeball in the universe.” She stood. “And you will get used to those legs, in whatever way is right for you. Dinner in an hour, sweetie.”
…………………………
All the next day, Leli avoided Volkie. She also kept her legs on most of the day, as a message to the Dofra kids. She wanted them to remember that she was Human and therefore should be tall. She even started up a conversation with a cute Human boy when she caught him staring at her legs. He really was only interested in the psychic technology, but it was thrilling to get any attention from a boy.
Leli was filling her backpack after her last class when she heard a commotion outside. She let her legs follow the sounds. Outrunning all the students and staff, she soon found herself at the edge of Frabba Canyon, just off the school grounds. A fence kept kids from getting into danger. However, the fence wasn’t high enough to stop a flying disc.
“Volkie!” Leli screamed, seeing her friend totter perilously over the steep rocks.
Mogi ran up behind her. “She felt so bad about what happened to you yesterday,” he sobbed. “She wanted to prove the sled was safe. That girl’s too clever for her own good. She launched by climbing the fence and bellyflopping off! We can’t control the sled for some reason.” He punched frantically at the remote control box.
“Hang on, Volkie!” Leli called. But it was hopeless. The disc went sideways, dumping Volkie between two jutting rock formations. She shrieked, and the growing crowd around Leli shrieked, too.
“She’s stuck!” someone shouted.
Police flew in, lowering a rescue team to help the terrified girl. Leli could see how hard Volkie was crying. She thought her heart would break. All her anger was forgotten, drowned by the love she felt for her best friend.
“You’ll be out soon, Volkie!” Leli promised.
The police didn’t look so hopeful. One of them spoke through a megaphone. “We have to wait for equipment that can break this rock. Then it will be a slow process, so we don’t hurt the child as we free her.”
Mogi flailed his tentacles. “Where are they going to get equipment that’s powerful and careful at the same time?”
Something about the phrase sparked Leli’s memory. She recalled her doctor’s description of her legs: strong enough to kick down a building, but could do anything detailed, even win a dance contest.
“I’ve got this!” Leli announced, pulling off her legs. Using her hands, she hauled herself halfway up the fence so she could see exactly what was happening below. And she pictured what she wanted her legs to do.
The crowd gasped as her legs jumped over the fence and started to pick their way down the rugged canyon wall. “Help is coming, Volkie!” Leli called over and over. Soon the others joined her. The canyon echoed with the comforting words, “Help is coming, Volkie!”
The legs made it to the rock formation where Volkie was stuck. When the police backed away in confusion, the legs obeyed Leli’s thoughts. With fast, careful kicks, they cracked the stone around Volkie until it crumbled away. Within minutes the rescue team was able to pull the girl out safely and send her up to a flying ambulance.
The crowd’s cheers were deafening as the legs climbed back to their proud owner. Leli didn’t get a chance to put them on, though, because dozens of joyful people, Humans and Dofras alike, smothered her in hugs and lifted her up. Now the canyon rang with a different chant: “Hurray for Leli’s legs!”
A friendly police officer gave Leli a ride home. She let her legs jog behind the flying cruiser, which made the crowd cheer even louder.
…………………………
Leli slept for fifteen hours. By the time she dragged herself into the school, the morning bell had already rung. She expected the hall monitor robot to issue her a detention ticket. Something very different was waiting for her when she entered the school.
Hundreds of students and faculty packed the foyer. Many of the Dofras had draped their floppy bodies over stepladders. A few were standing on stilts. The Humans sat on the floor or on skateboards, which they paddled around on using their hands. Spanning the hallway was a huge banner lettered with a message in a rainbow of colors:
WE LOVE YOU, LELI,
SHORT OR TALL!
Leli realized that she loved them back. All of them. Short and tall. She pictured a happy little dance step, and everyone clapped when the legs did it perfectly.