JOE GUTH

Maria’s appointment day had arrived quickly. Another beastly hot and humid day. The car A.C. will earn its keep again. We loaded up with vegetables and fruits, a bag full of brace parts, Maria’s “ feminine” shoes, and headed to #35.

“Hola, David.” Yes, my friend, it is very hot. I beat her to it this time. She was ready as usual, the boys were dressed for school and Maria was giving them orders to behave, take care of the birds, and no playing the game machines down at the store. Javi was ready for school but his class was canceled because his teacher had an operation. Substitute teachers are very hard to find. Many teachers work in the factories to supplement their income. One year Karina’s brother, Raul, has no teacher to start the school year. The parents took up a collection among themselves and hired a teacher. Some of the schools require the parents to furnish some item for their child’s grade; a fan, toilet paper, chalk, or whatever. Some of the smaller schools have plywood walls and dirt floors. Water coolers; forget it!

We left as the two flew off to their school. I do not know what Javi will do for the day. He better be good. INS was a strange experience this trip. Everyone was strangely cordial to us. They laughed and joked with us, and wished us well when leaving. It was a weird happening. Marge had the answer, it was 1:30, everyone had eaten, they were all content; their bellies full, and all those carbos were bouncing around under those bulletproof vests.

Joe Guth’s office is next to Children’s Hospital. We were in that same area years ago with Karina. The medical building was being built then along with the parking structure. I well remember taking 67

Karina up one floor on the elevator. She panicked when it began to move. It was her first experience on an elevator. At that time Joe was going to do her brace after an operation. The doctors would donate their services, but the hospital would not. Those charges alone were beyond our ability to pay. As I mentioned earlier in this story, Shriners Hospital came to her rescue. The girl who walked with crutches for 12 years, now walks unaided. Consequently, she is able to work in a factory and lead a relatively normal life. Marge and I cannot praise Shriners enough for all their help.

Joe remembered us from before and we had a nice catchup conversation. He speaks no Spanish, yet his manner and personality transcend the language difference. As I spread out the brace parts like a crossword puzzle, Maria hopped up on the examining table. Before Joe could tell her to take off the braces, one fell off onto the floor. Her poor little shoes were in pieces along with the brace. As she struggled to remove the other brace Joe said, “we have to help this lady and get her some braces.” That was a good sign. The cost was never mentioned. To finish what was started would cost hundreds of dollars. What a Godsend you are, Joe! Then he looked at the pile of parts on the floor. “ I recognize this brace, my father made it a year ago. It is nearly finished. The other needs a lot of work. Besides, it is the same as the left brace.” Felix was making two left braces! We laughed and after I explained it to Maria, she laughed also. It was a different response; one of patient annoyance. “We can cut this and bend that and reverse the knee joint, and fix her up. All the parts are here and the shoes look fine. Give us three weeks. By the way, where did you find this lady? Do you go down to Tijuana and just look for people to help? ‘’ It’s a long story, Joe. Many pages ago I said, “We found an angel at the border. “I suppose we found each other. Marge and I feel we got the better of the deal.

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”By the way, I have a whole warehouse full of wheelchairs, crutches, braces, and more. Next week we are going to sort the stuff and throw out a lot. The Mexican border people give us too much trouble when we go down for clinics. If you are interested, come on down. We go down to Otay once each month to the children’s hospital. I gave up trying to bring stuff down. When the braces are finished you can bring Maria over and I’ll put them on “here. “Maria lives 5 minutes from the hospital. We have other plans. We want Maria to come up for the final brace fitting. It will coincide with her birthday. She and Jim C. celebrate the same day. This is turning out to be a great day for all of us.

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