I met him in the hall today. He nodded and walked on by like there was nothing unusual about him. But there was: his legs ended just below the knees, instead of where they used to (down by his feet). He was wearing a pair of large black platform shoes. The platforms were a couple of feet high. I stopped him and pointed.
"Oh, the legs," he said. "Yeah. Sometimes I dress as a little guy, a midget."
I realized that his overall height hadn't changed. Just the impression of height.
"Means I can park in disabled spots and nobody bothers me. You haven't worked it out yet, have you?"
"No."
"Made these myself," he said, reaching down and undoing a tie on the side of one of the platforms. It hinged open along a seam at the back. It was hollow! There it was, his pale white leg, ending in the usual black sock. The platform part of the shoe ended in a black sandal. The hollow pillar was topped by the upper part of a normal shoe, and the shoe was tied around his knee. "These are anti-stilts. As far as I know, this is the only pair of anti-stilts in the world. I made my first pair of these in 1973. There are people I've known for twenty-five years who only know me as Big Ben, a bona-fide pituitary dwarf with a pro-active attitude. A few of those people are dwarves themselves. They're real warm folks, you know, not at all like they're portrayed on TV."
I'm not great with graphics and stuff, but here's a diagram--
/ |
\ / |
|____|
(88 )
/''/''' | ||
/--------|----||
| | ||
| | ||
| _____/ ) ||
| c_-_-_______)|
|______________|
He closed the shoe and walked off. At the end of the corridor he turned and winked. "You keep this to yourself or I'll kill you in your sleep. I have a key."
I'm a lucky man, you know. I'm surrounded by genius.
