In the fall of 1954 I was five years old. It was a plague year, not unlike this year. It was also a politically dangerous year. ’54 was the year I scared my parents very badly. Well, to be fair I was pretty frightening from the outset. I was very premature. It was touch and go for a week or so. I was born with what they now call Infant Respiratory Distress I had a gnarled- almost clubbed- foot and pronounced strabismus in my left eye. The doctor who delivered me told my parents that If I defied the odds and lived, I would probably never walk normally. Fortunately for me, Mom did not buy it.
