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Show (g'estt Ic mel k By JANIS STUART "Keep them wheels a-rollin," but keep off my feet! What, I did on my summer vacation. vaca-tion. I got swollen ankles and big purple bruises on my toes. It wasn't that I did. too much walking, although al-though I did. It wasn't that my shoes didn't fit, they did. It was those killer strollers. I realize that they are convenient for parents. However,'! know of very few children who will stay in them. The supposed occupant is usually off somewhere with a brother chasing him- down and dragging him back. My first mistake was to get in . line at Disney World in front, of a stroller. I thought' it looked harmless enough. Wrong...As the line inched forward, my son and I would inch forward and the stroller -woulddmov forward until it hit a -target, usually, my feet For some reason, the stroller pusher usually had his mind on something else and forgot the maiming instrument was even in his hands. I will give the pusher of this particular stroller credit. He did apologize each time he ran into me. He apologized and apologized and apologized. iv After a while, I knew it was time for drastic actionJ decided to sacrifice my son by placing him be tween me and the strollers. It was ( OK for a little while, but when the , bruises began on his ankles, he no longer felt like being a gentleman. We began to race to each line. The . winner would get a reprieve for a few minutes and the looser, would get another bruise. J ' ' ''' ''J The most amazing sights to' me were the children who got out of their own stroller and the parents let them push it Now, walking down the street in some uncrowded neighborhood, this might look cute, but in the maddening crowds of an amusement park, it strikes terror. An innocent bystander looks down and sees nothing but a mad stroller coming his way. I was amazed to see how fast some elderly citizens - could move in eases like this. ' ; -f After spending the first two days at the parks in Florida, we felt it would be a refreshing change to do ' some shopping at the mails. At least we could let out poor feet heal for a day. Wrong again...Strollers were everywhere. This time they had packages stacked on top of the stroller leaving one to guess if it was .under -someone's control or not l 0 We did learn to keep our heads down and keep a watchful eye on the little four-wheel monsters. We felt we were probably missing some of the sale signs in the window, but it became a matter of self-preservation. self-preservation. " Ah, the escalators, with metal signs that say "No Strollers," We 'darted .fv'uie.'mbvmg' stain and my Son :was '6nf hit once"oh the way. We dove for the stain feeling safe for the first time in days. Now this is the truth. The lady behind us whipped her kid out of the stroller, put him on the steps behind her, picked up the stroller and held it in front of her, causing several bruises in the small of my back. Jumping off the steps began to look better and better. My only hope would be that I would land on a stroller pusher. The crowning blow came at the Wet-and-Wild water park. Now this was my idea of heaven. My son could run all over to the different attractions at-tractions and yet was fenced in so I knew he couldn't escape. I could lie on the lounge chair and sun with a soda in my hand. After sunning a while, I leisurely strolled over to the pooL It was set up so one could lie in the shallow end of the pool, get cool, and relax. As I stretched my hands out to my side and felt the cool water wash over me, I also felt a familiar pain as a stroller ran over my hand.' I wasn't even going to open my eyes and look. I reasoned that no one, I mean no one, would bring a stroller to a water parkf..or woujd thpy7 l opened! myjngKt eye just a , little, and mere, aiming for my head was a stroller. The man pushing it was so preoccupied. with looking at h the latest fashions in women's swimwear that he didn't even know he had left crushed fingen behind him.' As all good things do, the vacation vaca-tion came to an end. We rushed to the airport and stored our baggage and sat down for the long ride home. There was some commotion - at the front of the planer We looked-up looked-up to see the steward telling a woman that she couldn't take the stroller to her seat It would have to be stored up front for the flight j It was like wrenching her firstborn first-born from her but she finally gave up and the steward took the stroller and placed it in a little closet Tfijp rest of the passengers on the plarijp began to cheer and applaud thfc move. Then they began showing each other the bruises on their ankles. $ |