The Giant Slayer

By Iain Lawrence

     One morning in 1950, when she was six years old, Laurie Valentine got out her crayons and drew the future in the form of a map. She told her Nanna, “It shows all the things I’m going to find when I go exploring.” Her map had an island with mountains, green forests, a scarlet lake, yellow meadows, a castle, and even a lion with wings. But for the next five years Laurie grew up without any chance to explore at all. Laurie was not allowed to go to playgrounds, the movies, swimming pools or any other places where kids gathered, especially in summer. These were the places her father and Nanna warned her about, the places where you might catch polio. Polio could make it so you’d have to walk with braces or crutches or never walk again.

Iain Lawrence