Curiosity killed the cat

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Being born without arms was not a limit for him. Joseph Gabriel was admirable, everyone admired him, as if he needed to be admired more than others. His condition was congenital. As a child he did not cause admiration, only sorrow. Pity piled up into large heaps of good wishes and words of breath. But Joseph Gabriel breathed on his own. When he was 5 years old he had learned to write holding the pencil with his feet, he is left-handed, just like me. I couldn't believe it the first time I saw him, not only did he write, he drawn, he brushed his teeth, he combed his hair, his feet were more useful than all my extremities together.  Luckily for me, José Gabriel also had a good sense of humor. Although he says that a sense of humour usually accompanies those disadvantaged by life, according to him, it is a system of self-preservation that helps him to overcome rather than lament. For everyone else, the things he can do with his feet were surprising. And the truth is that I didn't know about him until I had to share an apartment with him when I went to university.  His room was supposed to be one prepared for his lack of arms, because he was not disabled, he was always capable of everything, even getting drunk and waking up who knows where.  That Sunday when I arrived at the apartment and opened the door and saw him lifting the spoon with his feet, I stayed in one piece. I was totally surprised, however, I had an incognita.  The first few days passed and I offered him help, but he accepted it a few times. I saw him turn the pages of a book only with the big toe of his foot. Still, I observed him looking for an answer to my question. As we shared space, we became good friends. Every time I saw him writing and removing his glasses with his feet, doubt came to mind. José Gabriel was brilliant, surely he was not going to take long to realize that I wasn't used to seeing him. I began to hide better, in fact, I really felt comfortable with him, he was a fantastic guy, only sometimes I used to ask the question to my thoughts. One afternoon, I searched through my bravery and found a place to hide the shame. I waited for Jose Gabriel sitting on the couch. I was nervous to see him come out and not know what to say to him or worse, I was terrified that he would take my question as an insult, but almost a year had passed and curiosity was killing me. When he saw me he had a slight worried face, he asked me if something was wrong. Evidently I answered no. He sat in front of me, I looked at him seriously, but frightened. I was looking in my mind for the way to ask the question that I had carried in my mind since I saw him. With a soft voice I apologized, made it clear that my intention was not to offend him, much less violate his privacy. I emphasized everything I could and let go of the question. Without taking a moment José Gabriel began to laugh, but to laugh. An uncontrollable laugh that made him stretch his foot to dry his tears. He tried to breathe, but did not stop laughing, I thought he was going to die for lack of air. He calmed down little by little, and every time he seemed ready to talk his words were cut off with a big laugh. He never laughed so much in his life. When he was able to speak he said to me: "in so many years it is the first time that I feel treated like an equal, nobody had ever worried about how I wipe my ass".

F. JaBieR