I went grocery shopping today.

There are days where walking is difficult. Where my feet turn in like pieegon claws, where I can stumble as I step. When I’m walking, I usually feel as if people are gawking at me, starting at me as I walk.

I sometimes have to concentrate hard on putting one foot in front of the other. Today I try to pass by a couple, a man and a woman; I stumble and trip over my own feet. They turn to look at me, the man laughing softly. They do not ask if I am alright.

I walk past them as quickly as I can and I hear the woman remark to the man: “Look at his feet.” She says this softly in hopes that I can’t hear.

I trudge home, groceries in hand, feeling like a sideshow freak, thinking that maybe it is everyone else, and not me, that is freakish.