Dave dropped in for the evening meal again.  The violence in the country came up again.  There had been more acts overnight and some were now happening even in daylight.  As he discussed the dilemma with his family Mitzi suggested that they hold a press conference with them in wheelchairs.  Dave liked the idea but wondered what might go wrong if someone saw the end of a pylon or in some way recognized that the leg was missing.  The socket was larger in diameter than their leg it might cause someone who was really astute to notice. Dave was adamant, they must be one hundred percent sure nobody would notice until the right time.  He privately was not sure when that would be.

It was Judi that came up with the solution.  “Do any of you remember Susan Berlanger, she was played by Kristy McNichols in the movie, ‘Just The Way You Are.’  She had a bad leg from polio.   She had a doctor put a cast on it and she went to a ski resort where there were others with casts.  Nobody noticed her lame leg.”

Her mother questioned this, “We can’t put a cast on a leg that isn’t there.”

“But on the contrary, we can.”

“How?”

“Jaci and I are close to the same size. They can make a cast of my right leg and one of her left leg.  They cut them off, patch them a little to match what our other leg would look like in a cast and fix them so they slip over the socket and attach to it instead of the pylon.” 

“What about me?”

Dave had the answer, “That’s easy.  We get Tracy to come in and they make casts of her legs for you.  She’s called about ten times and has asked if we need her.  We can’t tell her what happened till she gets here but we need her now.  Let’s give her a call.  I bet she will be on the next plane.”  Tracy was Mitzi’s younger fraternal twin sister.

“But what if someone gets suspicious and starts to really check?”

“Why should they?  If the casts look good we can go out with them on and nobody will know.  We could carry on the deception for as long as we need to.”

Dave thought for a few minutes and then said, “It might work.  Let me get someone to see if this is a possible.”  Later he would remember the use of the word deception and realize that they were headed into trouble when that was the motive.

Dave motioned to the Secret Service agent and within minutes a doctor appeared.  They explained the situation to him.  He sat there in thought for a few minutes.  “It is possible but if we are to totally avoid a bad situation we must make the cast fit the stump, not the socket.  That will make it too large.  I think what you want to do is possible.” 

“Think about it.  See if you can make it work.”

“I’m sure we can.  It’s just a matter of how and if we can do it quickly.”

The First Family: Chapter 1 – Introduction

The First Family 32: Jaci’s Upgraded Leg

The First Family 34: Preparing the Deception