Fiction

until I was a little older. I don't know how long he'd lived there. I just knew he was on crutches and we were told he had polio.

As I said, I assume he was infected before he had access to the vaccine. Whether that was due to his age or neglect by his parents or some other reason, I couldn't tell you.

People had polio in 1962, although we knew it wasn't the scourge it used to be. We used to jump over puddles because we were afraid of "polio water." There were a few thalidomide kids I remember from my younger years, too. We knew that came from "medicine" and not "polio water." Our biggest fear as kids was getting leprosy. The Catholic Church put that shit in our heads.