Last week several severe, tornado-producing thunderstorms swept through the region. It was during such a storm, while I was ringing out a customer at the department store where I work, that I heard an announcement over the PA system. All employees and customers were to head downstairs to the children’s department, the innermost part of the store. It seemed there was a tornado spotted in the region. We all dropped what we were doing and went downstairs, where we waited out the storm.
About an hour or so after we got the all-clear, my manager asked me to help clean out the fitting rooms. I headed to the one in the Dresses department and received the shock of my life. A very realistic-looking prosthetic leg, complete with a sock (but no shoe) was lying in one of the fitting rooms. It had straps and everything for attaching to the person’s torso. I called one of the floor associates into the room to verify that I had not gone insane. She confirmed that I was not hallucinating. It was further determined that it was my job to take the leg down to Lost and Found. Finder’s keepers, you know.
And what a walk downstairs to the office it was. Fortunately, most customers had cleared out after the storm, but I had to stop and explain to every associate I met why I was carrying a leg. And then I had to explain to the office secretary.
After my shift, I tried to imagine why a woman would leave her leg behind. How could she have not noticed it was gone? Did she leave it in her hurry to get downstairs? Why didn’t I notice a one-legged woman in the crowd of customers? Was it a prank?
To my knowledge, no one has claimed it yet. Any thoughts?
Well, my first thought on reading the thread title was, “Gee, how long has she been looking for one, and what has she been doing without it?” But now I see what you mean.
Maybe someone who spooks easily was trying something on that required her to remove her leg and she left it behind when she heard the tornado announcement, and…just…went home without it.
Sorry, ** lovelyluka **, but I did emit a “Gaaaaah!” and did a bizarre little backwards-trotting dance when I saw it.
My first thought was the “spooked by the tornado” scenario, but why didn’t she come back for it? And how can you not notice your prosthetic leg is missing?
::begins reading from lovelyluka’s link:: OMG, that is hilarious!
KCSuze, maybe she was trying on an item of clothing that she needed to take the leg off for, and decided it would be faster to have hubby/SO help her out than strap it back on? People do weird things under stress.
I recently read an article about things found on a rail system ( I think the London tube ). Among the things I couldn’t imagine you could get of the train and forget were artificial limbs (including legs) and fish in a bowl.
Just after my husband and I married, we bought an old wooden boat from a disabled vet who had a prosthetic leg. A few months later, we were cleaning out some lockers and we came across a nearly new leg - my husband immediately called John to let him know what we’d found.
His response? “That’s my dancin’ leg. It never fit right. You can keep it.”
So we did. It became the perfect prop for a Halloween costume. I think it’s in the attic right now…
My dad is an amputee, and he has ‘left’ a leg behind before.
He has several different types of legs, for different activities. When we go to the beach, he wears his walking leg, and changes into his swimming leg in the parking lot. The walking leg, or ‘everyday’ leg goes into the boot. When leaving, he changes legs again, as the swimming one has grains of sand in it, a spongy, leaky foot and is just uncomfortable to drive or walk on for long. Once he left the swimming leg against the side of the car, and jumped in and drove off.
We made it home and were emptying the car before he relised he’d left his leg behind. Back we went, and because artifical leg theft isn’t a big problem in our area, it was still there
We did laugh about how many people saw it, and were probably scratching their heads trying to work out exactly how someone could forget their leg
I went to a picnic with my little four-year-old son. There were lots of kids there. There was also a double-amputee. It was really hot and he was very drunk and decided to take off his legs. In front of the kids. Mayhem ensued. Quite a site to behold.
Grace, no word on a claimant for the leg, though I have been the receipient of many “shake a leg” jokes from the security guys.
I had no idea that people with prosthetic limbs had more than one for different occasions. Maybe the woman who left it doesn’t want it back. Maybe it’s her dancin’ leg.
As an above knee prosthetic leg wearer for 17 years, I simply cannot imagine losing my leg, (Yeah, bad pun) although I trip over it on occasion when hopping around the house drunk after a party night. (I haven’t used crutches for years, it’s easier to hop around.)
My ex-wife did take and hide my leg from me one night after an argument. That was lame.
