Hydraulic Leg - The Story

The Eagle Lake Barrier Busters
Volume One in the Hydraulic Leg Series
By Greg Furie and Marian McCarthy ©2006

Nine-year-old Jonas Paxton has everything most kids wish for: loving, wealthy parents, a mountain bike, a swimming pool, and a big home on Eagle Lake. A natural competitor and excellent athlete, Jonas has never played on a losing team, lost a swimming race, or made a grade lower than "B". Popular and good-looking, Jonas has his choice of friends, but hangs out with Buck Harris and Claw Bellows, his teammates on the Dynamos, the undefeated soccer champions of the Blitz United League. (BUL).

One spring evening, Jonas wins a bike race, but nearly loses his life. Racing down a steep hill ahead of Buck and Claw, Jonas fails to see a pickup truck loaded with hay. The truck driver steers to avoid hitting Jonas, but skids into the boy's right side, crushing his leg.

Jonas survives the crash, but a team of expert surgeons cannot save his mangled leg. Dr. Gordon Paxton, Jonas's dad, is an entrepreneurial engineer and former physics professor who owns a company called Future Fuels. While his son is in the hospital, Dr. Paxton works day and night to make a prosthetic leg that will enable Jonas to run, ride a bike, and play soccer again. With the help of Chester Leghorn, a research chemist for Future Fuels, Dr. Paxton outfits the leg with special hydraulic joints at the knee and ankle. Chester, a full-blood member of the Osage Native American tribe, persuades Dr. Paxton to lubricate the hydraulic leg joints with water from the deepest part of Eagle Lake. According to Osage legend, these "Middle Waters" have healing powers.

But even with the nifty new leg made with a father's love, Jonas has a long road to recovery. He must work hard with prosthetist and physical therapist Nick West, a former NCAA basketball star who has a son in Jonas's school. After eight weeks of therapy, Jonas learns to walk again, but his pride and spirit are still broken. He feels like a loser until his parents introduce him to the Eagle Lake Barrier Busters (ELBB), a co-ed soccer team coached by Nick. The members of ELBB include Leo, an excellent athlete and Nick's son; Johnny, a quiet boy who lives in a foster home; Angela, a tall, beautiful girl who can run like the wind and was born with only one arm, and Sarah, a funny redhead who wears thick glasses but can barely see.

Jonas soon learns that ELBB operates from a rule book unknown to his old BUL soccer team. First of all, every player gets a chance. No one is a star. Your ability doesn't matter; your attitude is everything. If you're a member of ELBB, you have no barriers and no limits, because you're part of a team based on friendship.

After a summer playing with ELBB, Jonas gains strength and confidence. When he enters the fourth grade at Tallchief Elementary School. he soon faces ridicule from his old "friends," Claw and Buck. His former BUL team members make fun of Jonas's leg and tease him about playing on a "losing" team. At the back-to-school party, Claw challenges Jonas to a swimming race in the Paxton's Olympic-sized pool. Even though he hasn't tested the hydraulic leg in the water, Jonas accepts. He struggles to get the rhythm of the difficult swim stroke, feeling like a slippery eel in the water. But soon, Jonas focuses on the image of a dolphin--smooth, powerful, and fast. With this image in mind, the power of his hydraulic leg is released, and he wins the race against Claw.

Jonas doesn't understand the power he feels in the new leg, so he asks his father about it. Dr. Paxton, at a loss for a scientific explanation, takes Jonas in their boat to visit Chester's home on Eagle Lake. Jonas learns about the history of the Osage people, and the legend of the Middle Waters in Eagle Lake. On their way home in their boat, a violent thunderstorm throws Dr. Paxton overboard. Jonas jumps in to save his father, and is horrified when he discovers that Dr. Paxton has been knocked unconscious. Jonas must lift his father out of the water and into the boat, battling giant waves and golf ball-sized hail. Again, Jonas feels the intense power of his hydraulic leg surge through his body, and he is able to save his father.

Back at school, Jonas is nominated for student council president, a position he has wanted since he was in kindergarten. However, ELBB teammates Angela, Leo, and Johnny, are also nominated. To make matters worse, Buck nominates Claw. Their wise teacher, Ms. Tourmaline, warns the nominees that she will not tolerate disrespect in the presidential race, and also cautions the students that the election is "NOT a popularity contest." After school, Jonas is waiting for a ride home when Claw and Buck begin to spit tobacco juice at him. Certain that his hydraulic leg will power him to victory, Jonas takes on both boys in a fist fight. Despite his efforts to call on the power of the hydraulic leg, Jonas is knocked to the ground by the two bullies. Ms. Tourmaline breaks up the fight, punishing Jonas and Claw by barring them from the presidential race. Jonas, angry at being disqualified, begins to panic when he sees that his hydraulic leg is cracked, and the Middle Waters are pouring from his knee joint!

Dr. Paxton works with Chester to repair the broken leg, but Jonas feels that his spirit is also broken. He asks Chester why the leg failed him in the fight against Claw. "The leg did not fail you," Chester answers. "You expected the power of fire when the leg has only the power of water. You failed to see that."

Jonas begins to understand what Chester means when he returns to school. Ms. Tourmaline asks the three remaining candidates, Angela, Leo, and Johnny, to make speeches to the whole school on the day before the election. Jonas is surprised when Angela and Leo go to the podium together. They take turns urging the students to cast their votes for Johnny, who they say is the most qualified leader they know. As members of ELBB, they tell all the students to focus on the strengths that will move the whole team ahead. They invite all the students at Tallchief Elementary to define themselves as team members-not just to play soccer, but to be the Eagle Lake Barrier Busters, students who stand for equality, justice, and integrity.

That night, Ms. Tourmaline hears a crash outside her window. In the morning, she finds the windshield of her Honda has been smash by a rock, wrapped in a piece of paper that says: "BUSTED BY ELBB-THE BIGGEST LOSERS IN THE WORLD!"
Later, when she arrives at Tallchief Elementary, Ms. Tourmaline is horrified to see "BARRIER BUSTERS SUCK ROTEN EGGS" spray-painted on the front steps. Concluding that the culprit is a rotten speller, Ms. Tourmaline calls on school administrators, the police, parents, and, especially Jonas and the members of ELBB to find who is responsible for the vandalism.

In the meantime, Johnny Parker is chosen as the new president of the student council, and the students vote to unite as the Tallchief Elementary chapter of the Eagle Lake Barrier Busters. All students in the school, kindergarten through fourth grade, pledge to stop put-downs, bullying, and disrespect.

But who is responsible for the vandalism and escalating messages of hate in Eagle Lake? How does ELBB help Johnny in his new leadership role? Will the Tallchief Elementary Barrier Busters succeed in their mission to make school a friendly place for all students?

Jonas, inspired by new insight from his father and Chester, begins to understand the source of the leg's power - and how it can be used to stop evil in its tracks. By working with Johnny, Angela, Sarah, Leo, and the other members of ELBB, Jonas uses the power of the Middle Waters to resolve the conflict that threatens his school and his community.

At the end of Volume One, Jonas Paxton has grown from a third-grader who seems to have everything, to a fourth-grader who only wants to do the right thing.

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Hydraulic Leg is dedicated to creating entertainment for all children without discriminating against sex, color, race, religion, nationality, or disability. We provide an equal platform for children to deal wisely with the situations they face on a day to day basis in an unequal world.