| KIDS IN ACTION
By Kathleen M. Muldoon
Yvette Silver www.yvettesilver.com
|
One dream career I imagined while growing up was to be a first-rate private investigator. Inspired by Nancy Drew books and the magnifying glass and P.I. license I received for two cereal box tops, I paid attention to reports of kidnappings and murders on the news and pictured myself solving them. Of course that never happened, but my interest in mysteries and private investigators remains to this day.
So a couple months ago when I heard on the television news that one of the world’s best private investigators was in San Antonio to help solve a local kidnapping, I glanced up from my book. The man on screen, identified as Jay J. Armes, P.I., intrigued me. You see, he has metal hooks instead of hands. I raced to my computer to Google him.
I learned that Jay J., as he is known to his friends, was a normal kid growing up near El Paso, Texas, when an accident changed his life forever. He was 12 years old the day he was playing in his backyard with a friend who’d brought over a box of railroad torpedoes.
These gadgets were strapped to railroad tracks to warn train engineers of danger ahead. When the train ran over one, the explosive inside it made a loud bang and told the engineer to stop the train immediately.
Unfortunately, when Jay J. opened the container, it exploded and blew off both his hands. “…the next thing I remember is being face down near a tree about 20 feet away,” he says in his autobiography Jay J. Armes, Investigator. “I was trying to get hold of the trunk of the tree to get to my feet. I couldn’t get a grip. It didn’t occur to me that I no longer had any hands.”
Can you imagine the horror? I can’t. But Jay J. only allowed himself to feel sorry for himself for a short time. Then he rallied and never allowed anyone to use the word “handicapped” when referring to him. He even refused to go through physical rehabilitation, preferring to find his own way to do things and eventually to learn to use the metal hooks that replaced his hands.
As a young man, Mr. Armes first moved to California to become an actor. But soon he returned to Texas to work toward another dream, becoming the world’s finest private investigator. He wanted to bring more dignity to a profession that sometimes was the butt of jokes.
“I know what most people though of the private investigator. They called him a snoop, a shamus, a gumshoe…and they used the words derogatively, were ashamed if they had to buy his services. I wanted to change all that.” And he did. He opened his agency in El Paso and called it “The Investigators.” Working just as hard as he did earlier in his life when he learned to use his prostheses, Mr. Armes built his business one success at a time, until The Investigators reached international status in skill and integrity.
He never found his hooks to be a hindrance. In fact, today Mr. Armes is not only proficient in karate but is also a skilled marksman. “You could look upon the fact that I have hooks instead of hands as a handicap, but I don’t. You are only handicapped if you think you are…a man can be anything he wants to be, do anything he wants to do, so long as he has a star to steer by.”
Wow! I rolled away from my computer completely in awe of Jay J. Armes. It’s heartening to know that childhood dreams can come true—for any of us, regardless of physical challenges or differences.
Do you have a story to share about someone like Mr. Armes? If so, write their story and e-mail it to action@unitedspinal.org, or mail it to:
KIDS IN ACTION
United Spinal Association
75-20 Astoria Boulevard
Jackson Heights, NY 11370-1177
By the way, the Ideal Toy Company made an action figure of Jay J. Armes, complete with detachable arm prostheses. He is the only private investigator in history to ever be so honored by the toy industry.
Kathleen M. Muldoon is a children’s book author and writing instructor for the Institute of Children’s Literature. She lives in San Antonio, Texas.
