Better Off Alone (Adopted by Brendon and Sarah Urie)

10. Callie

I was cutting vegetables for salad with Mom when the doorbell rang. No, I obviously didn't hear it. Dad texted that he was going to answer the door.

Suddenly there was this big guy in front of me, talking, I thought maybe loudly? I covered my ears and shook my head. Dad and another lady came in. Dad and her were laughing.

Dad said something to the man and he started typing on his phone.

'Hi Callie, I'm your Uncle Zack. Your dad's security guy,' he wrote. Just then a text came in from Dad.

'This is Zack and Kala. Zack is my security guy and we see them a lot. And apparently he wants to be 'uncle Zack'.'

I nodded to show I understood and then taught them the sign for 'uncle' and finger spelled his name. Eventually I'd give them sign names, but I had to get to know people first.

Uncle Zack came around the counter and showed me his phone.

'Can I give you a hug?'

I nodded and he picked me up in a huge bear hug.

I hugged him back.

Kala showed me her phone and said 'you don't have to call me Aunt Kala if you don't want to, but it's very nice to meet you,' and then she signed 'nice to meet you'!

'You know sign?' I signed to her.

'Only a little,' she typed back. 'Nice to meet you is pretty much it.'

She smiled. I smiled back. And then she gave me a hug. She smelled like wood and outside. It was nice. Calming.

Uncle Zack asked to see my phone so I handed it to him. He put his and Aunt Kala's numbers in, texted himself from my phone and then handed me my phone back.

'Now you can text me or your Aunt Kala any time you need.'

I grinned at him.

They both started texting me, so Mom motioned for me to go sit and chat with them. I wondered how this was going to work tonight with all the people coming.

My hands were going to fall off from texting.

Just then a lady came into the room with Dad.

'Hi, Callie. My name is Patricia. I am a sign language interpreter. Your parents thought it might be easier for you to talk with people this way instead of having to text a bunch of people.'

I looked over at Dad. He was smiling. I teared up and started honestly crying. Dad came running over and pulled me into a hug. He held me away and looked in my eyes. He started speaking but of course I couldn't hear him. I looked up at the interpreter.

'What's the matter? Why are you crying?'

'I'm happy,' I signed back. 'No one has ever done anything like this for me. Never.'

Dad pulled me into another tight hug and I could tell he was talking because his back was vibrating. I looked up at Patricia again.

'Things are going to be different.  I promise,' Dad said. I hugged him back and cried just a little more. Dad held me away from him again and smiled while he wiped a tear away. He started talking again. I looked at Patricia.

'We love you, Callie. And we want you to have the best life we can give you. We want our friends and family to get to know you, too. And we'll do whatever it takes to make things as easy as we can for you.'

I hugged him again and signed 'thank you. I love you too.'

Mom came over and hugged me as well. She started talking, too.