Suddenly, there's a knock on the window. Startled, he quickly throws the gun onto the floor of the passenger seat, opens his eyes. There is a man standing outside. He's wearing spectacles, his matted black hair parted sideways, clean shaven. Overall, a smart looking man,
He sighs and rolls down the window.
"Excuse me, Hello. I'm sorry but I'm in a bit of a pickle. Could you help me?" the man asked.
He gestures that he is deaf. He puts his finger on his ear and his other arms waving suggesting "no"
The man pauses for a minute, and he starts to gesture in sign language. His hand moves but his lips are also moving as he is gesturing.
In sign language
"Could you help me? My tyre just blew up." the man signs
"Can't you change it yourself?" He replied
"I do, but it would be faster with help and I'm in a hurry."
The man signs okay, he opens the door and gets out. He looks at the man, scanning him up and down. The man is wearing a plaid button-up with slacks and brown shoes. One look at him, you might assume he's a teacher.
They both make their way to the car. It's a compact Japanese car, very modern and a car you would assume a man of his age to own. Although it does look dirty with black marks on some parts of it as though it hasn't been cleaned for a few weeks.
In sign language
"What happened?" He asks.
"I was on my way to work when I heard a loud bang around here. I must have run over a pothole around here." The man answers.
The man opens his boot and uncovers the platform of the boot. There's a spare tyre and he looks for the tool bag. He ruffles his things in the boot but there is no tool bag.
"I don't have the tools" The man signs to him.
"We'll use mine" He signs back.
He opens his boot and retrieves his tool bag. He takes out a lug wrench and gives it to the man. He gestures to him to take out his spare tyre from the boot. The man obliges.
The man goes to his car and unscrews his spare tyre from the boot, takes it out and rolls it to the punctured tyre.
Next, He goes to loosen the six lug nuts on the tyres. It is a two-person job to exert enough pressure to loosen the nuts. Afterwards, the man positions the jack below the chassis of the car and begins jacking it up. The man is struggling to use the jack but slowly and surely manages to get part of the right side of the car to lift the ground. They begin to work on replacing the tyre.
They both pat their hands indicating that the job is done.
In sign language
"That should do it" The man says "I never introduced myself, I'm Indra"
"Luthfe" He answers
"Thank you Luthfe, sorry I couldn't repay you for your help. I must get back to work. I'm already late".
Luthfe gestures "Okay".
Indra goes into the car and drives away. Unfortunately, after a few metres the car steers back on the side of the road. Indra gets out of the car, looks at the newly replaced tyre, he looks confused, and he begins to scratch his head. He turns to Luthfe and waves. Luthfe slowly walks to him.
He gestures "What's wrong?"
"I don't know but there was this strange clunking noise from this side of the tyre when I drove away just now." Indra checks the bottom assembly of the car. "I don't see anything wrong here. Could you take a look?"
Luthfe goes down to have a look. He scans the brake assembly and the shaft. He goes back up and signs
"I don't see anything either and I'm no mechanic."
"That's fine. I'm just going to call my insurance and have them tow the car to the nearest workshop." Indra signs in reply.
Indra takes out his phone and starts calling his insurance. Meanwhile, Luthfe walks back to his car, eyes peering to the distance, lost in thoughts.
YOU ARE READING
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General FictionA musician gone deaf because of an ear infection. Lost all hope in life. He decided to end it, but a fateful encounter with someone stops him. That someone is a researcher to give deaf people hearing. Will Luthfe recover his hearing? Is it a sign or...
