People, doctors, nurses, kept on talking around me but I couldn’t understand what they were saying. Occasionally if they said something really loud I heard it faintly. All of me wanted to say I was deaf, but a tiny bit of me thought the gas was making me hallucinate. One doctor with a Tome Cruz haircut, which really did not suit him, clipped something on the back of my ears. A brown haired nurse wrote on a sheet of paper.
We are going to preform sound test.
I nodded and they stuck some plugs in my ear and made sure they were in all the way. They started with some high pitched noises, I could faintly hear the first two and then I couldn’t hear anything else. They had me write that on a sheet of paper. The doctor confirmed I was hard hearing, near deaf and that I would have to learn ASL.
Max burst through the door and I sat up. My body ached all over and I realized my arms and legs were covered in blue and purple splotches. I could pick up a little of what he was saying. It went something like Are ……… ok ……..can……..understand?
I pointed to my ears and his face went white. What if he didn’t love me anymore because I went deaf? I was still the same me, but we’d all have to learn ASL I guess. Maybe lip reading would help me too.
“When can I start ASL.” I tried to say. The doctor gave me a card and escorted me out with Max. He led me to a room where the entire crew was sitting, in the plain white room. It felt like a waste land. Max gestured towards the seat. The doctors mouth began moving, but no sound came out. She was talking very slowly. Some words I could make out to help me summarize the problem or conversation.
“The hospital…… letting……keep… hearing aids……” she looked expectantly at me and I nodded confirming I understand.
“ASL?” I could read on Max’s lips. She looked at me then to everybody else.
“One…” she held up one finger, “Week class…… today.” I nodded again. All my muscles tensed up and I had a feeling I was shouting.
“What happened to Pottsboro?” Max patted my shoulder as if to calm me down before the news it. Daniella handed him a sheet of paper. In his sloppy hand writing it read
“Downtown. Hit. F4. Our house. Safe.” Simple words, he did think I couldn’t handle it. He thought since I was deaf, that I was a freak. Like I couldn’t comprehend.
“I can still read!” I yelled at him, I think. “Just because I’m deaf doesn’t mean, I’m disabled from my brain.” I stood up, grabbed the card with the class time and place, and bolted out. People were giving me stares in the hallway. Doctors and nurses were yelling at me but I couldn’t hear it. I turned on my heel pointed at me ear and just walking away. The parking lot greeted me with hot asphalt and rows of cars. I saw Max’s and punched in the code. Luckily his keys were in the glove compartment. I jammed them in and started the car. Driving deaf was so freaking hard. I drove as slow as possible and made it to our house in about ten minutes.
Slamming the door shut I made my way up the walkway and jammed my hand in the plant to find our spare key. All the lights were off in the house. The hallways were dark. My room was up the old stairs and down the hall. When I made it I busted the door open. It always got stuck. My bed and draw were left the way they were when we left. My computer was in a draw and when I pulled it out some dust had to be shaken off. It took a while to reboot. Its blue screen was the same.
Suddenly it occurred I still had my hospital gown on. I set the laptop down and changed. Not feeling as exposed. I found the little INTERNET button and pressed it. My first thing to look up was the ASL alphabet. It couldn’t hurt to be prepared. The door slowly opened and I jumped at least a mile high. Max gave me a sheepish smile, but it was returned with my glare.
“I’m sorry.” He mouthed. It didn’t stop me from hating him, but he didn’t know what to do. None of us did. This would take a lot of effort to handle and a whole week out of tornado season. I pulled up word and began typing, then flipped the computer screen so he could read it. He typed back…… “We can start today, all of us.” Joy probably filled my face. I flung my arms around him and hugged him so hard I doubt he could breathe.
When I let go of him he held out his hand and I put mine in his. The others were already out in the field. All of them were talking to Max, and I couldn’t understand. After a couple of minutes of starring at the sky and trees without sound I was yanked into the “Texas28”, but was subsided to the back seat. I never thought about what it would be like to never hear sound again.
We pulled up to a rusty red building. It wasn’t very big. When we walked through the doors there were waiting chairs and a door leading off into a hallway. I felt like I was back in the hospital, a deaf hospital. Max checked in at the front desk. A man burst through the door clutching a little girl behind him and they left.
They were followed by a lady with a clipboard. She must’ve said my name, because Daniella was pushing me through the door. The hallway was long and there were many doorways. She led me into one and it was a simple design. Crimson walls, black chairs, wooden desk.
“So…….begin……ASL.”
“Yes.” I responded.
“Your tutor……..here……soon.” she sat up and shook hands with all of us, and left the room. I clamped my hands in between my knees. For some reason waiting while your deaf is so boring, it feels like eternity. The doctor walked in. He had a short brown hair cut and olive skin. He waved quickly at me then sat down. Something about him made me feel like I knew him. On a sheet of paper I was handed it read…
Dr. Hiaason. It hit me like a punch in my stomach. My dad, was not dead.
“Dad?” I asked.
“Bethany?” I think he said. Quickly on the sheet of paper I wrote…
You’re supposed to be dead.
He read it and his face took a pain look. Quickly he scribbled and handed it back to me.
Is that what your mother told you?
I nodded. I handed him the paper back and he continued to write.
I left because your mother and I were fighting; we never really got along well. It wasn’t because of you. I promise.
Anger was rising again and before I knew it I was crinkling the paper and it was laying the trash. Max laid his hand on my knee as if to stop me before I did anything rough. The next hour went by and so far we were coming along pretty well. I knew how to make a decent conversation.
Are we done? I signed.
Yes. He responded. Quickly I grabbed Daniella’s duffle and left. Semi-jogging through the hallway. Olivia jumped in front of me and blocked the door.
I know it’s hard.
No, you don’t know, your parents aren’t divorced, or dead.
Look, I know this has been a big punch in the stomach, but we’ll get through it.
I’ll get through you. I slipped past her and dug around in Daniella’s bag until I found her keys. When I hopped in The “Texas28” I climbed in the back a waited for someone to appear. Daniella finally did and she started up the car and we took off, followed by everyone else.
