Amazement

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

***

"Hearing aids?!"

Maddie sat on the examination table of Dr. Miles Leland III, her doctor since she'd been born. He was a kind forty eight year old man who looked as if he were still in his mid thirties. He had olive skin and dark wavy hair and blue, blue eyes.

"Sweetie, you knew you'd need them eventually," April reminded her quietly, shifting a fidgeting Mickey from one arm to the other.

"Yeah, when I was, like, eighty!" Maddie shot back at her mother.

Dr. Leland began explaining on the whiteboard about how some part in her ears hadn't fully developed, and would eventually cause her to go deaf. Surgery was being arranged, but until then, Maddie would have to wear hearing aids.

Maddie could hear, but not as well as other people could. If someone was speaking to her, she could hear them, but nothing else. She could only focus on one thing at a time.

"Ready to try them on?" Dr. Leland asked.

Maddie shrugged and gave a noncommittal grunt, crossing her arms over her chest grumpily as Dr. Leland slid the tan plates into her ears.

"It hurts," Maddie announced with a wince. The sharp edges of the plates were digging into the skin of her small, delicate ear.

"Don't worry, you'll soon get used to that," Dr. Leland promised.

"They aren't working anyway,"Maddie huffed. "All they do is make everything more muffled!"

"That's because I haven't turned them on yet," he explained patiently.

Like it'll make a difference, Maddie thought ruefully.

Then he turned them on.

The dull, achy, oceanic roar that had filled and clogged her ears ever since she could remember was replaced by crisp, sharp distinctive hearing.

"Do they work?" April asked anxiously.

"You don't have to yell, Mom," Maddie said with a grin.

Mickey squealed. Maddie winced.

"Of course, you'll need to adjust the volume to your personally suitable level," Dr. Leland said quickly.

Maddie placed a finger on the dial and turned it down a bit. She could still hear everything, but it was a little duller.

"Thanks, Dr. Leland," Maddie told him as she hopped off of the examination table.

***

Maddie woke and got dressed and ready for school with a skip in her step the next morning. Today, she had her solo lesson with Svetlana.

Maddie sat down in her seat in homeroom. She snuck a peek at Luke as he entered the room.

Not bad, she conceded to herself.

"Hey, Maddie," Luke grinned.

"Hi." She replied stonily.

Luke didn't try talking to her after that; instead the two made their way to their World History class.

"Today is a big day!" Ms. Collins announced, clapping her hands together excitedly. "We're beginning a group project! You and your partner will complete it between now and mid-quarter, when you will turn it in." Ms. Collins picked up the stack of papers on her desk and began passing then out. "The project is circulated around the Industrial Revolution, of course," she explained, "and you have five choices. You can put together a report, a skit, a mini movie, a diorama, or you can make a model of whichever invention you choose. I've put together these groups at random, and no, you may not switch groups."