Deaf & Dumb

Peter Tries to Communicate Better

The four boys left Kirshner's office. Stephen was still standing at the receptionist's desk with his arms crossed. He had this frown on his face as he watched Peter. "Did you get everything cleared up?" Stephen asked.
"About that..." Peter said slowly. "Kirshner offered me two or three times more than what I was making at Atlantic, and he'd buy me from them if I joined the Monkees again."
Stephen stared at Peter. "Are you kidding me?" He asked.
Peter shook his head knowing that he was going to be hit with a lot of disapproval.
"You have a chance to play with a real band with real ideas, and you're throwing it away to play with this manufactured monster," Stephen said angrily.
Peter bit his lip. "My baby's more important than my image," Peter said quietly.
"Manufactured monster?!" Mike exclaimed. "I can take so much from you. So we're not folk, but at least we're trying."
Stephen rolled his eyes and shrugged. "If you're just copying popular music for your records then you're manufactured," He said simply.
"Last Train to Clarksville is a protest song about the war. If it sounds like popular music it's only because of that damned Kirshner," Mike said.
Stephen let out a groan as he regretted his words. "You're right. Once again I'm the bitch here," He said.
The group of five was silent as they all mulled over the events of the last few minutes. Micky let out a sigh.
"I never thought our first hit would cause this much of a mess," He said and headed out the door of the studio.
The other Monkees and Stephen followed him outside. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining. A perfect day for the beach, but none of them felt like the beach. Their moods were soured by the events of the day. The Monkees dropped Peter and Stephen off at Peter's apartment.
Stephen and Peter enter the threshold of Peter's apartment. The home was silent. Peter wandered to the bedroom and saw that Rosemary wasn't there. He went to the restroom and tried opening it. The door was locked.
Rosemary never locked the bathroom door. Peter knocked on the door. "I'll be out in a minute," Carolina's voice came through the bathroom door.
The door swung open and Carolina smiled at Peter. "Rosemary's been wondering where you went," She said.
"Where is she?" Peter asked.
"Last time I saw her she was reading in the kitchen," Carolina said.
Peter turned around and walked to the kitchen. Rosemary was, as Carolina said, reading, and Stephen was staring at her. Stephen turned to look at Peter.
"I came in and saw her and said hi and she just kept reading," Stephen said.
"She's deaf," Peter reminded him.
"She seems so normal," Stephen said.
"She is. She just can't hear," Peter said. He drew nearer and tapped her shoulder softly. She looked up and frowned. She put her bookmark in her book and set it down.
Rosemary asked him where he had been.
"I had a recording session," Peter said lying to shorten the explanation.
Stephen stared at Peter. "Can I talk to you a minute?" He asked.
Peter walked off with Stephen to the hallway.
"Why're you lying to her?" Stephen asked.
"I never told her the first time I went to record with the Monkees. She doesn't even know they have a single yet," Peter said.
"Eventually you're gonna have to tell her," Stephen said.
"It's really hard to explain things to her," Peter said.
"If you love her you'd do the extra work to make sure she understands," Stephen said.
Peter was silent and thought about what Stephen just said. Peter knew Stephen was right.
"I'll go tell her the truth..." Peter said slowly feeling terrible about himself.
Peter walked back into the kitchen. He noticed the book Rosemary was reading was a baby name book and another book not far from reach was about baby care. He smiled slightly thinking about how good Rosemary was going to be as a mother. Peter tapped her shoulder again. She looked up at him.
"I have to tell you something," Peter said trying to sign with his words.
Rosemary nodded and signed for him to keep talking.
"A few weeks ago I went with Davy and Micky and Mike to record one of their songs and I told you it was just any old recording session," Peter said still signing with his words.
Rosemary's brow furrowed. She nodded and coaxed the rest from him.
"I wasn't at a recording session earlier. I was at the studio with Micky and Mike and Davy and Stephen because our single was released without our permission," Peter said still signing, though very badly at this point. "The only thing that came out of it is that I'm going to be switched from Atlantic records to Colgem and I'll be paid two or three times more than before."
Rosemary stared at him for a moment. She got most of what he said, but she didn't know why he hadn't told her before. So she asked him why.
"Sometimes it's a little hard to explain things to you because I am so bad at sign language and you ask me to repeat myself if I don't use any sign language," Peter replied. He looked ashamed of himself.
Rosemary frowned. She signed that he wasn't that bad at sign language and that when he spoke and signed she could understand him just fine. Peter still looked ashamed of himself. "It wasn't that you couldn't understand me..." Peter started to say. "I just didn't want to put the effort in. I'm sorry..."
Rosemary gestured for him to come nearer. Peter did so. She took his hand and pulled him down to eye level. She smiled at him. She signed that it was okay and that she understood it was hard to communicate with her. She was just glad that he tried to communicate with her at all. No one else ever had.