Short Stories

A Blind Boy's Room

I had never been into a blind persons room before. The idea seemed a little crazy. The door swung open and I saw Danny on his bed. In his hand was a rubix cube. It didn't look like any rubix cube I had seen though, it was completely white on every side, which pretty much defeats the purpose of the rubix cube.

"Yeah?" Danny asked as he turned the faulty rubix cube.

"Uhm, hi." I said. "I'm Ruby."

"Who?"

"Ruby, our mums are work partners."

"Oh the dinner. I totally didn't realise." He paused "and if you didn't realise I'm blind."

"I realised." I nodded.

"Well good. I like a girl that can realise these things." Another pause.

"Does this look like a small bed to you?"

"No?"

"Well I wouldn't know."

"Okay."

"Is there enough room on this bed for you?" He asked. I shrugged.

"Ah I guess."

"Then sit." He said, taking a long pause, his vacant eyes staring off into the distance before he started to turn the faulty rubix cube. I slowly edged toward his bed. It was a Queen sized bed, and despite he was a tall teenage boy, who needed space to thrive he wasn't taking up that much bed room anyway. His legs outstretched but lying with one on top of each other. I slid only to the edge of the bed.

"So does Ruby have red hair?" Danny asked.

"No."

"Well your name doesn't describe you very well. Or are you like Snow White? Do you have red lips?"

"People don't have red lips." I replied.

"I wouldn't know, I'm blind." He pointed out. "Give me a break." He sighed.

"I wasn't tryi-"

"Don't leave me hanging, what colour is your hair?" He asked.

"Oh it's brown." I said.

"Wow your a genius!" Danny said sarcastically as he stared at a blank wall in front of him. "Any particular colour brown or is brown an actual normal legit not sub denomination colour now?"

"It's dark brown." I gulped.

"Dark, well, the range just varies and varies." He said in a flat voice. "I'm blind, Ruby, mind giving me an example of what kind of brown it is?" He was pushy for a blind guy. I looked down at my hair I had never really explained it before. The colour was like dark wooden tables you would see at furniture shops. The kind of dark furniture you wouldn't put in a house because you were worried that it would make the room feel too small.

"It's like a mix between almost black and willow tree bark I guess."

"Like BBQ sauce." He says.

"What?"

"Your hair is like BBQ sauce then." I looked back at my hair. It was like BBQ sauce, though probably a shade darker. "Ruby the girl with the BBQ sauce hair."

"That doesn't sound right." I said.

"Yeah imagine being bald and just have BBQ sauce on your head." He laughed. He placed the faulty rubix cube down on his bench next to him. I was surprised he knew where it was.

"So what's my hair colour?" He asked. Uhm, he had much brighter hair than me but it was still brown, which flopped down across his neck and his ears do he looked a lot like a laid back Australian surfer.

"A little lighter than a rich caramel." I explained. He was staring at me with his disabled white and blue eyes.

"That's a good answer." He nodded.