Language
xox
"Hi," Five year old Mercedes Jones says to the new boy in her kindergarten class. The boy has messy hair that's the color of sand, just like what you stick your toes in at the beach, and bright green eyes that blink owlishly back at Mercedes. "I'm Mercedes, who are you? Are you shy? Do you want to be friends?"
The boy stares at Mercedes some more, head tilted in confusion. Mercedes was about to ask the boy another question when a tall woman comes over, smiling down at the pair. Mercedes wonders briefly if she's about to be in trouble, if maybe she wasn't allowed to talk to this boy. But the boy just looked so lonely and lost; Mercedes just thought he needed a friend.
"Hi, honey. I'm Ms. Pillsbury. Have you met Sam?" Ms. Pillsbury asks, doing a weird hand movement while she speaks. Mercedes glances at her hand, eyebrows creasing down. "I know you're trying to talk to him, but he can't hear you."
"I'm Mercedes. Did Sam forget to turn his ears on?" Mercedes questions innocently, looking back at Sam. Sam is a pretty name; it's a name Mercedes' never heard before, but she likes it.
"No, Mercedes. He's deaf, which means he can't hear. His ears don't let the sound in," Ms. Pillsbury explains in what she hopes are easy terms for a five year old. Mercedes seems to absorb this piece of information. "He can communicate through a special language called Sign Language. He uses his hands to speak."
"That's what you've been doing this entire time!" Mercedes exclaims, glad that she finally understands. It's just like last week when she was trying to remember how to spell here, but not the kind where you listen, the kind where you put something. It was hard, because a lot of words sound exactly alike but are spelled differently, which is what her teacher said the first day they started to spell. "I want to tell him my name. Can you teach me?"
"Of course, Mercedes. It'll take a few minutes, but you can do it. It's easy, I promise," Ms. Pillsbury nods, giving Sam a message in that she doesn't say out loud. Sam smiles, signs back at her, and waves as she and Mercedes walk away.
Mercedes has a bit of trouble making her fingers work to spell out her name, M-E-R-C-E-D-E-S, buts he eventually feels confident enough to go back over to Sam. Sam looks up from the toy car he is rolling across the desk when Mercedes taps him on the shoulder.
"My name is Mercedes," Mercedes says slowly out loud, drawing out the words as she does the signs. Ms. Pillsbury told her to talk while she's signing because Sam will learn how to read lips, which means he'll be able to understand better even if people aren't signing.
"My name is Sam," Ms. Pillsbury dictates as Sam signs back, who decides to sign much slower and Mercedes manages to catch every letter, even if she didn't learn half of them. Sam hesitates to put his hands down, but adds an afterthought before looking satisfied with himself.
"What did he say, Ms. Pillsbury?"
"He asked if you wanted to be friends with him," Ms. Pillsbury replies, looking down happily at Sam. She's seen some hearing impaired kids go months before someone tries to talk to them, or maybe no one even try at all, and she's glad that this isn't one of those cases. "Put your hand in a fist and bend your wrist, just like you're shaking your head yes."
"Yes," Mercedes echoes, miming the hand motion as instructed. "Yes, I do."
When Sam lurches forward to hug Mercedes, their arms wrap silently around each other in a language they both understand.
AN: There may or may not be a part two to this one-shot. Let me know if I should post it or not o: