Accidental Hero
Chapter 12
"Dave?" What the...? I feel like my jaw just hit the floor.
"Yeah, what are you doing down here, dude? Oh, is this your dad? I'm Dave Bryant, Mr. Murdock. Your son's orientation and mobility instructor. Glad to finally meet you."
"Please, call me Jack. Uh...we were just heading back to Matty's room." The elevator dings, and the doors open. People are coming out, so we wait a moment.
"Well, that's where I was headed, too. I wasn't scheduled to come in today, but I was in the neighborhood, and thought I'd drop in and see if Matt's ready to tackle the stairs now."
I follow Dad into the elevator, and Dave is right behind us, still talking. "Jack, you've got quite a sharp son here. He's picking up stuff so fast that we'll be able to get him out of hospital rehab within the week, I bet."
I'm still speechless. Come on. Dave is blind, too? No freakin' way.
"Hope you'll forgive me for being blunt, Dave, but just how are you teaching my boy anything when you're as blind as he is?" Thanks, Dad. Never pull a punch. At least he didn't use that blind leading the blind line.
Dave laughs. "Well, Jack, I'm not quite as blind as he is. I know that Matt has no light perception, so he fits the totally blind category. Most blind people aren't totals. I'm considered a high partial, which honestly is damn near total, and one day I will be. But right now, I've still got a little bit of tunnel vision, right in the center. Not enough to do me a lot of good, but enough for me to see just a little slice of what's in front of me. I have retinitis pigmentosa, which is a degenerative eye disease. I used to be sighted, too."
"Holy shit. We've got the blind leading the blind here." Oops. Spoke too soon. Should have known he'd say that. Good thing we were the only ones on the elevator. And here's our floor. Ding. Door opens. I follow Dad out, and notice that I no longer hear Dave's cane.
"Waitaminit, Dave...how come I never heard you using a cane before now?" I'm confused.
"Because I've been here so much that I know the hospital almost by rote, and I do have just a little vision left. Not enough to travel out on the street without a cane, but enough to do it in here. I have a folding cane, and I put it in my back pocket before I get off the elevator. Plus, I take off my shades inside. I only need them for the glare. Once you get a little more versed in using the long cane, I'll get you a folding one, and you can also choose a different style tip if you like. There's a cane library at the Lighthouse, where you'll go for lessons after you leave the hospital, and you can try them all out, see what you like best."
"Why didn't you tell me, Dave?" I feel lied to.
"Would it have made a difference?"
"Yeah...uh...maybe...hell, I don't know!"
"Matty! Don't curse!" Dad comes back with that do as I say, not as I do thing. "I taught you better than that!"
"Sorry, Dave." I hang my head. I remember we're still standing just outside the elevator, near the nurses' station. "Sorry, Dad."
"Apology accepted. Now, how about we teach you how to go up and down the stairs safely? I think they told me that you guys live in a walk-up? Want to join us, Jack?"
"I won't be in the way?"
"Heck, no. Why, you might even learn something, Jack." Dave sounds like he's grinning at my father. "You might even have some questions that I'd be more than happy to answer. Ready, Matt?"
I nod, then it hits me. He probably doesn't really see me. "Yeah, let's do it."
Dave takes us to the stairwell. Dad takes the opportunity to ask him about going sighted guide through doors that have to be opened. "We just had a little problem come up with a situation downstairs that we hadn't run up against before. The door out to the patio or whatever they call it was a glass one with one of those bars across the middle you push on to get out. How do we deal with that?"
"Oh, you mean 'panic doors', that's what they call those kind of doors that open outward like that with a push bar all the way across. The door to the stairwell here is one of those. Here, let me show you, Jack. I'll guide Matt through going out, then you can do it the next time you encounter one. Take my arm, Matt." He taps me on the arm, and I take his elbow. "At first, people will probably tell you if the door opens out or in toward the room, but after a while of working closely with someone, you'll be able to feel which way they move as they approach the door, and you will automatically know what's going to happen. Another one of those things that gets much easier over time. You may already know this, but exit doors almost always open outward. That's the law, and the only time you find it different might be in a really old building."
"I never really noticed...did you, Matty?" See, Dad learned something new already. Heh.
"Yeah, I knew it because of fire drills at school. I hadn't heard them called 'panic doors', though."
"Anyway, when I come up to a door that opens out, I'll let you know which side the hinges will be on by pushing on the side opposite them. That way, you'll hear the door, feel the air moving through it, and will also feel me move my guiding arm behind me to signal you to follow single file. I'll push the door open, and you can put your hand out to hold the door open for yourself. When your hand slides to the far edge of the door, you can be assured you've cleared it, and let it close behind you. Then you can resume the regular sighted guide position slightly behind and beside me. Okay. Let's try this one."
"Do I keep my cane in the same hand, or do I put it in the hand I'm holding on to you with?"
"Good question! A lot depends on the situation, because you might find it easier to put it in the same hand as I'm guiding you with, or it may be just as easy sometimes to just hold it straight up and down as you use the back of your hand to catch the door. Again, practice will tell you a lot. This time, though, try switching it over to your left hand that's got my elbow. Ready?"
"Sure." We try the maneuver, and it goes fine.
"Rather than going in and out this door several times right now, we're going to first concentrate on climbing stairs. We have several flights here before we have to turn around and come back. One advantage of learning this in a tall building."
"Well, Dave, we get plenty of practice just getting up to our apartment. We live on the fourth floor. Matty here probably won't have any trouble at all with them. It's me that I worry about." Dad laughs. "I ain't as young as I used to be."
"None of us are, Jack, that's a guarantee! Now, Matt...remember that pencil grip we've practiced? Now's when it comes into play the most. We are going to climb the stairs first, because some people are a little afraid of falling down a flight of stairs, and it's easier to learn this first. Got your cane ready?"
"Yes."
"Good. Hold it just off the floor with the pencil grip. When you come to the first step, you'll feel your cane hit it. Pick up your cane, sliding it up the vertical surface of the step...that's called the riser... until you feel the next step. Slide your cane until you hit the next riser, then put one foot on the first step. Keep sliding the cane forward on the step above where your foot is, and when you hit the riser, step up with the opposite foot. You don't want to put both feet on the same step. That makes you lose your balance. You stay a step ahead of your lead foot with your cane. Try that for me. I'm right here beside you, and your dad is behind you. You won't fall, I promise."
I find the bottom step. So far so good. Up to the second, and put my foot on the bottom one. It's a slow, methodical sort of movement. "People are going to hate being behind me on the stairs."
"No they won't. They'll be jealous because you don't have to worry if the building super forgets to replace the lightbulbs on the landings. They'll be asking for your help. Now, what happens when you reach the top of the stairs?"
"I won't feel another step up. Then that should be the landing."
"Correct! I'll coach you a little on this flight. The landing turns to the left, and continues up. There is a handrail on your right. This time, I want you to put your right hand on that railing, and use your left hand for the cane technique. There aren't always handrails where there are steps, but you can always check with your free hand for one. Or, if you are carrying something, you will be confident about going up or down stairs without depending on a handrail. Okay, now...onward and upward!"
I feel for the handrail, and this time I concentrate more on the feel of the cane tip on the step. I can almost feel the way the steps rise away from me. That must be the echo in the stairwell, and the air current. Pretty neat, actually. The movement is getting easier, and I get to the landing before I expect it. I didn't bother to count the steps. Maybe I will on the next flight.
"Geez, Matty, you're chuggin' right along! I'm impressed." Dad's voice echoes up the stairwell. He's dropped back now, after following practically on my heels the first two flights. I wouldn't tell him, but it sounded like he was breathing right down my neck, and it was pretty distracting. I'm sure he was just trying to be there to catch me.
"Thanks, Dad. You get to watch me take my first steps for the second time around, huh?" I meant it as a joke, but I hear a catch in the old man's throat. Shouldn't have said that.
We climb a couple more flights, and Dave stops me at the landing. "What goes up..."
"Must come down. Yeah, I knew there was a catch." I smile at Dad, and I think Dave gets it, too. "What's different about the procedure, other than me possibly falling ass over teakettle down to the basement?"
"Matt! I warned you, son..."
"It's okay, Jack. Certainly not the first time I've heard that, and I daresay I've used it a few times myself. And done it a few times, too. I was reluctant when I first started losing my sight to use a cane, and I could show you the scars to prove it, know what I mean?"
"You're preachin' to the choir, mister. An old warhorse like me knows all about that. I just want Matt to show you some respect."
"He's doing just fine, Jack. You've done a good job raising him, I can tell."
"Uh...guys. I know we aren't on the clock, or anything, but can we get on with getting back downstairs?" I'm kidding, and I can tell they know it. I think Dave could make friends with anybody. My old man is a tough nut to crack.
"Alright, already! I swear, these kids...always in a hurry." I'm imagining a wink going along with this statement. "Okay, Matt. Going down steps is a little more intimidating. Mainly because you could run up onto a down sloping stair without any warning. That's one of the most important reasons for learning a good two point touch technique, because you'll find that empty space two steps ahead of you, rather than after you've stepped off into a void."
"Sounds like a reasonable thing. Proceed, professor!"
"As soon as you think you've found a drop-off, stop. Switch to the pencil grip and locate the first step. This is the same thing you do when you come to a curb, but of course, there is more than one step. If there is a handrail, use it if at all possible. Let your cane slide down over the first step and hit the next one to determine how steep or deep they are. You may feel like you are falling forward. If so, lean back a little. Again, you don't want both feet on the same step, just like climbing them. It messes up your balance. Take it slow, and this time, Jack, why don't you go first, just as a precaution. I'll be right beside Matt. In fact, Matt, let me take out my cane and let you hear me go down a couple of steps, then you try it."
Dave unfolds his cane, and I hear it snap together sharply. The sound ricochets off the walls, down the steps, entirely different than it sounded coming up the same corridor. I follow slowly, until I get to the bottom, where my cane finds level ground at the landing. The handrail now guides me clockwise down the several flights we've come up. At a given point, Dave tells me to stop, because we are back on my floor, ready to go out the door to the room.
He instructs me and Dad how to open a door toward us and go through together. "This is the tricky one, Matt, because if you don't do your part correctly, the door won't hesitate to hit you in the ass. See? I know that word, too." He chuckles. "The lead person will stop short of the door, and may have to step back a slight bit depending on the doorway. You find the edge of the door as before, and keep it open while you follow through it. Okay, Jack, I'm going to let you do this one."
Dad taps my hand and I take his arm. The closer on this door is pretty strong, and when I try to catch it, I almost jam a finger. Needs practice, for sure.
Dave goes with us to my room, and he tells me that I'll need to start noticing how many doors down my room is from any given point, say the elevator, or the corner where the nurses' station is. He also tells me to put my hand up about shoulder high, next to the door frame. He then guides me to the overly large raised numbers, and beneath them, some tiny dots. "Before long, Matt, all that will make sense to you. The dots on the bottom are the braille numbers for this room. We'll get you set up at the Lighthouse for the braille lessons as soon as you get home. I have a feeling you'll pick that up fairly fast, too. Time for me to head out. See you guys around!"
I hesitate. "Alright, Dave. Tell me something. How did you know it was me in the lobby?" That's got me bugged.
"Simple. I could make out someone with a cane and very red hair. Odds are it would be you, huh?" He turns and I hear him humming as he leaves. And he calls me a wise guy? Heh.
