08.13.08

Auggie folded his cane, placed it in his messenger bag, and slid the bag under the table. Then he grabbed the warm cup in front of him and sat back, taking in the sounds of the coffee shop. He'd gotten back to Glencoe without a hiccup and had made the impromptu decision to attempt to navigate to his favorite coffee spot. And he'd made it. He'd missed being able to make spontaneous decisions like that, and he was reveling in the sense of independence it gave him, when he heard her voice.

"No way! Auggie Anderson!" she exclaimed.

He turned to his left, the direction her voice was coming from, just as he felt her fragrant hair on his face and her bare arms around his shoulders. He was less phased than he would have been a month ago - surprise hugs were getting to be a normal occurrence in his life. At least, this time, he knew the person he was embracing. He put down his coffee and hugged her back.

"Megan," he responded. "Hey." Megan Phillips, his on-again, off-again high school sweetheart. Her family had moved away their senior year; he hadn't talked to her in a decade.

"What are you doing in town?" she asked enthusiastically, scraping a chair out and sitting down. Auggie's mouth went dry. Her question made it clear that she didn't know what had happened to him, and her bubbly tone told him she hadn't (yet) noticed anything different about him. It was the supremely awkward moment he'd feared but hadn't had to deal with up to this point. Glencoe was just small enough that word seemed to have gotten around, at least to all the people who knew the Andersons, about what had happened to Auggie. He was grateful that the blast hadn't disfigured him, but he'd realized once he'd begun going out in public that it was a double-edged sword. He found himself wishing he hadn't put his cane away; it was so much easier if people just saw the cane. So now I want the cane, he thought, and the irony didn't escape him.

"I got hurt in Iraq - " he started.

"You were in Iraq?" she immediately interrupted. "I thought you went off to Stanford."

"I did," he explained. "I joined the Army after I graduated." He stopped to swallow, and then figured he might as well just say it plainly, "I'm actually blind."

His revelation was met with what he assumed was a stunned silence.

"You're what?" Megan asked, confused.

"I'm blind," Auggie repeated. Dammit, this was painful. He waved his hand in front of his face to illustrate his point.

"Oh my gosh," she whispered, and Auggie hoped to hell she wasn't going to start crying or something. He didn't know if he could handle that kind of scene in the busy coffee shop. "I'm so sorry."

Auggie gave her a tight-lipped smile and shook his head once. "S'okay."

There was another stiff silence, where it was clear that neither of them had the slightest clue how to proceed.

"Wow," she finally spoke. "I was not expecting that."

"Be kinda weird if you were," he managed with a wan grin. Unfortunately, Megan still seemed to be reeling too hard to handle humor.

"When did it happen?"

"December."

"Oh my gosh," she echoed. "That's so recent."

"Doesn't feel that way," Auggie remarked mildly.

"So are you at your parents' place then?" she inquired, clearly trying to put the puzzle together. "They still on Longwood?"

"Yes and yes," he answered, leaning forward to rest his forearms on the small table. "My turn now: What are you doing in town? Your folks didn't move back, did they?"

"No, no, I wish. They're still in Champaign. I actually moved back to stay with my grandma for awhile. She could use the help around the house and I...well, my life is a bit of a mess right now. I'm in the middle of a divorce," she explained self-consciously.

It was Auggie's turn to be shocked. He hadn't kept up with Megan over the years, but he'd hardly pegged her as the type to marry young. Or divorce young, for that matter.

"That's rough," he acknowledged, and he heard her sigh. "So what are you doing?"

"You mean, like, for work?"

"Yeah."

"Ugh," she groaned. "I'm at Nordstrom in Skokie. I work at the MAC counter." Then she laughed. "Putting my English degree from Dartmouth to good use, as you can imagine. My life isn't stuck; it's actively going in reverse."

Auggie chuckled; he couldn't help himself. "Yeah, I know the feeling."

She was quiet again, and he could feel her staring at him. "I really am so sorry, Auggie. I can't imagine how hard that must be."

He didn't like the tone of pity that was creeping into her voice. "It's getting less hard," he reassured her. Then he had an idea. "Hey, what are you doing right now?"

"Now? Right now?"

"Yeah."

"Um...nothing. I had to pick up some dry cleaning in town, but I was just gonna head back to Gram's."

"You wanna come over?" Auggie asked.

"Sure," she agreed after a moment.

August Anderson, what exactly are you up to? he briefly wondered as they walked to Megan's car together.

Then he decided he didn't really need to know the answer to that just yet.