Silent Heartbeats: Bouncing Reality Checks
By Maureen
Authors note: "Spoken words", /Written words/, *Signed words*
***
Back at the hospital Jamie was just beginning to regain consciousness. The nurse on duty was in his room when he opened his eyes and immediately wished that he hadn't. The bright lights hurt his eyes and he felt like not only had he lost a fight with a Mack truck but that he was hung over to boot. Then he remembered his father.
"Well, you're awake. That's wonderful!" the nurse said, once she'd noticed that he was awake. "How're you feeling?"
Jamie just stared at her. Her lips were moving and he was almost positive that she was indeed speaking, but he couldn't hear anything. "What?" he replied. "I can't hear you." Come to think of it, he couldn't hear himself either. He quickly began to panic before his EMT training kicked in and calmed him down again.
She smiled down at him, and pulled a small pad of paper and a pencil out of her smock pocket. Quickly she wrote, /I'm going to get the doctor. Keep this./ and left the pad and pencil on the side of the bed.
Jamie reached over to get it and began to feel dizzy, so he decided to forget it and just wait. He decided after a cursory check of himself, meaning only what he could feel or see without moving, that he was probably better off dead. He had never been in so much pain before, moving had never been such a chore. Sure, he'd been in fights before, and even beaten up by his father, but never anything nearly this terrible.
Before he could continue his internal monologue an older man with white hair strode in, the nurse that had been in his room a few minutes ago with him. "Hello, Jamie. I'm Dr. Sanders." He said, but to Jamie it was once again as if his ears were stuffed with cotton. He just stared at the doctor blankly.
Dr. Sanders was in his late fifties and looked like a kindly grandfather although he appeared fit. His age was not slowing him down one bit. He took the pad and pencil and wrote
/I'm Dr. Sanders. How do you feel?/
"Like a I lost a fight with a Mack truck. Why can't I hear anything?" Jamie replied angrily. He wanted someone to explain what was happening!
/You were brought in late yesterday afternoon and spent 2 hours in surgery. You have four fractured ribs but nothing was punctured, pneumonia in addition to dehydration and starvation. If this wasn't enough you have numerous cuts and bruises. You were also hit in the head several times, which is why you can't hear right now./
"He hit my head twice, I think. How long will this last?" Jamie asked, concerned. He could deal with this for a couple days tops, but no longer than that!
/We don't know how long it will last or if it permanent. We're going to run some tests to find out tomorrow morning. Who hurt you, Jamie?/
"My dad, of course! But he's never done anything like this before, ever. Hey…where's Catie and everybody?" Jamie asked, suddenly suspicious.
/I made them leave last night after you got out of the OR and your friend Catie spent all night outside, keeping an eye on you. Your other friends showed up this morning, I sent them away for lunch and expect them back at any moment. They were quite anxious to make sure you were alright./
"Thanks…I think I'm going back to sleep." Jamie replied suddenly feeling tired. He'd been awake for less than an hour and was already tired. It was nice though, he reflected, as he drifted off to sleep, that they cared.
Dr. Sanders shook his head at the boy in the bed, and left the room, hoping for the best. He seemed like such a good kid.
***
Slightly over an hour later, Catie and the others showed back up at the hospital. As they headed towards Jamie's room a different nurse at the nurses' station stopped them. "Where are you kids going?" she asked.
"To see Jamie Waite," Hank replied.
"He's asleep now, but he did wake up for a little while. Try to be quiet alright?"
she said, smiling at them. They looked very worried about their friend.
"No problem ma'am," said Hank as they headed down the hall to see Jamie once again.
Jamie had just fallen asleep again when Catie entered his room, this time alone. The others had decided that she should go in alone first if he woke up. He was thrashing around a small amount, restrained mostly because of his body's silent protests and the taunt bandages around his middle preventing him from bending.
"Jamie," she whispered softly, in a soothing voice. "Are you alright?" She smoothed away the errant hair that had fallen into his eyes and looked at him concerned. By her reckoning he must be having a whopper of a bad dream. She touched his shoulder slightly and he instinctively jerked away. Nearing tears she sat in the chair next to the bed, to hold his hand, hoping that he would awaken from his nightmare soon.
"Jamie," she sniffed, "I, I love you and I'm so scared you're going to leave. Promise me Jamie, you won't leave me, ever…promise?"
Jamie slept, firmly enshrouded in his nightmare.
After everyone had taken their turn to see Jamie he had still not woken up. According to the nurse on duty this was normal. He would sleep more until his body healed enough and then would be awake and most likely bored.
***
Forced by school constraints as well as cheerleading and football practice plus work, Val, Hank and Tyler were not able to get back to the hospital to see Jamie until the following Saturday, a week after his accident. However, Catie had no such constraints. Missing Jerry Springer after school was not what anyone considered to be a huge loss, including her.
Despite being bedridden he still would still have something new to tell Catie about his day. Usually it involved the severity of the days poking and prodding. They had taken him for a MRI several days ago although nobody would tell him the results. He was beginning to wonder if he would ever regain his hearing. It had been almost a week.
"Hey Jamie," Catie said, bouncing in as only she could do. She waved as well. It was very disconcerting to both of them to have such one-sided conversations but they made due. She had brought in a dry-erase board and a couple markers, which made things easier. Today though she dug a book out of her bag and handed it to him. In big letters the words A Beginners Guide to Sign Language were written in white.
"I'm going to hear again Catie!" Jamie said furiously while noting once again how odd it was to speak and not hear his voice. "I don't need to know sign language!"
/I know,/ Catie wrote on the board, /but it could be useful to know anyways. I mean, what if you have a call and the patient is deaf? Besides, I think sign language is pretty./
"If you say so," he muttered sullenly. They had strapped headphones to his head the previous day and told him to raise his right hand every time he heard noises in his right ear and the same for his left. He had raised his left hand once and his right hand twice. He knew he was supposed to have raised it more than that. "I just wish I knew what was going on. They say my ribs are healing fine and the pneumonia is almost gone, but nothing about my ears! I want to fucking know!"
"I know," Catie said, smoothing his hair back with his hand. Over the past several days they had become much closer. They hadn't admitted their feelings per se yet, not so each other, but it was obvious from their mannerisms towards each other that they were now a couple, officially or not. "I know."
/What do you think of living with Alex?/ She wrote down for him.
Jamie snorted replying, "It'll be like living the super squad I bet. You know, doing homework. But it won't be a foster home and he won't hit me so…do I have any other choices?"
/Not really, but it is your choice. Are you going to press charges on your Dad?/
"Yeah, the lady from CPS said I have to unless I want to go back to living with him. This is assuming of course, that we find him. Man, this sucks hardcore!"
"Yeah." Catie agreed. /I'll be right back!/ She wrote, seeing Dr. Sanders outside.
In the hallway, she cornered the good doctor as he headed towards his office. "Dr. Sanders!" she called down the corridor to him. "I want to talk to you about Jamie."
"You mean if he's going to regain his hearing any time soon," said Dr. Sanders anticipating what she wanted. He had been trying to keep Jamie from learning the truth for as long as he could, but every day he had asked.
"Well?" she queried.
"I don't know how to put this, for you Catie, but, no. I don't think he'll ever regain much, if any of his hearing again. I've already looked into possible surgery to restore it and there is nothing we can do yet. Cochlear implants also aren't an option. However, he does have some hearing, our voices simply aren't in that range. In a couple days we'll make some molds of his ears and have some hearing aids made. He should be able to hear a little with them."
"How much is a little?" she asked with trepidation. Her Jamie? Deaf? She refused to believe it.
"He might, perhaps, be able to hear loud shouts or other loud noises. No voices." There was only sorrow in his eyes as he looked down at her. He could see her trying vainly to not start crying.
Catie turned and ran back down the hall towards Jamie's room, tears streaming down her face. She ran in to the room and threw herself onto his bed, hugging him as hard as she dared to without hurting him. "What is it?" Jamie asked softly stroking her long hair.
Catie sniffled and began to write. /I just spoke to Dr. Sanders. He says…your hearing loss is permanent./
"What?" Jamie asked, not believing her. He knew she wouldn't like to him, but this was not a notion he was willing to entertain. He knew he would hear again.
Catie erased what she had written earlier and wrote /they want to give you some hearing aids; they said you will be able to hear some with them. /
"I'm not going to be deaf forever Catie. I'll have an operation or something, there's gotta be some other solution." Jamie's voice cracked, and tears began to run uncontrollably down his face as well. They attempted to comfort each other as best they could.
***
Word spread the next day of the diagnosis. Brianne didn't seem to care so much since she thought Jamie was a spaz anyways, even if he had helped save her life. Val, Tyler and Hank were all shook by the news. No one ever expected someone they knew to be hurt in such a horrible way. This wasn't some movie with a happy ending. As Val had said to Catie when they were discussing what had happened 'it's hard to remember that we don't live in a perfect world until it affects you or someone you love'. Even Principal Carlson took Catie aside and asked her to express his sorrow for him. Catie just stared at him and told him she would. It had never occurred to her that he might care.
Catie was soon seen at school with a sign language book under her arm practicing various signs, none of which could be misconstrued as an insult. Shortly the 'super squad' had joined her in learning to sign and had signed up at the local YMCA for the upcoming class. Deaf or not, he was their friend and writing notes would not work well.
***
When the EMTs showed up the following Saturday, Jamie was pouring over the sign language book and practicing some signs.
/Hey Jamie, Val wrote, how're you doing?/
"How do you think Val?" he replied bitterly. Being deaf was boring. He had nothing to do. "I'm bored to tears. The only thing I can do is read this damn book!"
/We brought you something else to do. Here./ Val handed him a deck of cards and Tyler procured a book from his backpack, The Electric Kool-aid Acid Trip by Tom Wolfe*. It looked like something Jamie or Catie might read.
/We can't stay long, but you're always welcome at the station anytime. And try not to drive Alex too crazy, he said he was getting you out of this loony bin next Wednesday./
"Yeah, freedom. It'll be great. I'm not 100% better yet but I'm well enough. They said that by the end of next week I'll be fine, which is great. I can't stand any more of this hospital food!"
/We have to go now, see you Jamie, and get better!/
***
Alex's petition for guardianship was granted much to everyone's relief and as soon as Jamie was released he'd go home with Alex. Alex for his part had gone by Jamie's old house and had packed the few clothes and belongings for Jamie and had already put them in his room.
Alex shook his head as he hung up the last poster on the wall. The formerly white walls were now covered in dark colored rock posters of The Who, Metallica and Pearl Jam. Smaller posters of punk rock bands were on the various doors proclaiming upcoming shows by Ultimate Fake Book, Green Day, The Get Up Kids and Weezer.
Other than The Who Alex had never heard of any of these bands and briefly wondered if this was a good thing or not. Shrugging philosophically he decided it didn't matter, as there would mostly likely not be any music blaring. He arranged the few knick-knacks on the dresser; a few miscellaneous toys, a couple different pairs of sunglasses and a lava lamp. He taped some photos of the EMS squad and Catie to the mirror.
On the desk he set up the small stereo and the stack of CDs. He also put his schoolbooks and supplied there, in neat little drawers. The second hand guitar that Jamie owned he propped up against the desk. Within ten minutes of Jamie entering the room it was guaranteed to be a disaster area.
***
*Hey Jamie* Alex signed as he came in the hospital room. Jamie was firmly ensconced in the book Catie had brought for him, the Electric Kool-aid Acid Test. Tapping him on the shoulder he pointed to his eyes with two fingers, the sign for 'pay attention'.
*What?* he signed, putting the book down. Since he couldn't watch TV and there really wasn't much else to do, he had taken up reading.
*How do you like the book?*
*It's…weird* he signed back, spelling weird out since he didn't know how to say it. A sign language teacher came in for several hours a day to teach him basic signs he would need to know.
Picking up the dry-erase board Alex /wrote you are being released tomorrow. How are you feeling?/
"Alright. Better. I can breathe better, the pneumonia is gone and so is most of the bruising. I'm still black and blue a little and my ribs are normal yet. The cuts on my face are healing well too." Jamie replied. He tried to sign, as much as he could, but he was very limited to what he knew how to say.
/I've enrolled you in Bradford Academy. It's the deaf school near here. They're going to make you fluent in sign and teach you how to read lips./
"Will I still be on the squad?" he asked, a seeming nonsequitur. He had been worrying about this for the past week but had never asked.
Alex just signed *No.* /But you will work at the station still. You haven't finished your probation./
"Figures." Jamie said smiling. Even though he wanted to still be an EMT, he realized that now he couldn't be. This was simply confirmation, but at least he would still be there. Working with Brooke he supposed. "Why can't I stay at Kingsport?" As much as he loathed the school at least his friends were there and he knew the status quo. A new school meant new everything. More change to his already chaotic life.
/They will make you conversant in sign within a semester and you will probably repeat your sophomore year again. Just think though, you'll be able to pull your grades up so you can get into a good college./
"A good college? Another year of high school? Alex, you have got to be kidding! I am not a school person! I can't do that!"
*Yes, you can. You smart.* /I will pick you up tomorrow at 10am. Anything special you want to do?/
"Can I go to the bookstore? I'm almost finished with this book. And I'd like to see everyone at school, you know, let them know I'm alive."
*Sure.*
*A/n: The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe looks like an excellent book (with an awesome name!) that I plan to buy as soon as I have money. It's about Ken Kesey and the 60's (and lots of acid). Ken Kesey wrote One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which I have as required reading for one of my classes, 'natch! It's the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon!
By Maureen
Authors note: "Spoken words", /Written words/, *Signed words*
***
Back at the hospital Jamie was just beginning to regain consciousness. The nurse on duty was in his room when he opened his eyes and immediately wished that he hadn't. The bright lights hurt his eyes and he felt like not only had he lost a fight with a Mack truck but that he was hung over to boot. Then he remembered his father.
"Well, you're awake. That's wonderful!" the nurse said, once she'd noticed that he was awake. "How're you feeling?"
Jamie just stared at her. Her lips were moving and he was almost positive that she was indeed speaking, but he couldn't hear anything. "What?" he replied. "I can't hear you." Come to think of it, he couldn't hear himself either. He quickly began to panic before his EMT training kicked in and calmed him down again.
She smiled down at him, and pulled a small pad of paper and a pencil out of her smock pocket. Quickly she wrote, /I'm going to get the doctor. Keep this./ and left the pad and pencil on the side of the bed.
Jamie reached over to get it and began to feel dizzy, so he decided to forget it and just wait. He decided after a cursory check of himself, meaning only what he could feel or see without moving, that he was probably better off dead. He had never been in so much pain before, moving had never been such a chore. Sure, he'd been in fights before, and even beaten up by his father, but never anything nearly this terrible.
Before he could continue his internal monologue an older man with white hair strode in, the nurse that had been in his room a few minutes ago with him. "Hello, Jamie. I'm Dr. Sanders." He said, but to Jamie it was once again as if his ears were stuffed with cotton. He just stared at the doctor blankly.
Dr. Sanders was in his late fifties and looked like a kindly grandfather although he appeared fit. His age was not slowing him down one bit. He took the pad and pencil and wrote
/I'm Dr. Sanders. How do you feel?/
"Like a I lost a fight with a Mack truck. Why can't I hear anything?" Jamie replied angrily. He wanted someone to explain what was happening!
/You were brought in late yesterday afternoon and spent 2 hours in surgery. You have four fractured ribs but nothing was punctured, pneumonia in addition to dehydration and starvation. If this wasn't enough you have numerous cuts and bruises. You were also hit in the head several times, which is why you can't hear right now./
"He hit my head twice, I think. How long will this last?" Jamie asked, concerned. He could deal with this for a couple days tops, but no longer than that!
/We don't know how long it will last or if it permanent. We're going to run some tests to find out tomorrow morning. Who hurt you, Jamie?/
"My dad, of course! But he's never done anything like this before, ever. Hey…where's Catie and everybody?" Jamie asked, suddenly suspicious.
/I made them leave last night after you got out of the OR and your friend Catie spent all night outside, keeping an eye on you. Your other friends showed up this morning, I sent them away for lunch and expect them back at any moment. They were quite anxious to make sure you were alright./
"Thanks…I think I'm going back to sleep." Jamie replied suddenly feeling tired. He'd been awake for less than an hour and was already tired. It was nice though, he reflected, as he drifted off to sleep, that they cared.
Dr. Sanders shook his head at the boy in the bed, and left the room, hoping for the best. He seemed like such a good kid.
***
Slightly over an hour later, Catie and the others showed back up at the hospital. As they headed towards Jamie's room a different nurse at the nurses' station stopped them. "Where are you kids going?" she asked.
"To see Jamie Waite," Hank replied.
"He's asleep now, but he did wake up for a little while. Try to be quiet alright?"
she said, smiling at them. They looked very worried about their friend.
"No problem ma'am," said Hank as they headed down the hall to see Jamie once again.
Jamie had just fallen asleep again when Catie entered his room, this time alone. The others had decided that she should go in alone first if he woke up. He was thrashing around a small amount, restrained mostly because of his body's silent protests and the taunt bandages around his middle preventing him from bending.
"Jamie," she whispered softly, in a soothing voice. "Are you alright?" She smoothed away the errant hair that had fallen into his eyes and looked at him concerned. By her reckoning he must be having a whopper of a bad dream. She touched his shoulder slightly and he instinctively jerked away. Nearing tears she sat in the chair next to the bed, to hold his hand, hoping that he would awaken from his nightmare soon.
"Jamie," she sniffed, "I, I love you and I'm so scared you're going to leave. Promise me Jamie, you won't leave me, ever…promise?"
Jamie slept, firmly enshrouded in his nightmare.
After everyone had taken their turn to see Jamie he had still not woken up. According to the nurse on duty this was normal. He would sleep more until his body healed enough and then would be awake and most likely bored.
***
Forced by school constraints as well as cheerleading and football practice plus work, Val, Hank and Tyler were not able to get back to the hospital to see Jamie until the following Saturday, a week after his accident. However, Catie had no such constraints. Missing Jerry Springer after school was not what anyone considered to be a huge loss, including her.
Despite being bedridden he still would still have something new to tell Catie about his day. Usually it involved the severity of the days poking and prodding. They had taken him for a MRI several days ago although nobody would tell him the results. He was beginning to wonder if he would ever regain his hearing. It had been almost a week.
"Hey Jamie," Catie said, bouncing in as only she could do. She waved as well. It was very disconcerting to both of them to have such one-sided conversations but they made due. She had brought in a dry-erase board and a couple markers, which made things easier. Today though she dug a book out of her bag and handed it to him. In big letters the words A Beginners Guide to Sign Language were written in white.
"I'm going to hear again Catie!" Jamie said furiously while noting once again how odd it was to speak and not hear his voice. "I don't need to know sign language!"
/I know,/ Catie wrote on the board, /but it could be useful to know anyways. I mean, what if you have a call and the patient is deaf? Besides, I think sign language is pretty./
"If you say so," he muttered sullenly. They had strapped headphones to his head the previous day and told him to raise his right hand every time he heard noises in his right ear and the same for his left. He had raised his left hand once and his right hand twice. He knew he was supposed to have raised it more than that. "I just wish I knew what was going on. They say my ribs are healing fine and the pneumonia is almost gone, but nothing about my ears! I want to fucking know!"
"I know," Catie said, smoothing his hair back with his hand. Over the past several days they had become much closer. They hadn't admitted their feelings per se yet, not so each other, but it was obvious from their mannerisms towards each other that they were now a couple, officially or not. "I know."
/What do you think of living with Alex?/ She wrote down for him.
Jamie snorted replying, "It'll be like living the super squad I bet. You know, doing homework. But it won't be a foster home and he won't hit me so…do I have any other choices?"
/Not really, but it is your choice. Are you going to press charges on your Dad?/
"Yeah, the lady from CPS said I have to unless I want to go back to living with him. This is assuming of course, that we find him. Man, this sucks hardcore!"
"Yeah." Catie agreed. /I'll be right back!/ She wrote, seeing Dr. Sanders outside.
In the hallway, she cornered the good doctor as he headed towards his office. "Dr. Sanders!" she called down the corridor to him. "I want to talk to you about Jamie."
"You mean if he's going to regain his hearing any time soon," said Dr. Sanders anticipating what she wanted. He had been trying to keep Jamie from learning the truth for as long as he could, but every day he had asked.
"Well?" she queried.
"I don't know how to put this, for you Catie, but, no. I don't think he'll ever regain much, if any of his hearing again. I've already looked into possible surgery to restore it and there is nothing we can do yet. Cochlear implants also aren't an option. However, he does have some hearing, our voices simply aren't in that range. In a couple days we'll make some molds of his ears and have some hearing aids made. He should be able to hear a little with them."
"How much is a little?" she asked with trepidation. Her Jamie? Deaf? She refused to believe it.
"He might, perhaps, be able to hear loud shouts or other loud noises. No voices." There was only sorrow in his eyes as he looked down at her. He could see her trying vainly to not start crying.
Catie turned and ran back down the hall towards Jamie's room, tears streaming down her face. She ran in to the room and threw herself onto his bed, hugging him as hard as she dared to without hurting him. "What is it?" Jamie asked softly stroking her long hair.
Catie sniffled and began to write. /I just spoke to Dr. Sanders. He says…your hearing loss is permanent./
"What?" Jamie asked, not believing her. He knew she wouldn't like to him, but this was not a notion he was willing to entertain. He knew he would hear again.
Catie erased what she had written earlier and wrote /they want to give you some hearing aids; they said you will be able to hear some with them. /
"I'm not going to be deaf forever Catie. I'll have an operation or something, there's gotta be some other solution." Jamie's voice cracked, and tears began to run uncontrollably down his face as well. They attempted to comfort each other as best they could.
***
Word spread the next day of the diagnosis. Brianne didn't seem to care so much since she thought Jamie was a spaz anyways, even if he had helped save her life. Val, Tyler and Hank were all shook by the news. No one ever expected someone they knew to be hurt in such a horrible way. This wasn't some movie with a happy ending. As Val had said to Catie when they were discussing what had happened 'it's hard to remember that we don't live in a perfect world until it affects you or someone you love'. Even Principal Carlson took Catie aside and asked her to express his sorrow for him. Catie just stared at him and told him she would. It had never occurred to her that he might care.
Catie was soon seen at school with a sign language book under her arm practicing various signs, none of which could be misconstrued as an insult. Shortly the 'super squad' had joined her in learning to sign and had signed up at the local YMCA for the upcoming class. Deaf or not, he was their friend and writing notes would not work well.
***
When the EMTs showed up the following Saturday, Jamie was pouring over the sign language book and practicing some signs.
/Hey Jamie, Val wrote, how're you doing?/
"How do you think Val?" he replied bitterly. Being deaf was boring. He had nothing to do. "I'm bored to tears. The only thing I can do is read this damn book!"
/We brought you something else to do. Here./ Val handed him a deck of cards and Tyler procured a book from his backpack, The Electric Kool-aid Acid Trip by Tom Wolfe*. It looked like something Jamie or Catie might read.
/We can't stay long, but you're always welcome at the station anytime. And try not to drive Alex too crazy, he said he was getting you out of this loony bin next Wednesday./
"Yeah, freedom. It'll be great. I'm not 100% better yet but I'm well enough. They said that by the end of next week I'll be fine, which is great. I can't stand any more of this hospital food!"
/We have to go now, see you Jamie, and get better!/
***
Alex's petition for guardianship was granted much to everyone's relief and as soon as Jamie was released he'd go home with Alex. Alex for his part had gone by Jamie's old house and had packed the few clothes and belongings for Jamie and had already put them in his room.
Alex shook his head as he hung up the last poster on the wall. The formerly white walls were now covered in dark colored rock posters of The Who, Metallica and Pearl Jam. Smaller posters of punk rock bands were on the various doors proclaiming upcoming shows by Ultimate Fake Book, Green Day, The Get Up Kids and Weezer.
Other than The Who Alex had never heard of any of these bands and briefly wondered if this was a good thing or not. Shrugging philosophically he decided it didn't matter, as there would mostly likely not be any music blaring. He arranged the few knick-knacks on the dresser; a few miscellaneous toys, a couple different pairs of sunglasses and a lava lamp. He taped some photos of the EMS squad and Catie to the mirror.
On the desk he set up the small stereo and the stack of CDs. He also put his schoolbooks and supplied there, in neat little drawers. The second hand guitar that Jamie owned he propped up against the desk. Within ten minutes of Jamie entering the room it was guaranteed to be a disaster area.
***
*Hey Jamie* Alex signed as he came in the hospital room. Jamie was firmly ensconced in the book Catie had brought for him, the Electric Kool-aid Acid Test. Tapping him on the shoulder he pointed to his eyes with two fingers, the sign for 'pay attention'.
*What?* he signed, putting the book down. Since he couldn't watch TV and there really wasn't much else to do, he had taken up reading.
*How do you like the book?*
*It's…weird* he signed back, spelling weird out since he didn't know how to say it. A sign language teacher came in for several hours a day to teach him basic signs he would need to know.
Picking up the dry-erase board Alex /wrote you are being released tomorrow. How are you feeling?/
"Alright. Better. I can breathe better, the pneumonia is gone and so is most of the bruising. I'm still black and blue a little and my ribs are normal yet. The cuts on my face are healing well too." Jamie replied. He tried to sign, as much as he could, but he was very limited to what he knew how to say.
/I've enrolled you in Bradford Academy. It's the deaf school near here. They're going to make you fluent in sign and teach you how to read lips./
"Will I still be on the squad?" he asked, a seeming nonsequitur. He had been worrying about this for the past week but had never asked.
Alex just signed *No.* /But you will work at the station still. You haven't finished your probation./
"Figures." Jamie said smiling. Even though he wanted to still be an EMT, he realized that now he couldn't be. This was simply confirmation, but at least he would still be there. Working with Brooke he supposed. "Why can't I stay at Kingsport?" As much as he loathed the school at least his friends were there and he knew the status quo. A new school meant new everything. More change to his already chaotic life.
/They will make you conversant in sign within a semester and you will probably repeat your sophomore year again. Just think though, you'll be able to pull your grades up so you can get into a good college./
"A good college? Another year of high school? Alex, you have got to be kidding! I am not a school person! I can't do that!"
*Yes, you can. You smart.* /I will pick you up tomorrow at 10am. Anything special you want to do?/
"Can I go to the bookstore? I'm almost finished with this book. And I'd like to see everyone at school, you know, let them know I'm alive."
*Sure.*
*A/n: The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe looks like an excellent book (with an awesome name!) that I plan to buy as soon as I have money. It's about Ken Kesey and the 60's (and lots of acid). Ken Kesey wrote One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which I have as required reading for one of my classes, 'natch! It's the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon!