Kooshball note: Thanks to Lonaargh for the info used to rewrite chapter five. Hopefully, this is more realistic.
Izzy stood up shakily, hoping nothing was broken. She stayed on her feet for a few seconds before landing heavily again. Her ears ached, but other than that and her loss of balance, she seemed to be ok. Izzy had been checking a noise just outside of camp when a bomb landed nearby, blasting her off her feet. As she checked herself over, someone tapped her on the shoulder, making her jump. She turned to see Klinger, looking a little worried. He was mouthing something at her, but Izzy couldn't hear what he was saying. When she went to reply, she realised she couldn't hear her voice either.
Klinger helped Izzy towards the camp, the girl having to grip Klinger shoulder every five steps to keep her balance. Izzy wasn't worried yet, just shocked. She couldn't be deaf, that would mean a ticket home. But it appeared that she was. She couldn't hear a thing, not even the bombs hitting the landscape behind them. Izzy strained her ears painfully for a sound, any sound, but she heard nothing, except for a slight ringing.
Like she was expecting, Klinger took Izzy straight to the Swamp. Hawkeye and BJ were sprawled across their bunks, jumping as the Swamp door was swung open and banged into the tent wall. Charles wasn't there, he had been given a few days R and R just yesterday, and headed for Tokyo. The near empty pitcher told Izzy that Hawkeye and BJ had been drinking before they had passed out, and probably discussing home, where ever it may be. Izzy half sat, half fell onto Charles' bunk as Hawkeye and BJ sat up. Klinger's mouth was moving quickly, but Izzy still couldn't hear a thing. After a second, Hawkeye stood up quickly and started checking Izzy over. He checked her for wounds first, then looked into her ears.
She had to ask; was the deafness permanent? Hawkeye said something, but realised Izzy couldn't hear him, so he shrugged. He mouthed something at her, pointing to his watch. Only time would tell.
Izzy tried not to cry. She couldn't imagine being in this weird silent world forever. Already she missed the crickets in the fields around camp, the click of Klinger's heels, the bombs in the distance... well, maybe not so much the bombs.
Klinger tried taking Izzy's riffle from her, which she amazingly still had a hold of. Izzy snatched it back. Just because she couldn't hear, didn't mean she couldn't do guard duty. There was some argument between her and the three men, but Izzy chose not to look at them while they tried to get her to rest. She told them that it was her turn on duty that night, and she wasn't going to go to bed, just because she couldn't hear.
She gave up after a few minutes, and was escorted back to her tent. Hawkeye, BJ and Klinger all hoped that the deafness wasn't permanent, and her hearing would be back in the morning. Izzy wasn't as optimistic, she knew what was coming to Father Mulcahy in the upcoming year.
Izzy woke up late the next morning. She was used to being woken up by people yelling, usually either from volleyball or casualties. She headed for the Mess tent after getting dressed, stumbling as she still didn't have her balance right yet. Some people mouthed greetings to her, but Izzy just nodded.
Margaret insisted on sitting with Izzy after she'd been served. She asked Izzy something, and Izzy just shrugged. There wasn't much else she could do, and she didn't want everyone to know she was deaf. That would be a one way ticket home. Margaret gave her a look but Izzy ignored it. She was good at that.
Hawkeye joined the two after a while, and squeezed in between them, much to Margaret's disgust. He was overly happy, probably to draw attention away from Izzy's deafness. It seemed that her deafness was obvious to everyone, and Hawkeye's antics were just enforcing the others thoughts. They weren't really, but she felt they were.
Izzy figured Hawkeye knew she didn't want anyone to know just yet, and that's why he was acting the way he was. Izzy appreciated it. She thought Hawkeye might also think it a little unbearable without her if she went home, but she was only guessing.
She and Hawkeye left after they had finished, leaving Margaret to wonder why Izzy had been so quiet that morning, even with all of the questions she had pushed onto her. Hawkeye took Izzy to the Swamp, and they sat down, Hawkeye pouring himself a martini first. He downed it, pour himself another, then began to question Izzy. Izzy had to rely on gestures and sign language to understand what he was saying.
He asked her if she wanted to go home to Sydney by drawing Australia (badly) onto a piece of paper. Izzy shook her head.
He asked her something, pointing to his ears. What would she do if she was permanently deaf?
It took Izzy a few tries to understand what he was saying, but when she realised, she just shrugged, she only knew she didn't want to leave at all. She told him, even if she were forced to leave Korea, she'd probably never go back to Australia. Hawkeye asked her something else, but Izzy had to be written a note before understanding him. Where would she go, if not Australia? Izzy shrugged again, she hoped she wouldn't have to think about that for a while. Hawkeye shrugged, shook his head, and didn't try to question Izzy any more. Izzy felt thankful. She didn't feel like charades for the rest of the day, let alone her life.
It was another day before Izzy was half used to not hearing. She avoided talking to anyone so no-one would realise she couldn't hear, and she found most people left her be, especially with wounded coming in. She also found she noticed things more.
Klinger was limping slightly, from when he had slipped in the mud trying to get to Izzy after the explosion, the night Izzy lost her hearing, and wreaked one pair of heels, not to mention a favourite skirt. She asked him about it, and he explained through writing that he didn't want to draw attention to himself.
Margaret stayed awake longer than everyone else by the light of a candle in her tent, probably thinking about Donald, Frank and every other man she thought she loved. It was none of Izzy's business, so she let Margaret be.
Radar was finding it harder to work, having loads of it piled on him at a time. Sometimes, Izzy went in and helped, after letting Radar in on the secret that she couldn't hear, after making him swear he wouldn't tell the Colonel.
Izzy was surprised at all of the small things she found out. In Sydney, she thought she had good eye sight, having to spot security coming from a mile off, and to see where all the surveillance camera's were. Either she had lost her touch, or losing one sense really did enhance the others.
Colonel Potter finally noticed something was amiss on the third day. He called Izzy into his office over the PA system, but it wasn't until BJ found her that she went. He told her that he had noticed something strange with her, and demanded to know what it was. Izzy still couldn't hear this, so she decided on telling the Colonel the truth. She told him plainly that she was deaf and couldn't hear, letting BJ explain the rest.
Potter pulled a discharge paper from his desk draw, and Izzy stood up hurriedly. She pleaded with him to let her have a few more days, to see if the deafness would clear up. She still hadn't organised a home if it hadn't.
Charles came back the next day. He had got her to listen to his new Bach record, and halfway through when he realised Izzy wasn't really listening, asked her what was wrong. Feeling as if it didn't matter if anyone else knew, Izzy told him.
Charles checked Izzy over himself, not trusting Hawkeye to have checked her properly for permanent signs of damage. When he was satisfied, he sat down. Like Hawkeye, he couldn't say whether Izzy would be able to ever hear again or not.
Izzy was called into Potter's office every day, accompanied by Hawkeye or Charles. Every time she pleaded for more time, even though she knew it was getting hopeless. She played with the thought of pretending to get her hearing back, but she knew that wouldn't last. Colonel Potter would probably test her when she told him, to make sure.
Izzy walked across the compound on the fifth day, not realizing Hawkeye had stopped to talked to a corpsman. She headed slowly towards the Swamp. She never heard Hawkeye yell out, or see him run towards her. She did, however, just see the medical van he had been trying in anguish to warn her about, heading for her, and she jumped out of the road. She landed on her backside, and jarred her tailbone. Not enough to do damage, but enough to hurt and to keep her from standing up for a good five minutes. Hawkeye was checking her over in a moment as Izzy sat in the mud in pain. Hawkeye forced her to look at him and spoke clearly to her.
He wanted her to go home.
Izzy sniffed, packing her bags. She always thought she'd last to at least see Radar go home. She walked out of her tent slowly, and headed for Post op to say goodbye to Hawkeye and BJ. She walked in the door, and stopped when she realised she could hear something. BJ and Hawkeye hadn't noticed her yet, they were too busy talking.
Izzy shook her head. She didn't know what she could hear, or where it was coming from, but she could hear it. She jumped when she went over her thoughts again. She could HEAR!
Izzy yelled loudly and started dancing around, startling both Hawkeye and BJ. No doubt they'd just think it was a rouse to stay in Korea, but after a few tests, they'd realise that she could hear! Maybe it was her hearing coming back. Maybe she'd be allowed to stay. Until the next disaster at least.
Kooshball note: Again, thanks to Lonaargh for the facts on how deafness works. I keep telling myself I need to research these sort of things before writing about them, but I never do.