Chapter 20
The diner they found was the perfect example of a 'greasy spoon'. A convenient stop on US-522 between Maryland and Virginia, the other tables were occupied by truckers who were obviously regulars, well-known by the waitresses.
"My, Jack," Sue smiled, looking around. "First, you introduce me to Slappy's and now this place. You're going to spoil me if you keep taking me to such 'fine' establishments," she joked.
"I do my best to impress," Jack flirted, motioning behind her as the waitress approached to take their order. The waitress probably wasn't more than 17 or 18 years old and her nametag on her uniform said Nikki.
"What can I get you folks today?" Nikki asked in a sweet West Virginia drawl.
"I'll have a Veggie Scrambler and coffee," Sue requested, handing her the menu after the teenager wrote it down on her pad.
"And you sweetie," she turned to Jack smiling.
"The Western Omelette and coffee for me, please."
"Will do," Nikki said. "I'll be right back with your coffee."
"I wish I had that much energy in the morning," Sue whispered, watching the girl bounce off to the counter with their order, causing Jack to laugh. "What?"
"You do," he smiled, covering her hand with his. "Trust me, you could run circles around her."
Their eyes held as he caressed the back of her hand with his thumb. They were so lost in their own thoughts that they didn't see Nikki return with a plate of food for the neighboring table until it was too late. Hungry from smelling the food around him, Levi jump up and snatched a piece of bacon off the plate, retreating under the table with his prize.
"Levi!" Jack and Sue called out, mortified at what he'd done.
"I'm so sorry," Sue told the man at the next table, a horrified look on her face. "He's never done that before."
"No problem," he said with a toothless grin, trying to control his laughter. "Wif de smell of all de food around here, I wouldn't be able to control myself eifer." His lips were distorted because of his lack of teeth so Sue turned to Jack, who signed what the man had said.
THANK-YOU, Sue signed to Jack as he turned around to thank the man for understanding.
"Oh, sorry, I didn' realize your wif was deaf," the man apologized, noticing Jack signing to her. "I didn' notice you signin; to her b'fore."
"She's not…" Jack started to say she wasn't his wife, but decided not to go there. "She reads lips, but has trouble understanding at times when, uh,…" he paused, not quite sure how to address why she had trouble reading his lips.
"Ah, my teef," he provided for him. "My daughter's friend is deaf. She says when I don' wear my teef I'm hard to understand." Jack turned back to Sue and signed what the man had said.
"I'm Billy and dat's Luke," the toothless man informed them, pointing to the man sitting with them.
"Nice to meet you," Jack told them. "I'm Jack, this is Sue, and the little thief down there is Levi," he said, pointing under the table. They all laughed as Levi hid his face under his paw.
"You folks just passing through or you visiting for a while," Luke asked. While Luke was also toothless, he wasn't near as hard to understand as Billy. However, Jack continued to sign for Sue just in case.
"Visiting for a couple of days," Jack notified them. Since he didn't know how long they'd have to stay there, he felt it best to tell them that, just in case they ran into them again. It is a small town, Jack thought.
"Well, we hope you enjoy your visit," Luke stated with a tip of his hat. "If you need anything, don't be afraid to ask. We're a friendly bunch here in Berkeley Springs. We take care of our own."
"Thanks," Jack replied before turning back to Sue. If everyone was this friendly in town, they were going to have a nice time, he thought.
Chapter 21
Strolling along the historic streets of Berkeley Springs, Jack and Sue could understand why the town had been in the hospitality business for more than two and a half centuries. The famed warm springs runoff, along the west wall of the park at the heart of town, was reputedly America's premier spa, having been visited by such aristocrats as George Washington and Francis Asbury, America's first Methodist bishop.
They watched as town folk filled their jugs from Lord Fairfax's public tap at the ancient stone pools, in what is reported to be the nation's smallest state park. Sue laughed as Levi began lapping up the water, while Jack held onto her waist so the overzealous canine didn't pull her in with him. She looked at him lovingly over her shoulder, allowing him to cradle her in the warmth of his arms.
Looking through the trees on the ridge above the springs, Sue couldn't believe what she was seeing. There, on the side of the mountain stood a miniature replica of an English castle. Tapping Jack's arm around her waist, she pointed up the hill at the imposing stone structure.
"I see you've noticed the Castle," a pretty young brunette pointed out beside them. Jack turned Sue's attention to their new arrival, keeping his arm around her waist.
"I'm sorry, did you say castle?" Jack asked, repeating what she said for Sue as well as not believing he'd heard her right the first time.
"Berkeley Castle," the woman smiled. "Thought it's not really a castle just a summer cottage," she admitted grinning mischievously.
"Some summer cottage," Sue awed. "It's spectacular!"
"Thanks," she nodded. "Colonel Samuel Taylor Suit, a politically well-connected and successful businessman who marketed his popular brand of whiskey across the country in little brown jugs, built the 'cottage' in the late 1800s for his young bride, Rosa Pelham, the daughter of an Alabama congressman," she told them. "Suit died before it was finished, but Rosa returned in the 1890s holding lavish galas for her sophisticated friends and that is when it became known as the Castle to all the 'lowly peasants' of Bath."
"Bath?" The woman talked fast, but Sue was able to piece together parts of what she said until the woman mentioned 'bath'.
"Sorry, that's another name for Berkeley Springs! When George Washington came here in 1776, he named the town around the springs Bath, and its actually still its official name," she admitted. "Only the post office is Berkeley Springs."
UNDERSTAND, Sue signed to Jack, shaking her head NO with a frown on her face. Jack started to explain to the confused woman when Sue spoke up.
"I'm sorry," Sue told her. "I'm deaf, and I didn't understand a lot of what you were saying."
"But you did understand some? How?" the woman questioned, looking very perplexed. Fortunately, her confusion slowed down her rate of speech.
"I read lips, but when you turn away or talk fast, I can't understand," Sue confessed. "What I do understand is just bits and pieces of concepts that I put together, and when there is a lot of information at once sometimes it just gets jumbled up."
A multitude of emotions passed over the woman's face as she gaped at Sue like she'd grown two heads. Fury rising, Jack was about to say something when the woman turned on her heel and ran off, muttering under her breath. Jack couldn't hear what she said but at this point all he cared about was the pained look on the face of the woman he cared so deeply about.
Wrapping his arms around her, running his fingers through her blond hair as she laid her head on his shoulder, Jack couldn't believe how insensitive some people where. Though he knew Sue had been through this and worse many times before in her life, it didn't make it easier on him to bear. Closing his eyes and burying his face in her sweet smelling hair, all Jack wanted to do was rip off some heads.
"Excuse me." Jack heard the woman's tentative voice next to him and turned glaring eyes in her direction. Feeling him shift, Sue pulled out of his arms seeing the woman back.
"Ah, this is Matt," the woman stammered, a bit put off by Jack's fierce scowl as she indicated the man next to her.
M-A-T-T M-A-R-T-I-N, the man fingerspelled and said. "I'm an interpreter from Hagerstown," he signed as he spoke. "I'm visiting my cousin, Anna, here for the Apple Butter Festival this weekend and she said she needed some help."
Anna smiled apologetically, looking from Jack to Sue. "Nobody should come to Berkeley Springs without learning a little bit about the history," she waited for Matt to interpret. "And Matt's always saying there's never enough for him to do around here when he visits…maybe you can help me keep him busy?" She looked up at them hopefully.
Jack looked down at Sue uncertainly, but she nodded enthusiastically, replying with a smile, "We'll do the best we can."
While Matt interpreted, Anna repeated what she'd said earlier about the Castle and the town, adding a few historical facts and legends as she went. Jack wasn't really listening to the story, however; his focus was on the woman still in his arms.
Obvious to anyone who saw her, Sue had an innate beauty that went deeper than most people could ever dream. While he knew that he'd only seen the surface of her compassion and understand of others, Jack looked forward to the time when she taught him to love and see others like she did.
A/N: Berkeley Springs, WV and Berkeley Castle are real locations with the information provide here taken from the Official Website of Berkeley Springs, WV and the Berkeley Springs Castle (US) website.
Chapter 22
While Matt interpreted Anna's narrative, Sue and Jack strolled from building to building, learning the history of the town. Berkeley Springs, a fountainhead of warm mineral waters frequented by Native Americans long before Europeans arrived in the New World, was the heart of a mountain spa community in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle. First noted as Medicine Springs in 1747 on a map drawn by Thomas Jefferson's father, the waters for many centuries drew visitors seeking health and relief from the stress of everyday life.
In 1776, George Washington's family and friends drew up a plat of 134 lots, named the streets, and incorporated The Town of Bath, invoking the muses of the renowned English spa. Yet the magic of the springs prevailed, allowing the town and surrounding area to retain their name Berkeley Springs.
The waters flow at a constant 74°F from the base of Warm Springs Ridge. The town endured cycles of notoriety, fashion, war and modern progress, but to this day remains the Country's First Spa, a quiet, friendly haven surrounded by West Virginia's splendid outdoors.
As they approached the bank, a young girl came skipping up, carrying a stuffed squirrel. Matt immediately excused himself, bending down as the little girl threw her arms around his neck.
"Sorry, this is my little sister, Emi," Matt signed to Sue. "Emi, this is Ms. Sue and Jack," he laughed when Levi barked to get his attention. "And that is Levi."
"Oh, doggy," Emi cried, rushing to pet him. Her brother caught her before she could, however, turning her back to face him.
"Levi's a service dog, sweetheart," Matt stopped her. "He's working right now."
"Like Uncle Willie's doggy, Chase?" Emi asked quietly, looking back over her shoulder at Sue and her companion.
"Yeah, like Chase," Matt agreed smiling.
"But she doesn't look blind," Emi announced, after gazing up at Sue for a while. Anna and Jack laughed at the simplistic way the little girl thought, while Matt interpreted what Emi had said for Sue. Apparently, Uncle Willie was blind, and little Emi associated all service dogs with blind people.
"No, Emi, I'm not blind. I'm deaf," Sue smiled, kneeling down to eyelevel with the girl. "My ears don't work."
"Oh, can you talk with your hands like Matt's friends from school?" she asked simply. "They taught me some signs," she announced proudly, showing her MOMMY, DADDY, EAT, and DRINK. Matt stood behind Emi's shoulder, ready to interpret anything Sue didn't get.
"Yes, I can sign," Sue acknowledged. "It's good that you're learning too, and so young." She gave a meaningful glance up at Jack who shrugged, blushing in embarrassment knowing that he hadn't been as diligent at learning as he should be.
"Yeah, I want to learn so when Mommy says I have to be quiet, I can still talk," Emi admitted, causing Matt to groan.
"Sorry, I'm still trying to teach her that sign language isn't a way to get around rules," he apologized. "It's a meaningful way to communicate for a large number of people."
"Well, it will come in time," Sue smiled at the girl's candor. "She's still young. Do you take her to any deaf functions?" she wondered. "Exposure to the Deaf Culture will give her an opportunity to see it first hand, and help her understand. Maybe not immediately, but eventually."
"I never thought of that," Matt confessed. "I do bring home deaf friends and she's around them, but we're in a hearing environment, so it's not the same."
Matt, Emi, and Sue continued to talk by the bank about how Levi was trained to be Sue's ears like Chase was trained to be Uncle Willie's eyes. Jack and Anna continued walking as Anna pointed out the old church across the street that was one of the oldest Methodist churches in the United States.
Anna and Jack had made it about a block, when the noise from the doors of the bank banging open caused them to turn in time to see two masked men, hauling large duffle bags and carrying sawed-off shotguns, emerged. Before the bank robbers could make it to their car, the Morgan County police arrived, having been alerted by the silent alarm in the bank. Lining the street, the three patrol cars blocked their exit as the deputies appeared, guns drawn on the suspects.
Sue froze in place as the gunmen started shooting at the patrolmen, backing towards the bank. Matt had thrown himself on the ground protectively over his sister and was reaching up to grab Sue when the robbers turned in their direction. Unable to reach her, Matt watched as the one gunman, surprised at someone being so close, raised his rifle towards Sue. He jumped instinctively as a shot was heard.