Into the light and back part 4
The remaining two weeks of Auggie´s vacation passed quickly. Every day he got a bit more reacquainted with his vision. But he was still reluctant to tell his family or colleagues because he was still suspicious that the ability to see again might not last forever. A few days before he had to go back to work, however, he called his family.
He dialled his parent´s phone number and his mother picked up the receiver.
„Mira Anderson"
„Hey Mum, it´s me Auggie"
„Hey son, what a pleasant surprise" sounded his mother´s voice cheerfully on the other end of the line.
„Mum, I have taken a few days off and I thought it might be a good idea, to come and visit again"
„That would be fantastic" His mother was delighted. She knew, that her son was „married to his job" as she called it and he rarely made it to Illinois.
„When do you intend to come?" Mira Anderson asked.
„I have booked a flight for tomorrow morning. So I should be there in the early afternoon"
„My plane is due to arrive at 1:30 pm" Auggie added and smiled. In his mind, he tried to imagine the face of his mother, when she realized that he could see again. She had been more worried about him than anybody else when he had lost his sight in Iraq.
„See you tomorrow, son"
„Yeah, love you Mum" Auggie said and ended the call.
His flight home to his family was on time and Auggie stepped down the gangway of the plane. He shoulderd his bagpack with his belongings and walked towards the airport building. He had no other luggage and so he quickly made his way to the exit. He had already walked half of the way, when he spotted a familiar person. It was his mother. She also had discovered him and was perplexed that Auggie was neither holding somebody´s arm nor was he holding a white cane. She quickly hurried towards her son, looked at him, studied him from head to toe and finally realized that he could exactly meet her gaze.
Tears streamed down her face and she stammered „Auggie..A...Au..Auggie...is it just a dream or can you see again?"
„Yes Mum, I can see again" Auggie replied and pulled his mother into a long and warm embrace.
„This is so wonderful „ his mother sobbed and quickly wiped away the tears from her eyes with the sleeve of her blue blouse"
„I wanted to tell you in person" Auggie said and both continued their walk to the exit of the airport building. Mira Anderson had parked her car right in front of the building and started now the motor for their ride home.
Justin Anderson was sitting at his desk, reading the mail of the day when Auggie entered the living room. He walked towards his father and said
„You look good Dad!"
Justin Anderson looked up from the letter he had been reading, stared at his son and asked confused
„Where is your cane?"
„I don´t need it anymore"Auggie replied
„Jesus Christ, how is that possible?" Auggie´s father was almost shocked upon this revelation.
„An Italian doctor has developed a new method of surgery" Auggie explained and smiled.
„That is great news son" Justin Anderson got up and hugged his son. He was not a man of many words and just like Auggie a person, who would not show their emotion to everyone.
Auggie walked around the house and the garden. Everything looked like he remembered it. It had been a long time since his last visit.
Auggie´s mother had prepared Auggie´s favourite dish. Pork roast with potatoes and mixed vegetables. Auggie enjoyed the meal with his parents and he enjoyed to see them smile again. Since his accident, his mother had constantly worried about him and he had felt some sort of guilt.
He knew that this was stupid, because the accident was not his fault, but he felt guilty because he was the source of all that pain that his mother was going through.
„I cannot say how happy you made me son." Mrs. Anderson said and gently patted Auggie´s back.
„I know that you have always worried about me, Mum" Auggie said and then he took his mother´s hand into his and added „But even when I was blind, I was happy. My blindness did not take away all the joy of living. When you are blind, it does not necessarily mean, that your life has come to an end and that everything is sad and depressing. It took me some time to understand that, but I made the best of it. I don´t want you to worry for me anymore"
Mira Anderson was deeply touched by her son´s words. „You are a great guy" She said „And a great son. I wish I had the wisdom you have"
The three days with his parents passed quickly and Auggie had to board the plane for his return flight to Washington. He was excited to see the reaction of his colleagues, when they realized, that he was not blind anymore. On board of the plane, he tried to imagine the face of Annie. He had been so close to her and they had gone through so much together, but after all, she was only a voice for him and he could not paint her picture in his mind.
Monday morning came quickly and Auggie took the shuttle ride to the agency. When he entered the halls of Langley, he felt strange. He had come back to this place blind 7 years ago and it had been exciting and now he had the same overwhelming sensation. It felt awkward to return as a sighted man. It felt strange, to walk through the halls without his cane in his hands.
Auggie walked towards his office. Half of the bullpen area was empty because the employees were in a meeting. The remaining people were immersed into their work and nobody noticed him.
Auggie slid the glass door open and took in the picture.
He had never really seen the office he had worked in for the last 7 years. He looked at the screen, his Braille keyboard, his Braille printer and his document reader before he slowly moved closer and took a seat. His desk was already filled with files that Joan had left for him. A note on top of the pile told him that she was off for a day because baby Mac was sick.
Auggie booted his computer and started flipping through the pages in front of him. Of course they were all in Braille, since nobody knew about the changes in his life. Auggie was sliding his hand across the first page, when he saw a man with red hair, a read beard and broad shoulders approach. The man peeked through the glass door, knocked and finally opened it.
Auggie had no idea who the man was, until he spoke to him „Hey man, glad to have you back Auggie"
„Hey Eric" Auggie smiled and got up from his seat. He walked directly towards Eric Barber who was still standing in the door frame.
Eric had watched Auggie cross the room and the quick movements had made him suspicious.
„What´s going on with you?" He asked with a questioning look on his face.
„Nothing special" Auggie said and looked directly into Eric´s eyes.
Now Eric began to understand. He had never seen Auggie making eye contact and he had never seen him move around in a room so quickly. And with his mouth wide open he stammered
„Auggie...is it...is it...I mean is it possible that you can see me?"
Auggie grinned and replied „Yes, buddy I CAN SEE YOU!
„What the hell...? Oh man...I..." Eric stammered again and patted Auggie´s shoulder
When he had finally recovered a bit from the shock, Eric continued „This is awesome Auggie, tell me how did all of that happen?"
Now Auggie told Barber the whole story and asked him not to tell anybody else about his vision.
Auggie wanted to spread the good news by himself.
When Barber had left, Auggie continued reading his files. He slid his fingertips across the page but his posture was not the usual one. As a blind man, his whole stance was more stiff and he did not move his eyes a lot. Anybody who knew him better, would realize this changes in his behaviour.
After an hour, Auggie stopped reading and turned to his screens. It had been a while, that he had worked with a computer sighted. He had to get used again to moving his eyes back and forth, reading all the different windows with information. But it felt good, not to depend anymore on the sometimes annoying voice of the speech system that read the content to him. After a while however, Auggie´s eyes got strained and a throbbing pain in his temples announced a headache. Too much reading was still painful for his eyes and so he went back to reading with his hands by sliding his fingertips across the Braille line below his keyboard.
He had just finished reading the first couple of emails, when he saw a beautiful blond woman enter the bullpen area. She wore a black skirt, high heels, a red blouse with short sleeves and had her hair put up in a bun. Auggie was stunned, when he saw her walking directly towards his office. What might such a beauty want from him? He thought.
Twenty seconds later, the door of his office opened and the young lady walked straight ahead towards his desk. When she stood next to him, it finally dawned on him. IT WAS ANNIE, HIS ANNIE!
Auggie rose from his seat when he heard her say
„Hey handsome man, I missed you"
„I missed you as well" he replied, taking in her picture.
And then Annie realized, that Auggie was watching her. She went pale and stammered
„Auggie...Auggie..am I wrong or are you looking at me right now?"
„I have rarely seen so much beauty" Auggie said and pulled her into a firm hug and placed a kiss on both of her cheeks.
Just like Barber before, Annie was surprised, even shocked. It was incredible that her blind friend could see her now.
Auggie was directly looking into her eyes and that felt strange and good at the same time. How often had she wished that he could see her, that he could see everything that she tried to describe to him in order to make him participate in what was going on around him.
„Oh Auggie that is fantastic, a miracle!" she exclaimed.
„Not exactly a miracle" Auggie stated „Just the hands of a skilled eye surgeon in Rome"
„Oh that is why you made that trip" Annie said and added „I should be mad at you because you did not tell me"
„I did not tell anybody" Auggie replied. „I did not want anybody to feel sorry for me in case it did not work. That is why I kept it secret"
„Does Joan know already?" Annie asked
„No, not yet, I am gonna tell her tomorrow when she is back"
Auggie´s attempt to keep his secret had not worked. Joan had already heard the good news when she returned to her office the next day. Her first way after her arrival led her to Auggie´s office.
She was happy that he could see again and she wanted to tell him that personally.
Auggie had just taken a few sheets out of the printer when he heard somebody come in. He turned and looked into the face of his boss. He remained quiet for a second, before he finally said „Good morning"
„Good morning Auggie" Joan said and studied Auggie from head to toe, just like his mother had done it a couple of weeks ago. Then she met his gaze and commented „So..., Mr. Anderson I have just heard that you are among the sighted again?"
„How come that you know already?" Auggie asked.
„Remember, we are all spies" Joan smiled and patted his shoulder
„Congratulations Auggie" she said and left. She was not the type of woman, who showed too much emotion.
