Annie and Auggie family and home part 9

Auggie sat in the lounge room, the place where the teachers and instructors of the centre used to meet or take a break between two lessons. His hands flew across the pages on the table in front of him. He was reading the schedule for the next three weeks.

He had more lessons than before. Up till now, he had only worked until noon every day. But from the next week on, he would have to stay until 4 p.m. every day. In Langley he could more or less leave as he wanted i.e. He could work overtime and come in later the following day. Here, however, there were fix schedules that had to be obeyed and he had no point in complaining about that.

On the other hand, this schedule would give him more time to investigate secretly what was happening. After a week, he still had no clue who the leak at the centre was. He had not really made friends with one of the teachers yet. Some of them were blind as well, some of them were sighted. That concerned mainly the O & M instructors who taught the blind students how to get around safely and independently by using the white cane for orientation.

Auggie was the only person sitting in that room and busy with reading his schedule when he heard somebody else enter. The person was talking on the phone and the voice was not familiar.

The man continued his phone conversation whilst taking a seat on the opposite end of the table. After a minute or so he hung up and started unpacking his messenger bag. He looked over to Auggie and said „Oh, a new face here, I have been on vacation for three weeks, didn´t know we had a new teacher here" and then he got up, went over to Auggie and introduced himself.

„My name is Garret, I am one of the O & M teachers here. I have been working here for quite a while now"

„My name is August Anderson" Auggie extended his hand and Garret took it and they shook hands.

„I started working last week. Mrs. Garcia had a vacancy in IT and I was looking for a new job" Auggie smiled. His cover story had to be credible.

„How long have you been working with computers" Garret was curious.

„Well, almost all my life. I had already a computer when I was a kid. Later on, I got a degree in computer science and for a while I worked for a provider of computers and IT accessories."

„Do you mind me asking how long you have been blind?"

„A bit more than 9 years, besides I took my first O & M lessons right here" Auggie replied before he felt for the lid of his watch and opened it. He read the time and said

„It was nice talking to you but I have my next lesson in 5 minutes" And with these words Auggie grabbed his messenger bag, unfolded his cane and left the room. Two doors down the hall, the next group of students was already waiting for him and he had to be punctual.

The next three hours just flew by again and Auggie was extremely busy explaining everything to his students. He was a patient and competent teacher and the students liked his sense of humour.

When the last student had left Auggie packed his messenger bag and left. Walking through the glass door, he suddenly heard a familiar voice talk again not far away from where he stood. It was Garret. Presumably he thought that he was alone and he sounded really annoyed when he said

„I don´t know what you want from me, I do all I can...no...I ….."

and then Auggie heard Garrett talk in Arabic.

Given the fact, that Auggie spoke some Arabic, too, he got the content of the conversation. It looked like he had the first real hint of who could be behind the weapons dealings.

Trying to be inconspicuous Auggie faked a phone call himself. Then he heard Garret come over to him.

„Hey there, did your day go well?" He asked, but his tone sounded suspicious.

„Yeah, it did, I just called a taxi. It should be here in a while" Auggie said trying to sound casual.

Garret gave him a curious look and walked away.

Fourty-five minutes later Auggie was back at home. When he opened the door Jeremy flew like a whirlwind right into his arms. Sandra the babysitter had taken care of him and now she grabbed her bag and left.

„See you tomorrow Mr. Anderson she said and walked through the door".

„Oh...oh...let me just fold up my cane and put my bag down" Auggie said before he picked up his son and lifted him up to his own eye level.

„How did school go today?"

„Well...I learned a couple of new letters today and..." and then he stopped

„And what?" Auggie asked, sensing that something was bothering his son.

„Oh nothing..." Jeremy said but the tone told Auggie he was hiding something.

„Jeremy, I can feel there is something wrong, talk to me..."

„I´d better not Daddy...I ...I don´t want to make you sad"

„Why would you make me sad?"

„It is just...the other kids are being jerks" Jeremy said

„Why are they jerks?"

„Promise me not to be sad, when I tell you" Jeremy replied

„I promise, so spill it"

„During lunch break two of my classmates were making fun of you. They grabbed a tree branch and used it as a cane and...and..." Jeremy was almost on the verge of tears

„Then what?" Auggie asked, hearing that his son was about to cry.

„Then...then...they...they..." Jeremy sobbed...They said that you look weird with that white cane in your hand... and ...and...that blind people are stupid...and...that... that I was stupid, too for having a father who cannot see..."

„Oh come on Jeremy..." Auggie hugged his son tightly and patted his head, gently stroking the dark blond hair of his boy.

„You should not listen to them. Of course, I am blind, and I am using a cane, but that does not make me any less than other dads. And besides...you and I know that I am not stupid and you are not stupid either. Just let them talk and don´t listen to them.

Jeremy wiped away the tears from his cheeks with the right sleeve of his shirt before he said.

„You are not sad Daddy?"

„No, I am not sad. That is just the way it is. I have heard so many things already. It is nothing that would really bother me, don´t worry"

Auggie felt for the face of his son, dried the last tears with his hanky from the pocket of his trousers and said.

„Come on, let´s make some dinner, Mum is going to arrive soon and we will have Spaghetti Bolognese."

Auggie wrapped an apron around his waist and told Jeremy to get the pot for the noodles out of the cupboard. Jeremy grabbed the huge metal pot and handed it over to his father. Auggie walked over to the sink, trailing his hand along the surface of the kitchen counter, filled the pot with water and put it on the stove.

Then, he felt for the tactile dots , to find the right temperature and turned the knob on the stove. A few minutes later, the water was boiling and Auggie threw in the noodles. Annie had already prepared the Bolognese sauce and Auggie got the other pot from the fridge and set in on the stove as well. Shortly after, the Bolognese sauce was bubbling as well and Auggie started laying the table.

When he was done, he heard the door open. Annie walked in, carrying a basket full of groceries. She had stopped at the supermarket on her way back from Langley and had bought cucumber, yoghurt, butter and a couple of other things to fill the fridge again.

„Hey guys, it looks like you have been busy in the kitchen"

Annie set the basket down on the kitchen counter and started unpacking the groceries.

When she was done, the noodles were ready and she poured the hot water into the sink. Auggie meanwhile took off his apron and called for Jeremy to come down to have dinner.

The three of them took a seat at the table and after a few seconds Jeremy´s mouth was red with tomato sauce.

„You look like a clown" Annie stated and went to grab a napkin from the kitchen drawer. She handed it over to Jeremy.

„Here, wipe your mouth a bit, circus clown!"

Auggie smiled, but deep inside he somehow wished he could see all of that. Those were the tiny moments in life when he was yearning for being sighted again. But it was clear, that his sight was gone for ever and irrevocably destroyed"

Jeremy took the napkin and started wiping on his mouth until Annie was satisfied with the result.

Three hours later, Jeremy was already in bed and Annie and Auggie sat on the couch listening to some Jazz music and were sipping on a glass of Bordeaux wine.

Auggie was lost in thought. Annie realized that and after a while she asked him

„What is going on with you? You are so quiet. I guess there is something bothering you, am I right?"

Auggie hesitated a few seconds, searching for the right words before he replied

„Annie am I a good father?"

Annie looked at him in surprise „Why do you ask? For me, you are the best father I could imagine for our son"

Auggie turned a bit towards Annie attempting to meet her gaze „Sometimes, I am not sure of that. You know...today Jeremy came home telling me that the other kids at school had been teasing him. They called him stupid and they laughed about me and my cane and about me being blind. Our son was really devastated because of all that."

„Auggie Anderson, I did not know you had so little self confidence. This is not the guy who has gone on the hardest missions, who has the best hacking skills one could imagine and who is one of the best spies ever"

„Well Annie this is not exactly about me...it is more or less about our son... I mean ….I have suffered enough when I went blind, I adapted...but I do not want my kid to suffer now because I am different"

„Auggie Anderson you have just answered your own question perfectly. If you were a bad father you would never give these things so much thought. And this is why I love you so much"

And then Annie slung his arms around Auggie´s neck, pulled him a bit closer and kissed him passionately on his mouth.