Annie and Auggie family and home part 14
"You definitely need some new jeans" Annie said. Auggie hated shopping, especially when he had to buy clothes. He hated to try an infinite number of trousers and he hated to dress and to undress again and again until he had found something. Moreover, he had to rely on the help of others regarding style, colour etc. and that made shopping even more complicated and annoying.
"Ok, I realize it does not make any sense to refuse. As soon as I am back from the centre, you can take me to the shopping mall but I will only allow you to take me to ONE shop. If I don´t find something there, we are done"
"Okay"Annie smiled, well knowing that Auggie could not resist her charm when she would try to convince him to walk into a second or third shop.
Then, Auggie grabbed is cane, his wallet, his messenger bag and left. He walked to the bus stop and he was so lost in thought, that he almost missed the bus stop sign and walked past it. After a few more steps, he turned, found the sign and waited for the bus to arrive.
Half an hour later he sat in the office of Mrs. Garcia. The director of the centre was a bit disappointed.
"Of course I can understand your decision Mr. Anderson but I had hoped you would stay with us a bit longer. You do an excellent job, the students like you and…to be honest…I have not found a new IT instructor yet. But we had agreed on you leaving as soon as you have found something new."
"Thank you for your understanding" Auggie was nervous and fumbled a bit with his cane. He liked Mrs. Garcia and he had just started to like his job. "I am a bit sorry, too because I liked my job here but you will surely understand that I prefer working as an admin or as the head of IT department"
Then, Auggie rose from his chair, unfolded his cane again and left. The last lessons at the centre would begin soon and he did not want to be late.
"Could I have your attention please!" Auggie said when all his students had taken their seats.
"I would like to inform you that this will be your last lesson and your last day with me. I am going to leave, because I found a new job"
As soon as he had finished his short speech Auggie heard the students murmur in the classroom. One of them finally said.
"It is really a pity that you have to leave. You are an excellent teacher and we will really miss you" The murmur of the other students confirmed the words of the young man.
This was one of the moments when Auggie was glad that his students were as blind as he was because he did not have to hide his emotions and the tears that now burned in his eyes. Instead he said.
"Thank you for your kind words, but I guess we´d better get down to business now. Please open your book on page 55 and read the instructions. If you have any questions let me know and I will be there to answer them"
Shortly after, Auggie heard the students open their books and listened to the turning of the pages while he walked through the room and finally stopped in front of a window. He stared out of the window onto a well kept garden and blooming flowers and trees that he could not see. The beauty of all that had been lost on him for a long time already but he had managed to deal with it.
Two hours later lunch break came closer and Auggie walked into the lounge where some of the other teachers were already talking. A few seconds after, the door opened again an Garret walked in.
"Hey Auggie, I have just heard you´re gonna leave us"
"Yeah, I found something new. I am going to start on Monday. I liked working here but I am happy to be back to my old job as an IT admin"
"Okay then let my invite you for a farewell beer on our break. What do you think?"
"Your offer is really tempting, I can hardly say no" Auggie grinned and took Garret´s arm preparing to leave.
Twenty minutes later the two men sat in a café at the end of the road. Auggie had ordered a cheese and ham sandwich and a beer and Garret a beer and a hamburger.
"I really liked you as a colleague. I am kind of sad that you are leaving now" Garret said after the first bite of his hamburger and the first sip of his beer.
"Yeah, I liked my job, too and I liked working with you" Auggie replied and he had a bit of a bad conscience that he could not be honest with Garret because he really liked him. Even after so many years as a spy there were times when it was hard to play a role and to deceive others. But he could not help it. He had a job to do and he had been successful so far.
"Where do you start working now?" Garret asked and Auggie almost flinched upon that question. His mind started spinning and he quickly invented something, hoping to sound believable.
"I am going to be in charge of the IT department at a huge production plant for textiles. I guess you won´t have heard the name, they have just set up their factory here a few weeks ago." When Auggie had finished his sentence he hoped that Garret would not ask further questions and he was relieved when Garret only said
"Okay, then good luck with your new job"
"Thanks" Auggie smiled
Two and a half hours later Auggie was back home. Annie was already waiting for him and Jeremy was still playing with his friends from school, so there was enough time for the shopping tour she had planned on.
"Hey Darling, I am back!" Auggie called when he opened the door and made his way to the kitchen folding up his cane while he walked.
"I am happy you made it home early enough for our shopping tour" Annie grinned, well knowing that Auggie was anything else but keen on that trip to the shopping mall.
"Do we really have to go?" Auggie said with an unnerved expression on his face.
"Yeah, we definitely have to go. The two jeans in your closet look anything else but decent, knowing that the state of your clothes is sometimes lost on you, ….I mean considering the circumstances…. I have to insist on our shopping tour."
"Okay then, let´s go" Auggie sighed" And he was not angry for Annie being so direct. She was right, given his complete lack of sight, he was not always able to tell whether his clothes still looked decent and okay, so he had to believe her.
Twenty minutes later Auggie and Annie got out of the car. Annie had left the car on the parking lot next to the shopping mall and offered Auggie now her lead. As usual, he grabbed her elbow and they made their way to the first clothes store on the ground floor. A young shop assistant walked towards them as they entered the shop.
"How can I help you?" He asked, turning to Annie and ignoring Auggie who leaned on his cane.
"Well I am actually looking for a pair of new jeans" Auggie said and now the shop assistant lifted his brows in surprise and turned towards Auggie.
Auggie felt that the young man acted awkwardly. This was not new for him. Many people just did not know how to act around a blind person.
"Well then let me have your size and I will get you a selection of jeans to try" The shop assistant said and disappeared after Auggie had given him the size.
Whilst the shop assistant walked around the shop grabbing a pair of jeans here and there from the shelves, Annie led Auggie to the changing cubicle. Auggie folded his cane, felt for the chair sat down and took off his trousers. A few seconds later the shop assistant appeared with five pairs of jeans.
The first pair of dark blue jeans was too long, the second a bit too short but the third pair did fit perfectly. Auggie felt for the curtain, opened it and called "Annie, what do you think?"
"Well, this jeans was definitely made for you. It fits, it suits you and the colour is just right."
"Okay I am going to take these" Auggie replied
"What about the other two?" Annie asked
"Do I really have to try these, too?"
"Oh come on Auggie, don´t be a jerk. We wanted to buy two jeans for you. It cannot be such a strain for you to try two further pairs of jeans"
"Okay, I see, discussing with you does not make sense" and with these words Auggie disappeared again in the changing cubicle.
He tried the other two jeans and just like before the first pair of jeans was too long but the second would fit.
Annie opened the curtain a bit, peeked into the cubicle and nodded "Yeah these are good" and then Auggie handed over the second pair of jeans to her before he got dressed again.
"We are going to take these" Annie said and the shop assistant approached again taking the jeans out of Annie´s hand and walked over to the checkout.
Auggie opened the curtain of the changing cubicle and Annie offered him her arm again and led him to the checkout where Auggie opened his wallet and paid. Again, he felt that the shop assistant felt awkward around him. When he had put the change into his wallet the shop assistant suddenly asked.
"Do you mind me asking….I mean…are you completely blind?"
"Yes I am"
"Oh, I see…I...you must know that I have never met a blind person and I did not know how to talk to you. I am sorry If I came over a bit unfriendly"
"I assumed that you have not been around blind people before, but don´t worry, you are not the first one feeling awkward when meeting somebody who cannot see" Auggie replied with a friendly smile.
"Thank you Sir" the shop assistant said and handed Auggie the bag with the jeans.
"I am glad I have finally gotten over with this" Auggie sighed when he left the shop and Annie led him to the car.
"Well, we finally got what we wanted, so just relax now" Annie said and nudged Auggie with her elbow before she opened the door and got into the driver seat. Auggie felt for the door handle, opened the door, took a seat, folded his cane and put it onto his lap.
On their way back home Annie and Auggie stopped to pick up Jeremy who had been playing with Tom. Tom´s Mum opened the door after Annie had rung the door bell. Auggie had stayed in their car. He was exhausted and needed a break. He sat on the front passenger seat and had closed his eyes. Sometimes all the impressions, the olfactory, audible and tactile stimulus were too much for him and he needed to calm down. This was one of these days.
"Mummy, we had a great day. Tom has a new race car track and we have been playing with it all afternoon. I ´d love to have something like that, too" Jeremy said before he took Annie´s hand and left.
The following night was almost sleepless for Auggie. The impressions of his job at the centre had made come back a lot of memories, memories of a time , when he had just lost his vision. He tossed and turned in bed and around 4:00 a.m. Annie woke him, when she heard him groan and finally scream.
"Hey wake up, what is going on with you?" Annie cautiously touched Auggie´s shoulder, shaking him cautiously.
Auggie slowly realized where he was and that he had just had a bad nightmare. He turned a bit towards Annie´s side of the bed, his forehead covered with sweat.
"Why did you wake me?"
"Well, I thought you were having nightmares. You screamed and groaned. I just wanted to get you out of that mess"
"Well, I cannot remember all of it but I guess I was in Iraq again, the explosion..., the accident..., my buddies from the military unit dying...I just don´t know why I cannot get rid of that after all these years"
Auggie sounded desperate. Even more so, because hed did not like to admit any kind of vulnerability. Annie was one of the few persons in his life he would open up to, at least at times. Auggie slowly got out of bed, went over to the adjacent bathroom and splashed some cool water onto his sweaty face. Then he made his way back to the bed wrapped his arms around Annie and fell asleep again.
The sound of the alarm clock woke him a few hours later. "It is 6:30 a.m., it is 6:30 a.m. the female voice announced and Auggie felt for the button to stop the noise. Then he remembered what had happened before. He was not proud of the fact that he still was vulnerable, that he still suffered at least subconsciously.
Auggie rose from the bed and got under the shower, the cold water refreshed him and when he had finally shaved, he carefully walked over to the closet. He felt for the Braille tags on his shirts and opted for a white shirt, a dark-grey pair of jeans and a black leather belt.
Annie was already out, taking Jeremy to school. He was grateful to have some time for himself. He still had not gotten over the nightmare he had had a few hours before, and he did not want to talk it over again. Auggie walked over to the coffeemaker, got a mug from the shelf above the sink and slowly poured himself a cup whilst letting slide his finger across the rim. In an hour he had to be in Langley and he would plan the next steps of the "Garret Mission" with Barber and the rest of the crew.