Auggie and Annie family and home part 16
Auggie and Jeremy stepped out of the bus and walked along the sidewalk. Jeremy carried his schoolbag and Auggie had a backpack filled with all kinds of stuff he wanted to show to the kids of Jeremy´s class.
"I am excited" Jeremy said. He had taken Auggie´s hand. He had already become familiar with how to guide his father and was really proud of that.
"Why are you so excited?" Auggie asked him
"Well, you are the first Dad coming to school. The other kids will come with their fathers the following days."
"There is nothing to be nervous about. You and me will be fine and I guess I brought a couple of interesting things for you and your friends" They continued to walk in silence for a while until Jeremy said
"Daddy we are almost there. Only a few steps and then we have to turn right"
"You are already a good guide my son" Auggie smiled and squeezed Jeremy´s hand a bit.
Seconds later, Jeremy led Auggie through the gate across the school yard towards the entrance. Auggie was proud of his son. Jeremy really showed responsibility when he and Auggie went to places Auggie had never been before but also when they both visited familiar places. Jeremy was "his eyes" and Auggie trusted him, even if his son was still very young.
Most kids were already in the classroom when Auggie and Jeremy arrived. Jeremy led Auggie to the teacher desk where Auggie felt for the desk surface and started to unpack his equipment. A few seconds later, Mrs. Williams appeared in the door frame.
"Welcome Mr. Anderson" she smiled and Auggie extended his hand to greet her. He always did that, to avoid awkward situations. Right after he had lost his sight, it often happened that people extended their hands to greet him and he did not realize it because he could not see. This was often confusing for sighted people. So Auggie would always be the first one to offer a handshake.
Now Mrs. Williams took his hand and said
"I am glad you could make it Mr. Anderson. The kids and I are already excited about what you are going to show us today"
Ten minutes later, the rest of the kids had arrived as well and everyone had taken their seat.
"I am happy to tell you that Mr. Anderson, Jeremy´s father is here with us today. He will tell us a bit about his job."
And then she turned towards Auggie and said
"Mr. Anderson it is your turn now, we are all ears"
"Good morning kids"
Auggie greeted the kids in the classroom.
"This is not my first time here. Maybe you all remember my first visit here, when I told you that I am blind and when I showed you how a blind person gets around. I work in an office and today I want to show you how a blind person can work in an office. I have brought you my computer and my Braille display and I will show you how it works."
Auggie now booted his laptop attached his Braille display. He asked the kids to come to the teacher´s desk so that he could show them what he did.
Soon the voice of the screen reader filled the room "system is booting" the computer voice announced.
Some of the kids giggled a bit because the computer voice sounded strange to them.
"The computer voice reads everything to me that is on the screen and with the arrow keys I can navigate the websites and programmes" Auggie explained.
"And what is this funny thing below the keyboard with the tiny holes?
One of the girls asked curiously.
"Well, this is my Braille display. Maybe you all remember that I showed you how I can read with my hands. This special keyboard makes it possible to read the text that is displayed on the screen with my fingertips. I do that when I don´t want to use the screen reader.
And then he showed the kids how the little Braille dots formed on his keyboard and slid his hand across the Braille display.
"We are on the Disney page right now" He said and the kids were fascinated because he was right. They could see all the famous Disney characters on that page.
"And you really cannot see the screen?" another kid asked
"No, I cannot see anything. It is always night around me so to speak. I need to rely on the screen reader to tell me where I am or I slide my fingers across the Braille display"
The kids watched Auggie read the Braille display and were fascinated.
"Who wants to try and feel the dots on the Braille display?" Auggie asked
"I would like to try" a little blond girl said
"Okay, come over to me" Auggie said and got up from his chair
The little girl walked over to Auggie and he felt for her hand when he noticed that she was standing right next to him. With the other hand he felt for the keyboard and put her little hand on the line that displayed the Braille characters.
He navigated the page with the arrow keys and Sandra, the little girl said
"That is funny, a bit ticklish under my fingers"
"Yeah, at first it is" Auggie smiled
"But how can you read so quickly with your hands" Sandra asked
"That is all a question of practice and experience. It took me a while but now it is an easy thing for me."
"Can you also print sheets with those dots" Samantha, a 7-year-old asked
"Yeah, I have a Braille printer at work. Those are pretty expensive that is why I haven´t got one at home. But I have a reading device that scans pages and reads them to me"
Sandra now walked over to the other kids again and Auggie shut down his computer, then he got the box with the Braille flash cards out of his backpack and opened it. He asked the kids to take their seats again and then felt his way to the first row. He took the first flash card out of the box, slid his fingers across it and handed it over to the first kid.
"This is the letter B in Braille" he explained and asked the kid to pass the flash card around. One kid after the other looked at the card, and slid the finger across the Braille letter. Then Auggie took the next card and said "This is the letter G" and like before, the flash card was passed around so that each child could have a look at it. He did that two or three times more and the kids looked at each of the cards.
"Could you write us a word in Braille?" Tom asked
"Yeah of course, which word would you like me to write for you?" Auggie asked
"Dog" Tom said
"How do you spell DOG?" Auggie asked again
"D-O-G" Tom replied
"Okay, I am gonna write that word for you" And then Auggie grabbed his stylus and his Braille slate, felt for the first tiny box, placed a few dots with his stylus in it and repeated that for the next two boxes. Then he opened the slate, took the paper out, turned it, slid his fingers across the paper and passed it to the kids.
One child after the other looked at the short word Auggie had written down.
"It must be difficult to be blind" One kid said
Auggie swallowed and replied "Yeah, sometimes it is but you get used to it after a while and I have been living without my sight for many years now. I have gotten used to it"
Seconds later, the bell rang and it was time for break. The kids grabbed the sandwiches they had brought from home and went out to play. Auggie started to put everything he had brought back into his backpack, took his cane and felt his way out. Walking down the stairs of the building, he heard a kid run towards him. It was Jeremy
"Are you going home now Daddy?"
"Yes, my lesson with you is over. Mum is going to pick you up at noon"
"It was so nice to have you here" Jeremy said and put his arms around Auggie´s waist before he looked up to him and said "Bye"
Auggie slowly walked back to the bus stop counting his steps carefully. He finally found the bus stoop sign with his cane and waited. The bus should arrive any minute. He had enjoyed the time with the kids at school. Kids had such a natural way to ask and they were mostly not prejudiced. But sometimes it was also a bit hard for him. Because the questions were direct and when one of the kids had said "It must be hard to be blind" He could not lie about it.
This time Auggie did not take the bus. He took out his cell phone and called a cab that would take him to Petersburg Prison. He had a special appointment. About 45 minutes later he reached the Petersburg Correctional Centre. The cab driver led him into the building where an officer was already waiting for Auggie. For security reasons Auggie had to leave his personal things and also his cane before he entered the visitor´s room.
Garret sat at the table in the visitor´s room. He had no clue who wanted to visit him. But when the door opened and he saw an officer leading Auggie towards him his eyes widened in surprise.
"Thank you officer" Auggie said, feeling for the chair in front of him and took a seat.
"I am at a loss for words" Garret said "How do you know that I am here?"
"Well, I am still in touch with some people from the centre and they told me what happened to you."
That was of course not the entire truth. First, Auggie had considered the possibility to tell Garret the whole story, but then he had second thoughts and decided it would be easier to tell Garret that he had heard from other people about his imprisonment. Telling him that he was CIA was not an easy thing and he did not want to disappoint Garret. He just wanted to make sure he was alright.
"You have been so kind to me that I wanted to know what happened to you" Auggie added.
"That is a long and complicated story" Garret said
"I am not very proud of all that but I used to gamble. When I finally realized that I needed help I had already lost such a lot of money that I did not know how to get out of that situation. I could not go to a bank so I found a shylock to lend me some money. But that only got me deeper into all that shit. When I could not pay the money back to the shylock either he threatened me. He said he would harm my family or even kill my wife, my parents or my kids if I did not do what he wanted me to do."
"He forced me to play the contact person for him and his business partners. When I finally realized what kind of business that was, I was deeply shocked, but there was no way back if I did not want to risk the health and the life of my family"
Auggie listened to Garret´s explanation his head slightly tilted to the side, his hands folded on the table in front of him.
Garrets voice trembled and his hands were shaking. Auggie felt a little pity for him. He could hear it in Garret´s voice how much he suffered. He had not the courage to tell him that he had been spying on him. Auggie could even imagine keeping in touch with him, being friends with him.
"I am so grateful you came" Garret said "Nobody else from the centre is interested in me anymore. I will lose my job. I won´t be able to get back to my job as an O and M instructor. My wife has to find a job now to provide for herself and the kids as long as I am here in prison.
Maybe I can help Auggie thought by himself. He had lots of friends, maybe he could find somebody to offer him a job when he was released from prison in about 2 years.
Two minutes later the door opened again. The visiting hours were over and an officer offered Auggie his arm and led him out.
An hour later Auggie was back home and he had a lot to think about.