Annie and Auggie family and home part 19

Auggie and Annie had spent a good night in Auggie´s old room whilst Jeremy slept in the room that had belonged to Alan, Auggie´s oldest brother. Alan had become a lawyer and lived in New York. He and his wife Sandra had a little son of six months and a daughter of five. Alan and Sandra would visit and Auggie was looking forward to introducing Annie and Jeremy to that part of his family. Maybe Oliver his second brother would join them as well with his wife Jessica and his daughter 9-year old daughter Claudia. Gladys said that he was supposed to call.

After a refreshing shower, Auggie felt his way down the stairs into the kitchen where Gladys was preparing breakfast.

"The coffee smells good" he stated and Gladys turned towards her son and kissed him on his cheek.

"Good morning, I hope you had a good night"

"Yeah, I slept like a baby. I almost forgot how quiet it is here" Auggie replied, trailing his hand along the kitchen counter, finding his way to the fridge. He opened the door and felt for the milk bottle. Then he felt for the first cupboard, grabbed a cup, reached over to the coffeemaker and poured himself a cup whilst cautiously putting his index finger across the rim to make sure he did not spill anything. Then he added some milk and took the first sip.

"You are staring at me" Auggie said, feeling that his mother was watching him.

Now Gladys felt a bit embarrassed. "I still don´t know how you can do all that" she said

"What do you mean by all that?" Auggie asked in return

"Well, walking through the house, pouring coffee…I mean…I…I could not imagine to do all that if I were….I mean….if I …..if I …could not see"

"Mum, I have been living without my sight for a long time now and I have gotten used to doing most of the things on my own and….besides….you can use the word blind, it describes exactly what I am. I AM BLIND MUM!

Gladys Anderson swallowed, trying to get rid of the lump that had formed in her throat. She still felt sad when she watched Auggie moving around the house, especially when he visited Glencoe. In her mind she remembered the way he had been before the accident. A strong, independent, young man with a whole life ahead. But the bomb attack in Iraq had destroyed a lot of his dreams and had left his parents concerned and full of sorrow about his future.

"Sorry Auggie, I did not mean to offend you, son" Gladys walked over to Auggie and pulled him into a hug.

"It is just….I mean…I am kind of overwhelmed. You have not been here for a long time and I still have all these memories of the time before…before you lost your vision..." she paused for a second…..before adding "I mean before you went BLIND"

Now, Auggie tried to concentrate on his mother´s voice, trying to meet her gaze before he said

"Mum I take it you still can´t say it, right?

"Say what?"

"I meant you still can´t pronounce the word BLIND, when you talk about me. I can feel that"

Now, Gladys was glad that her son could not see her because the moisture in her eyes would have made Auggie feel uncomfortable. She knew how much he hated pity. But he was right, she could not get used to the idea to have a blind son. Even after so many years it hurt her to see her youngest son walking with a cane.

"Auggie, you are my son, I know that you cannot see but you are right, I still hate to call you BLIND even if it is true. For me you are still the man you were before but I admit that I often try to forget what happened to you."

"Mum, you have to move on and accept me the way I am. I have done that a long time ago and I started to feel better when I finally started accepting my blindness as a part of what I am now. It doesn´t make things any better when you deny the facts. And the fact is that I will never see again"

And then he felt for his mother´s face and with a tender movement of his hand he wiped away the tear that had rolled down Gladys´ cheeks while listening to her son.

"Let´s now have breakfast" he said taking in the smell of scrambled eggs, bacon, fresh toast and coffee.

Ten minutes later Auggie, Annie, Jeremy and his parents were sitting around the dining table enjoying their breakfast. Around noon, Alan would arrive with his family and Auggie was excited to see his brother after so many years. He had not even met his nephew and niece in all these years.

"Does Mr. Jackson still run that little corner shop?" Auggie asked after he had put down his fork and wiped his mouth with a napkin.

"Yeah, he does" James Anderson answered

"Then I think I´ll go for a walk. I wanna see whether he still has my favourite licorice drops" Auggie said, rising from his seat.

"Do you want to go alone?" Gladys asked

"Yeah, I have thought so. I guess you and Annie want to go shopping for our barbecue tonight, right? Shopping malls are not exactly the favourite place for a blind guy" Auggie grinned. Gladys however seemed to be uncomfortable. The blind jokes her son made from time to time did not really suit her personal taste.

"Can I go with you Daddy?" Jeremy asked "I would love to see what this shop is like and I could guide you"

"If you want to come with me you can" Auggie said, let me just go upstairs and grab my bag and cane before we go. And then Auggie made his way upstairs to his room.

He also grabbed his sunglasses that he had brought. It was a bright sunny day so many people would wear sunglasses. Auggie, however, opted for the glasses because he had not slept well the last three nights and Annie had told him he had dark circles under his eyes. Then he felt his way down the stairs where Jeremy was already waiting for him.

Jeremy slightly touched his father´s arm and Auggie put his hand on Jeremy´s shoulder when they walked down the gravel path and turned right onto the sidewalk.

"Do you still know the way Daddy?" Jeremy asked when they had walked a few metres.

"Yeah, I do. We have to walk until the end of this road and right at the corner there is this little shop where I used to buy my sweets, my chewing gum and my Disney comics when I was your age."

A few seconds later, Auggie heard a voice calling him. "Auggie! Auggie! Is that you, Auggie?"

Auggie and Jeremy stopped walking and then a young brunette lady walked towards them. She wore black jeans and a white blouse and her hair was put up in a bun. A huge pair of sunglasses gave her a touch of a Hollywood star.

"Hey Auggie, good to see you again", the young lady said giving Auggie a brilliant smile, wondering why he did not reciprocate.

"Susan Parker?" Auggie said with a questioning look on his face

"Yeah, it´s me Susan Parker, don´t tell me you did not recognize me" she said still smiling.

"Well, I have to admit I didn´t" Auggie said waving his cane that he had kept folded up in his right hand whilst Jeremy had guided him.

"Oh" Susan blushed "I didn´t realize you are…I mean that you cannot see me"

"Don´t worry, I have gotten used to it that people do not immediately realize that I am blind, at least not in certain situations" Auggie replied.

"This is my son Jeremy" Auggie said changing the topic. "We are about to go to the corner shop."

"This is where I actually come from" Susan replied before she asked "Would you like to meet with some of our former high-school classmates? Sabrina, Jerry and Greg still live here."

"Oh, I don´t know if that is such a good idea" Auggie replied "I mean, I won´t have that much time either. We are here for a family reunion and my brothers will come over and visit. We have not met in a while and I am happy to see them again"

"I understand" Susan said, anticipating that Auggie did not want to talk about the old times. "I´d better go now, Clark my husband will be home for lunch and I have not done my grocery shopping yet" Then she extended her hand, but of course that movement was lost on Auggie until Jeremy took his hand and guide it into Susan´s hand. Susan looked puzzled, she had no experience with blind people.

"Have a nice day" Auggie said unfolded his cane and started walking. He did not want further confusion. The cane was an obvious sign of his disability. So if somebody else saw him, they would immediately realize he couldn´t see.

Two minutes later Jeremy said "I can see the shop. Outside there is this huge ice cream cone in front of the door"

"Yeah, then we are in the right place" Auggie said finding the door with the tip of his cane guided by Jeremy.

Mr. Jackson stood behind the counter. He was not very tall. His grey hair was bald and he wore a blue shirt, black trousers and an apron wrapped around his waist. He was about to unpack a carton with chewing gum when Auggie and Jeremy walked in. Mr. Jackson first looked at Jeremy but when looking over to Auggie it dawned on him who was standing in front of him.

"August Anderson?" He said incredulous, putting down the carton. Then he walked around the counter and towards Auggie.

"Yeah, I am August and that is my son Jeremy" Auggie replied, offering his hand for a friendly handshake. Mr. Jackson took Auggie´s hand and looked at him with interest.

"How long has it been?" He asked "Twelve, fifteen years?"

"I guess more like fifteen" Auggie said. Jeremy was almost nine and it had been a while before he met Annie and got married.

"It is good to see you" Mr. Jackson said and with empathy in his voice he added "I heard what happened to you. Your Dad told me." And then in a more cheerful tone he said "You look good, your son looks exactly like you when you were a boy. This is why I recognized you immediately."

"Yeah, I heard he is the spitting image of me, so to speak"

Now Mr. Jackson took his spot behind the counter again and Jeremy led Auggie a bit closer.

"Let me guess, you want Samuel´s licorice drops, right?" Mr. Jackson asked.

"Yeah, how did you know?" Auggie smiled, surprised that the man remembered what his favourite sweets had been

"How could I forget my best customer when it comes to licorice drops?" Mr. Jackson quipped, reaching for the shelf and grabbing two little bags of licorice. Then he handed them over to Auggie, touching the back of Auggie´s hand with the licorice bag.

Auggie smiled. Finally somebody with a bit more insight he thought, before he reached into his messenger bag, taking out his wallet.

"The licorice is on me, I´ll treat you" Mr. Jackson said "It was a pleasure to see you again after such a long time"

"Thanks a lot Mr. Jackson, that is very kind of you but the next licorice will be at my expense" Auggie answered, putting back his money.

Then Jeremy led Auggie towards the door and they left.

Fifteen minutes later they were back home. "There is a blue BMW in front of the house" Jeremy commented when they walked towards the house.

"That must be Alan and Sandra, they said they´d be here around noon" Auggie replied, checking his watch by opening the glass lid and feeling the time.

"Hey Auggie" Alan had spotted his brother and his nephew from the porch, where he sat with Sandra and James. He walked towards Auggie and pulled him into a hug.

"Good to see you, so to speak" Auggie grinned reciprocating the embrace and then he heard the voice of his sister-in-law say.

"Stella, this is your uncle Auggie"

"Hi uncle Auggie" said the little girl, staring at the cane in Auggie´s hand.

"What is that long stick for?" she asked.

"That is not a stick, it´s a cane" Jeremy said assessing his little cousin from head to toe, before he looked up to his father. "My Daddy is blind, he needs a cane to walk around" Jeremy added in a tone that would have been adequate for a university professor.

"Why don´t we just go inside" Alan said and Auggie followed him after Alan had touched his hand slightly. He was one of the few persons who knew a bit more about Auggie and his special needs. Alan had been by his side throughout the rehab period after the accident and he had learned a bit more about how to help a blind person. But given the distance between DC and New York, Auggie and Alan had not met for quite a while.

Alan put Auggie´s hand on the handrail and Auggie counted the steps. Using his cane, he found the door and walked in. Alan followed him with Stella and Jeremy. Stella was still a bit puzzled, she watched Auggie sweeping his cane. The five-year old girl had never seen a blind person before and followed Auggie´s movements with huge, curious eyes.

Auggie immediately made his way to his room and put down his messenger bag and his cane. Then he opened the first little bag with licorice. Mmmh….the taste of the licorice drops was more than just familiar. It brought back a lot of memories. Auggie had never found any sort of licorice drops with the same taste. Auggie walked to the bathroom, trailing his hand along the wall. He wanted to brush his teeth. Licorice always left its brown traces on his teeth and he did not want to look ridiculous. After brushing his teeth carefully Auggie went down to the living room where Alan and his father were talking about the last soccer match.

Auggie felt his way over to an armchair and took a seat. Seconds later, the phone rang. James Anderson got up from the couch and answered the call. It was Oliver. He and his family would arrive the next day and would spend the weekend with them. Auggie and Oliver had not met for years. Of course Oliver knew that Auggie had lost his sight but they had not met since Auggie had gone blind.

The weekend with the Anderson clan promised to be exciting and Auggie did not know what to expect.