The Moon Singer Collection

Chapter 7-1

“Billie! Dorothy!” Isaac calls out, frantic with fear. He carries a limp and delirious David into the house and lays him on the couch. “Call the doctor!”

“Isaac? For heaven"s sake, what happened? What"s wrong with David?” Billie holds her hand to David"s brow. “He"s burning up. Why?”

“I don"t know.” Isaac shakes his head. “We were on the boat and suddenly he started vomiting over the side. He got dizzy and almost fell overboard. I thought he was just seasick but David has never gotten seasick.”

“The doctor will be here soon,” Dorothy assures them after placing the call. “Maybe it"s just some kind of flu. Is it going around school?”

“Not that I"ve heard,” Billie answers. “He seems a bit delirious or confused. That"s not a flu symptom.”

“We need to get him to the hospital,” Doctor McMillan recommends after checking David"s vitals and symptoms.

“The hospital!” Billie and Isaac are alarmed. “Is it that serious?”

“I think he might have meningitis, but I can"t be sure without some labs.”

Exhaustive tests are run, samples of David"s blood and cerebrospinal fluid are collected and rushed to the lab.

“How he contracted Meningitis is difficult to say, but I think we caught it early enough that a good dose of antibiotics can prevent it from worsening,” Dr. McMillan reports. “I"ll want all of you tested just in case, even though you have no symptoms at present.”

“Of course, Doctor.” Isaac, Billie and Dorothy agree without hesitation.

“We need to observe him for a few days and see how he"s progressing.”

Over the next weeks David seems to improve. The nausea subsides, his vertigo is sporadic and waning. But a new troubling symptom gives cause for alarm.

“Why are you holding your ear, David?” Isaac asks.

“It has a funny sound, Dad. It won"t go away.”

“What kind of funny sound? Can you describe it?”

“It"s…it"s like a buzzing. A high pitched buzzing, then a whistling like a siren or something.”

“Does it hurt? Is there pain?” Billie places her hands on David"s ears protectively, hoping that any pain her son has will disappear with her motherly touch. But the terrifying dream she had about pulling her son"s ears completely off compels her to pull her hands away.

“Just a dull ache, mostly. It"s the buzzing that bothers me the most. Why won"t it go away?”

“I don"t know, son. I don"t know.”

The tinnitus in David"s ears soon progresses to the point where he has problems understanding his teachers or hearing the notes on the piano the way he used to.

“Based on David"s earlier symptoms - the nausea, vomiting, the vertigo - my educated guess is that David has Meniere"s Disease,” Dr. McMillan reports to his parents. “There is no cure but there is medication that can ease the symptoms. We can"t really pinpoint why he contracted this ailment. It"s still somewhat of a medical mystery, but we"ll do what we can to make him comfortable.”

“First meningitis, now Meniere"s disease. This is heartbreaking,” Billie laments. “It"s so out of the blue.”

“I"m really hoping this is the extent of it, but we need to be prepared that there could be some other issues or complications with his hearing that arise.”

“Like what? You mean he could get worse?” Isaac is exasperated.

“There are signs of Otosclerosis,” Dr. McMillan explains. “A small boney growth inside the ear canal. It"s probably been growing for some time without any indication of a problem, but now it could develop into something long term. Do either of you have any deafness in your family?”

“No, not mine,” Isaac says emphatically.

“I never heard about any of my family having these problems,” Billie adds. “But I don"t know! Oh, my God. What if he inherited this from me?”

“Sometimes there is a genetic predisposition inherited from one parent.”

Billie is beside herself with guilt and screams inside. That dream, that dream that I stole my son"s ears for myself. It wasn"t just a dream. It"s true! “It"s my fault! It"s my fault!”

That dream, that dream that I stole my son"s ears for myself. It wasn"t just a dream. It"s true!“Billie!” Isaac grabs her by the shoulders. “Stop it now. Get a hold of yourself. He didn"t say that.”

“Now, now, Billie,” the doctor tries to console her. “You can"t blame yourself at all. Without knowing if you carry such a gene you cannot put all this on yourself. We"re going to do everything we can to treat him. A surgery could help. But if not, there are new hearing aids that could improve his hearing. We"ll look at all angles.”

“He"ll be fine. This is just temporary. We"ll do what it takes to make him well.” Isaac is resolute now, wanting to be strong, to be prepared, to do whatever it takes to help his son.

“And if nothing works?” Billie feels her heart sinking with a deep knowing that nothing will.

“One thing at a time,” Dr. McMillan suggests. “But if the worst case scenario happens and he loses his hearing, there are sign language and lip reading that will give him a good quality of life.”

Otosclerosis. Billie knew it was his fate. And hers. For Dorinda had told her to prepare for what was to come:

“Your boy was normal at birth but at some point he will be old enough to move into that other consciousness, and he must lose his hearing to evolve. You must help him, teach him, nurture him, make him stronger because of his deafness, so that one day he will hear what others cannot, so he will hear the voice within.”

Sensorineural hearing loss coupled with conductive hearing loss is a double whammy for David. Foreground and background noises meld together, he no longer understands voices on the telephone, some sounds are excessively loud and shrill, and everything people say is a mumble.

Months turn into years with Billie teaching David sign language and lip reading until he is expert at both. Hearing aids help with hearing certain frequencies but his ability to clearly hear any note of music is forever impaired.

Medical and surgical treatments that would normally correct the problems for some strange reason do not work for David. He will always have to rely on special hearing aids to even hear nondescript vibrations.

He withstands the pain, the surgeries and the disappointment with such courage that Sally is deeply moved, becoming even more devoted to her brother. He works diligently to keep up his normal speech, but also learns to sign expertly, and teaches Sally so they can tell private little jokes to each other. They laugh that the brutish kids at school have no idea how well he can read the cruel remarks on their lips, and together they plot adolescent revenge fantasies to get even.

David"s one true solace is being able to feel the pulse of music akin to the powerful rhythm of the pounding surf. And maybe, Sally insists to her parents, David really can hear things that hearing people can"t.

With every day, every year mother and son share their musical gifts, they bond in a way that only two souls who share the same affinity can experience. Gladly, David executes intricate pieces by Mozart, Liszt, Beethoven and Chopin relishing his mother"s pride in him. For variety, he masters the songs of Gershwin and Porter that are some of Billie"s popular favorites, assisted by the constant swing of the metronome. The most beautiful music ever written that he cannot, and might not ever hear, becomes imbued in his consciousness through the patterns of notes on the page.

“Don"t ever give up your music, no matter what else happens in your life, my darling. Music is your soul calling to you, and you must listen to it, always. It will not only fulfill you, it could save your life.” Billie signs and speaks with emphasis while David reads her lips.

“Save my life? What to do you mean, Mom?” David c***s his head questioningly.

“I -” she hesitates, not wanting to frighten him, careful not to divulge the profound and foreboding future that awaits him. She smooths back a lock of hair from his forehead and, courageously, gently, takes his innocent sweet face in her hands. “I mean just having something so beautiful in your life, makes it worthwhile. Music doesn"t just entertain, it heals. It nurtures your intellect and bridges the divide between cultures. It opens your heart and lifts you high above all mundane realities. Music is love, it is spiritual, it is what you are made of, what we are all made of in our bodies and in our souls.”

“Pretty powerful stuff,” David remarks.

“The most powerful.”

“Even rock "n roll?” David teases. “I can only hear the beats but it"s exciting.”

“Yes,” Billie concedes, “pop music does cross over to speak to people world wide. But even rock and roll has its foundation in the music of the Masters. Beethoven, Mozart, Bach - they were channels for divinely inspired melodies and harmonies. Learn this music and all your music will flourish and be important, no matter what the genre is. Remember, Beethoven had the same hearing impairment you have, and he composed some of his greatest music after he went deaf.”

“Yeah, but he didn"t play it so well. I"m afraid I won"t be able to either.”

“Beethoven didn"t have digital keyboards to control the volume and create orchestral sounds.”

“Someday, we might even see the sounds on a screen, like pictures in full color.” David predicts.

“We just might,” Billie agrees. “And you just might be the one to invent it.”

“Oh, mom. How could I do that?”

Hugging him close so he cannot see her lips, Billie says, “Some things, my dear boy, you"ll have to figure out for yourself.”

With the aid of newly-developed hearing aids, David hears some music tones with his left ear but his right ear can discern only very loud noises or speech. Now 12, David excels in school with music and computers, and with encouragement from Billie and Dorothy he also develops a penchant for metaphysics, especially crystal power.

“Crystals are filled with musical vibrations,” Billie tells him. “All these elements bind you to the universe in the here and hereafter. Just ask your Aunt Dorothy.”

Isaac is exasperated with Billie"s affinity for the occult. “Stop teaching the boy such fairytales. Dorothy, too. It"s ridiculous.”

Isaac is devastated that his son is deaf. He resists learning sign language and so can execute only the most basic phrases. “What"s the point,” he confesses. “I know one day David will hear again. We just have to keep looking for treatments that will work.”

Billie tries to comfort her husband, who she loves as much today as the day they wed, despite their differences. “We are fortunate, Isaac. We have access to the best doctors and David has many options. Other children are not so fortunate.”

“Well, they will be if I can help it. Someday Mercy ships will bring medical treatment to children and families around the world who suffer from economic oppression and the ravages of war.”