I Can't Hear You
699 Words
At two I realized my parents didn't love me...
They loved a child nearly like me, with one additional ability---it could hear.
We were acutely poor---I didn't attend school---I had no deaf friends.
I didn't start learning a recognized sign language until I was seven (though there were a small set of "house signs" between my parents and I)---we'd moved to a different state and it was sheer luck (or, Fate...) that I met Luke.
He was 10 and deaf like me---I'd stay away from home for days at a time so I could learn my language.
When I reached the age of nine, Luke helped me write a note to my parents telling them I was leaving home (they had no knowledge of Luke and his family...); and, I left home.
I never went back to see how they were---they never came after me.
In fact, Luke's folks questioned me closely about my parents for an hour then firmly decided to "adopt" me---there was no need for any legal action, we lived way out in the country...
Luke and his Mom spent every minute they could helping me read---she wasn't deaf but she sure was a smart woman.
I decided to be a writer shortly after my eleventh birthday...
~~~
Julia asked me again, "How did you ever learn to write?".
Naturally she was signing---she was just starting her studies as an interpreter.
I signed, "Two people's patience---matching signs to words, words to signs---it gave me my internal voice---I'd had real trouble doing any deep thinking before that---".
"But, do you think in words or signs?"
"I feel signs..."
"Whoa !"
We agreed she could practice being an interpreter with me---we roamed all over town talking to folks---she practiced interpreting, I did my research for my novel...
~~~
It would take Julia six years to become proficient enough to begin freelancing.
It would take me just as long to write the novel.
~~~
Julia held the sheets of paper with a sense of awe---I sat watching her face---she read:
There was no way Jason was going to give in---an implant in his ear was not going to make him a better person.
Plus, he treasured the silence---had learned through bitter disappointment how callous and insincere some of the hearing-world could be.
His world was just as full without the screeching, screaming, shrieking world he watched others navigating.
His appointment with the film director was at nine---he sat in the cafe working on memorizing the actions he'd been instructed to learn---reactions to other's actions and to certain happenings in the film.
He knew he'd have to improvise some of them but that was probably part of the audition---funny to Jason since "audition" came from a word that meant "to hear"...
~~~
Julia told me she liked the beginning.
I didn't want to show her more until I had about half the novel finished...
~~~
Novel finished---Julia got her first gig as an interpreter...
A year after that, I got tired of hearing from agents that there was no market for a book about a deaf actor---had they never heard of Katie Leclerc, Ella Mae Lentz, and Marlee Matlin?
I learned everything I could about self-publishing and had the book, in print and digital formats, available within a year.
Then, I worked for another year to save up enough to afford a trip around the country visiting Deaf Clubs to promote the book.
In three more years, I was the man working on memorizing the actions I'd been instructed to learn---auditioning for the main character in the film of my own book...
One more year and the book, and rumors of the film (we were working on a small budget), had me appearing on talk shows---Julia at my side...
By the time the film was released, we were married.
~~~
My son looks just like me.
He can hear.
He can also sign.
I'm going to make damn sure he doesn't have to work as hard as I did to find himself...
~~~~~~~~~
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