Keesha awoke by her vibrating alarm clock that was under her pillow.
She turned it off and stretched as she sat up. Africa was laying at her
feet. Smiling, she ruffled his fur.
Africa nuzzled her hand and started to lick it. Keesha laughed and
climbed out of her bed. Carefully she picked her outfit for the day
out. Finally she decided on a pair of baggy black jeans and a semi
tight white sweater. She chose to take a shower and get ready for the
day.
Slowly walking downstairs she saw her mom talking on the phone. Her
back was to Keesha so she couldn't read her lips. Keesha shrugged.
Then Africa nudged her thigh and she started looking around. By the
door the light was blinking, signifying that someone was ringing the
door bell.
Keesha went to the door and opened it. "May I help you?" She asked.
Isaac smiled. "We were told to come and invite you and your family to
dinner tonight at our house."
Zac made a strange face. "We don't guarantee that the food'll be good
though."
Taylor laughed. "He's joking. Our mom cooks very well."
Keesha laughed. "Would you like to come in? I'll tell my mother and
we could do something." She suggested. She just knew that they would
decline since she was deaf and they didn't know what a deaf person could
do.
Zac ran past her to Africa. Keesha blinked in surprise when Isaac and
Taylor walked in also. 'Wow! That's never backfired before.' She
thought to herself.
"Let me just tell my mother about your invitation and we can decide
what to do." Keesha said as she walked into the library. Her mother
still had her back to her. She tapped her shoulder and her mother
turned around.
Asia smiled at her daughter. 'What?' She mouthed.
"The Hanson's have invited us over for dinner tonight." Keesha
explained.
Asia nodded. 'I'll call Diana later on and get all the details.'
She was still mouthing the words.
Keesha smiled brightly and left. She found Isaac, Taylor, and Zac
petting Africa. "Africa has never been so spoiled in it's life."
"It? Don't you know if it's a boy or girl?" Zac asked making sure he
was facing her as he spoke.
"I respect it's privacy." She said laughing.
Taylor and Isaac laughed as Zac made a face.
"So what do you guys want to do?" She asked sitting next to them and
petted Africa also.
"Well, what can we do?" Taylor asked.
Keesha thought for a moment. "We can just drive around. Umm, we can
go to the park or mall. Or we can just sit and talk." She replied
shrugging. "Just let's do something. I'm very bored."
"How about we drive around and talk in the car?" Isaac said when
Keesha looked at him.
"Seems pretty cool to me." Keesha said getting up. "Let me tell
Marcus. He'll tell my mother." She said when she was standing. She
motioned for them to follow her.
She was on the second floor when she knocked on a door. Marcus opened
the door. He looked like he just got up. "Tell mom that I went out.
And walk Africa for me please."
Marcus just nodded his head and yawned. Then he shut the door.
Keesha turned back to Isaac, Zac, and Taylor. "He's really not a
morning person. And he's been up for an hour." She explained.
When they were back down stairs she looked at all three of them. "Did
you guy's drive here?" She asked.
Isaac nodded. "Yeah, I drove us. Why?" He asked curiously.
"Well, I was going to say that if you didn't that I could drive us
around and it would be no problem." Keesha replied.
"You're allowed to drive?" Zac asked shocked.
Keesha smiled and nodded. "Yep. I'm allowed to. But I never drive
alone. I always have someone with me. Sometimes I take Africa with
me."
"Wow." She caught Zac's lips say.
"Okay, are you ready?" Taylor asked. "Or do you need to go and get
something?"
Keesha checked to make sure she had her wallet and her house key just
in case. "I'm ready." She said walking towards the door.
Zac opened it for her, but walked out before Taylor and Isaac did.
"Ladies first." He replied smiling at his brothers.
Taylor smirked. "So that's why you went in front of us."
Isaac laughed and Zac nodded slowly. "I'll get you for that later,
Tay."
Keesha turned around. She was wondering if they were talking. Taylor
and Isaac was laughing and Zac was nodding his head. 'Yep, they are.'
She said to herself. She tried to keep her anger down.
They had been driving around for about an hour. When Zac asked the
question that she had been always asked since she went deaf.
"So what's it like to be deaf?" He asked.
Keesha was thoughtful for a moment. "Well, it has it does has it's
down sides. I will never hear music, the birds chirping, or someone
saying that they love me." She replied thinking that her voice was
gentle. "But there are good sides. I can always use the excuse, 'Sorry
I didn't hear you,' umm whenever I don't want to know what someone is
saying I only have to turn away, and I don't have to worry about
listening to a long lecture." She said smiling.
Taylor laughed. "It's good that you see the good sides as well as the
bad." He said smiling sweetly.
Keesha nodded. "Well, it actually took me a few years to see the good
sides of it. The first few years were very hard and painful. I had
lost a lot so called friends because they got so uncomfortable being
around me."
Zac made an angry face. "Jerks." He stated.
Keesha smiled. Then she laughed.
Taylor turned around. "What?" He asked smiling too.
Keesha's smile widened and she stopped laughing so that she could
talk. "I have never in my six years of being deaf, met people like you
three." She said shaking her head. "Most would make jokes, exclude me
from their conversations, or just plain ignore me. But you guys include
me in your conversations, I haven't seen either of you three tell a
joke, and you're not ignoring me. It's so cool!"
Taylor smiled and Zac gave her a small hug. "Well, you're a cool
person." Zac said shrugging slightly.
Keesha looked in the rearview mirror and saw Isaac's lips move. "I'm
sorry, Isaac. What?" She asked her cheeks growing a slightly pink
color.
"I said that we like hanging out with you. You don't scream in our
faces and you didn't faint when we first met." He repeated smiling.
Keesha laughed. "Is that a plus or not?" She asked unsure.
Taylor smiled at her. "It's a definite plus."
-Hanson's house-
"Hello, Diana. Walker." Asia said as the front door opened and she
walked in.
Marcus pushed Keesha in front of him. She tossed him a dirty look and
stepped inside also. She should've worn a coat, but she hated coats.
She didn't know why, but she just did.
Diana shook her hand and smiled warmly. "Welcome, Keesha. And
Marcus." She said as she spied Marcus standing a little off to the
side.
Marcus shook her hand and handed his coat to Walker who motioned for
him to take it off and give it to him. Walker then shook her hand.
"Hello, Keesha. My son's have said a great deal about you."
Keesha got the feeling that he was shouting at her. So she just
weakly nodded her head and smiled.
She felt someone pull on her jeans. She looked down at Mackie. He was
an extremely adorable little boy. He motioned for her to come closer.
So Keesha kneeled before him. "Yes?" She asked.
"You're the one with the broken ears, right?" He questioned.
Keesha had to smile at him. Out of being called deaf, hearing
impaired, and the hearingly challenged she had never been asked if her
ears were broken. She kinda liked this metaphor a lot better than the
rest of them. She nodded her head. "Yes, I do have broken ears." She
replied.
Isaac walked up to her as everyone else went into a conversation.
"Are we going to stand here all night?" She asked before he could say
anything.
Isaac showed her into the kitchen. Keesha looked around the large
kitchen. "I wish my home was like this." She said running her hand on
the counter top.
"Why?" Isaac asked in surprise. "You have a humongous house!"
Keesha nodded her head. "And that's all it is. It's just a house.
It's not home. At least it doesn't feel like a home to me."
Isaac slowly nodded his head. "I actually understand what you mean.
We've been in many hotels and houses and apartments, but none of them
felt like they could be home like this is."
Keesha smiled. "See." She was quiet for a moment and looked down.
"Was your father yelling at me when I first came in?" She asked
hesitantly. She looked up at Isaac waiting for his reply.
Isaac blushed slightly and nodded. "Yeah, he was. But I told him
that no matter how loud he shouted that you wouldn't hear him."
"People act weird towards me." She said and she rolled her eyes out
of pure habit. She saw Isaac laugh and she realized that she had just
rolled her eyes and didn't even notice that she did. "Sorry." She
muttered. "I'm used to rolling my eyes at a lot of stuff."
"It's not a problem. Taylor, Zac and I do the same." Isaac replied.
Someone stuck their head into the kitchen. It was Taylor. "We have
to sit at the table now." He said as he faced Keesha.
Keesha wanted to give him a huge hug for facing her as he spoke. Very
little people even thought about taking that into consideration.
Her family and her close friends couldn't even remember that sometimes.
She was starting to feel very comfortable around them.
"I need to wash my hands first." She said before they left.
"You can use the bathroom right down the hall. First door to your
right." Isaac said as he pointed down a small hallway.
Keesha nodded and walked down to the bathroom. She turned the light
on and pulled the sleeves up on her sweater. She turned the water on
and waited for it to warm up a bit. She started thinking about her day
with Isaac, Taylor and Zac. She hadn't had that much fun in such a long
time. And she wondered if she would again. She hoped so.
"Zac, why don't you go get Keesha. She's washing her hands in the
bathroom down the hall." Isaac said as he and Taylor helped set the
table.
Zac nodded and left to get Keesha. She was right where Isaac said she
was. He was about to make the lights flicker signaling that he was
there when he saw her wrists. Both of them had scars across them.
And she had long scars going down her arms. He shivered and backed away
when she started drying her hands and slid her sleeves back down.
That's when he popped his head around the corner and smiled as Keesha
jumped at his sudden appearance. "Time to sit down and eat." He said
smiling forcefully.
If Keesha knew that he felt uneasy and that he had forced his smile
she didn't say anything about it. And he couldn't seem to look at her
all through the delicious meal. He just stared at his plate and picked
at his food. Wondering if he should tell someone or ask Keesha
herself about them. He couldn't seem to figure out which solution would
be better.
