An Invincible Spirit by Don Fulk

Author:Don Fulk
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gallaudet University Press
Published: 2019-12-14T16:00:00+00:00

9

Betty

I was very lonesome at the school in Virginia. The friends I made would often lose patience with me as I struggled to communicate with paralyzed hands. They would excuse themselves and walk away.

One day, I saw a pretty deaf girl sitting in the Deaf Project Building. She was reading a book. When our eyes met, she quickly and shyly looked away. I went back there for weeks, and this happened every time. I wanted her to notice me, but I couldn’t think of a way to get her to.

One day, I moved closer and suddenly thought of a way. I happened to have an apple with me and, when she looked my way, I tossed it toward her. She instinctively caught it and gave me a big, pretty smile. We talked very briefly, and when it was time for class, we parted. I couldn’t stop thinking about my new friend. We met again from time to time, talked more with each other, and became closer. Her name was Betty.

She told me that she had started her first day of training at WWRC on January 9, 1980. After dinner on that same day, she bumped into a deaf man she had met when she was there the summer before for an evaluation. He was on his way to deliver a magazine to me and asked her if she wanted to come along and meet me. He explained to her that I was deaf and paralyzed. She told him she really didn’t understand what that meant, but she went with him. She told me she remembered seeing a hospital-type unit with many bedrooms and that she told the man she was concerned about seeing a man in his bedroom, in bed, and thought it would not be proper. Again, he explained to her that I could not get out of bed because I was paralyzed. She continued with him but hesitated and stood by the doorway of my bedroom and stayed there as we were introduced. I remembered this encounter vaguely, as it had been some time ago, and gave her a big smile. She also told me that all those weeks in the Deaf Project Building, she was just pretending to read and was really interested in watching me.

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