ࡱ> fheU fHbjbjnn .jaaf@22wwwwwlM0$}3hwww888 ww\p8888k"x  8H0M8"8w888M2 =: WHAT HE DIDNT HEAR By M. Lynne Squires West Virginia Fiction Competition, 3rd Place Winner Selected by Marie Manilla Ren could feel the uneven staccato of the brick pavers under the wheels when they turned onto the long driveway to the hospital. Peering over the edge of the backseat window, he watched the little groups of people sitting on the rolling lawn. There weren't many other children. Crestfallen, he slumped against the seat. Sure, the picnic would be nice. Playing ball alone, however, didn't hold much appeal. His mother turned around in the front seat so he could see her hands. "Underneath that tree looks perfect for eating lunch. Don't you think?" She pointed out the window to a large maple tree. He nodded in agreement, all the while thinking it looked like a nifty tree for climbing as well. "I will go get your Aunt Aster while you help your Aunt Iris unload the picnic things." Ren nodded his head and began collecting the things he'd brought along. A baseball and two gloves, a coloring book and a tin of crayons, and a book. His Aunt Iris had started buying him Hardy Boys books. He read them when traveling in the car or when the adults talked and only included him from time to time. Today though, he was confident he would be climbing the giant maple and reading the time away. Aunt Aster had been at Salinger-Whiteside for several months, nearly a year, and this was their first visit in warm months. The other visits were confined to a large sitting room with two or three other families in different corners. His mother told him it was too close in there, and others could hear your business. She had wrinkled her nose as if that was an unpleasant circumstance. Of course, he couldn't hear their business, so maybe that was a blessing. He and Iris spread the blankets out close to the trunk of the tree. Ren was anxious to lean against the tree and read but was expected to greet Aster when she appeared. She had learned a smattering of sign language, so they would exchange the same few sentences every time. He peered around the other side of the tree and saw two couples and a teenage girl sitting on a quilt. They were drinking iced tea and eating the most enormous sugar cookie he thought he had ever seen. He watched them for a few minutes but couldn't tell who the patient was, but perhaps the girl? She was sitting apart from the couples, very interested in the cookies and less interested in the people. Iris tapped him on the shoulder and pointed toward the building's main entrance. "They are coming out now," she signed. "Aster looks happy to see us, don't you think?" Ren shrugged. He supposed Aster would be happy to see anyone after being locked in there all day, every day. "Lily is smiling. Maybe they have good news about when Aster can come home." Iris was the most optimistic person he'd ever met. Granted, in his eleven years, he hadn't met that many people. But even in his family, she saw the good in things far more frequently than her sisters or his grandparents. Unlike her sisters, Iris loved that they were all named for flowers. While his mother and Aunt Aster didn't mind their names, they disliked being together and people commenting on what a lovely bouquet they all made together or sharing their other speculations about what other family members were named. Ren was just as glad he was a boy. Otherwise, he could have ended up as Jonquil or Honeysuckle. Or worse still, Petunia or Magnolia. He hadn't escaped the flower naming, but few people knew Ren was Japanese for lotus. He was just as happy to keep it that way. Before sitting down on a corner of the blanket, Aster hugged everyone. His mother passed out glasses and poured tea. Ren took his tea to the base of the tree with his book. The women were all chattering and laughing together, so leaving his glass lodged between two exposed roots, he climbed to the lowest hanging branch of the tree. It was only about five feet from the ground, but Ren felt hidden and independent. Instead of reading, Ren watched the groups scattered on the lawn. Seven groups that he could see were picnicking together. Most looked happy to be there. But a few were reticent to join in the laughter. Ren pegged them for the patients. Being outside with friends or family had to be different from inside the gloomy building every day. The times he had been inside, it was depressing. The outer grandeur of the massive building belied the sad interior. The sitting room had flowered curtains and velvet sofas and chairs. Ivory keys went untouched on the piano sitting in a corner. When he asked to go the men's lavatory down the hall, he saw walls with peeling paint, hard wooden benches, and nurses glaring at him. He was a pint-sized intruder in areas not typically visited by outsiders. But who can deny a child's request to relieve himself? A few people on the lawn looked sad. One couple was quiet, hardly talking that he could see. A younger woman kept wiping her eyes until a gentleman with her pressed his handkerchief in her hands. Ren was learning to read lips. Although far from accomplished yet, he recognized the woman saying 'no, no, no, not today.' Staring wasn't polite, but the tree's foliage hid him from view. The young woman sat with her arms around her knees and head lowered slightly. The man Ren pegged as her husband had his arm around her shoulder, but she shrugged it away. He pulled a brown grocery bag up next to her legs, holding it toward her almost like an offering. She open and top and peered in. For the first time since Ren had been watching, the woman smiled. She pulled skeins of yarn out and stacked them in her lap. Gathering them together in a hug, she bestowed a smile on the man before placing them back in the bag. Staring away from the man, she began talking once again. Ren could make out a few things she was saying. 'I don't want to see them. Don't bring them.' She became more animated, and he lost what her words were. Then finally she said, 'I want to go home. I want my little girl.' He jumped when Aster tapped on his dangling foot. "Come down and eat with us, Ren. I haven't gotten to talk to you yet." Handing her his book, he slid down the tree trunk. Grabbing her hand, he nodded his head in the direction of the woman with the yarn. "Do you know her?" he signed to her. Aster nodded and put her finger to her lips. He looked again, and the man was standing and offering his hand to the woman. She allowed him to help her up, picked up her yarn-filled bag, and began walking toward Ren and his family. Ren sat hastily. Although she couldn't have seen him spying on them, he felt guilty. The woman stopped and said hello to Aster. "Is this the nephew you talk about so much? He's so handsome!" The woman smiled at Ren, but he felt sadness there. He signed 'hello' to her and was surprised when she signed back, 'hello, nice to meet you finally.' He felt sure his shock was evident. Aster laughed, "I hadn't gotten a chance to tell Ren I met someone who could sign. How sweet of you and your husband to stop to say hello." Turning to her family, she said, "This is Ren's mother, Lily, and our other sister Iris. Girls, this is Anastasia and her husband." Anastasia turned to Ren and signed as she spoke. "And you are named after the lotus flower. The lotus flower is depicted in the statues of Buddha. He sits cross-legged on a pedestal of lotus flowers." She glanced at the women. "Does he know who Buddha is?" Ren stared open-mouthed at this woman who not only knew sign language but knew what his name meant! He sat dumbfounded until his mother tapped his arm and said, "Ren, close your mouth, please. Anastasia wants to know if you know about Buddha? Do you?" Ren nodded and smiled. "Yes, we talked about Buddha in Sunday School last year. Our teacher told us about other religions. She brought a tiny statue of Buddha to show us." Ren thought his teacher could have mentioned the lotus leaves. Maybe she did, and he missed it. His teacher didn't sign all that well. Or perhaps she didn't know what they were. Anastasia and his mother and aunts talked for a few minutes before she excused herself and walked toward the building. Her husband walked behind her rather than with her. They didn't talk that he could tell. "She was nice," Ren signed to his Aunt Aster. "Yes, she is wonderful. I'm not certain she needed to be here. She said she was depressed but was sure she would have been alright in time." Aster shrugged. "But what do I know? Some days I don't think I should be here either. I'm better, though, don't you all think?" Aster smiled brightly at her sisters. Iris reached across the luncheon spread to squeeze Aster's hand. "Yes, you certainly are, Aster. Now, let's eat, shall we?" The women handed out sandwiches wrapped in waxed paper, spooning potato salad and deviled eggs on little plates. If Ren liked anything, it was his mom's deviled eggs. He settled in to enjoy his lunch, paying no attention to the women's talk. He didn't do well eating and trying to watch people's mouths as they talked at the same time. And people talking with their mouths full, well, that was akin to trying to lip read a foreign language. Finishing before the others, Ren retrieved his book and scampered up the tree once again. One group of men had moved out of the sun to the shade of his maple tree. What he assumed was a family group repeatedly tried to engage a young man in conversation. His remained head down, long bangs hanging in front of his eyes. Ren could see the men facing his direction. They told the youngest man he needed to stay longer and wanted him to get better before coming home. Looking up at them with a combination of fear and agitation, he rebuked their advances, shrugged in resignation, and began picking at the hem of his trousers. Like many of the male patients he had seen, the man wore denim work pants. The bottoms were frayed and uneven, shorter in the front where he methodically dislodged one thread after another. Ren watched him single out a thread, work it apart from the fabric's weave, and yank it loose at the seam. Then he slowly balled it up between his thumb and forefinger. After rolling it around in his palm, he would flick it into the air and watch it land a few feet away. Then he began the process anew on the opposite leg. Ren read, Frank and Joe Hardy keeping his attention for a good half hour before slipping a playing card between the pages to mark his place. He asked his mother if he could walk from their picnic spot to the fence. She nodded, telling him not to climb over it, and to stay where they could see him. He wasn't about the climb the fence. The other side offered very little purchase on the bank before plunging to the creek below. He wasn't afraid of water. He loved swimming and wading in the creek near his grandpa's house. But this creek looked deep and ran fast. He'd seen bottles and other trash floating past in mere seconds. At his grandpa's, the stream meandered along slowly, making a lazy 'S' curve. He often set leaves adrift to watch them bob and dip in the clear water before disappearing out of sight. When he was younger, he would put tiny green army men on big magnolia leaves and pretend they were soldiers riding pontoon boats ashore in a battle against the enemy. He finally stopped that when he realized his army ranks were dwindling. The waxy leaves carried the soldiers away, and retrieval was often impossible as they floated out of sight and reach. He gathered two pockets full to overflowing with acorns from under a nearby oak tree before wandering to the fence. There were two rocks in the creek center, looking as Ren imagined an iceberg might look. Sandstone rising to a slender point a few feet above the water on one, and the shorter with a bowl-like hollow on top. That bowl of rock made a perfect goal for the acorns he pitched over the fence. His left hand rested on the fence while his right lobbed the acorns high. A few fell short, but one finally hit the mark, bounced a few times before settling in the bottom of the rock bowl. As he reared back to let another acorn fly, he felt the fence shake under his grasp. Glancing left, the young man with the frayed trousers pulling back and forth on the top rail of the fence. Ren waved and caught his eye. He held out his hand, offering up some acorns. "No," the young man said, shaking his head, looking down at the creek once more. Ren continued pitching acorns at the rock, some finding their target and others dropping into the water below. As he was reaching for another handful of the tiny missiles, the fellow stepped up on the bottom rail of the wrought iron fence. Intrigued, Ren kept an eye on him, curious to see what would transpire. He couldn't be climbing up for want of a better view because the entirety of the creek and its banks were visible from their position. Without warning, the young man threw his right leg over the top, then his left followed. Everything was one smooth motion as if mounting a horse on one side and dismounting just as quickly to the other. Ren's mouth flew open in surprise. He glanced back at the group where the man had been sitting. They were talking, and not one was watching their friend. Ren looked back in time to see the young man tumble down the steep embankment toward the water. The splash was barely audible, but the creek was deep enough for the fellow to be submerged for a few seconds before clambering to his feet and sloshing thigh-deep downstream. Not being able to yell for help, Ren began running toward the men and waving his arms. Ren's mother and aunts saw him and leaped to their feet to see what was wrong. They and Ren reached the men at about the same time. Ren was frantically signing to his mother, 'tell them he jumped into the creek.' She repeated his message to the group just as they stood and looked at Ren running toward them. Ren grabbed one man's hand and pulled him along toward the creek with him. The others followed while shouting the young man's name. Ren would later learn they called him Matthew. Ren pointed out where he jumped over the rail and signed to his mother that while he was pitching acorns, the man jumped, rolling down the bank into the water. The men asked him if Matthew went up the bank on the other side or followed the creek up or downstream? He could only shrug and shake his head. Ren's family led him back to their blanket are, and all sat together. Ren didn't feel like the young man was hurt in any way. But he wasn't sure what had happened to him. He watched his aunt's talk and heard their speculations. Before long, several orderlies came running from the building and gathered with the others at the creek. A couple of men hopped the fence and disappeared down the bank. His Aunt Aster pointed to two police cars heading up the driveway. A nurse met the officers and pointed to the group gathered at the fence. As they sprinted toward them, the nurse began walking from group to group of the other visitors on the lawn. She came to Ren's group and said everyone would need to say goodbye and leave for the day because of the incident. Ren gathered his things and took them to the car while the others hastily cleaned up the picnic items. Aster walked to the car with them, hugging everyone goodbye. She gave Ren a tight hug and thanked him for alerting everyone of the young man's actions. She managed to sign, 'you are a hero.' Ren wasn't sure how he felt about that. He did what anyone else would have done. He was confident that with all the people he watched today, the patients felt things they weren't saying. You didn't have to be a hearing person to know that. He thought the best therapy would be just watching. Watch how the girl with the giant cookie never interacted with the talkative guests. Or observe how Anastasia reacted to her new yarn more than her husband. Or see how the young man's nervous tick intensified around his visitors. The same visitors who didn't even notice he'd vanished. Sitting on his knees in the backseat, he waved goodbye to Aunt Aster out the rear window as they drove away. She waved and signed 'bye' before the nurse ushered her into the building. 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Lynne SquiresSylvia Shurbutt Oh+'0<, ( H T ` lxM. Lynne SquiresNormalSylvia Shurbutt2Microsoft Office Word@@(ܛ@z x@z x  6G*VT$m >  !1.@Times New Roman--- 2 n: 0 WHAT HE DIDN      2 n0  2 n0 T HEAR    2 n0    (2 P0 By M. Lynne Squires    2 e0   ,2 u0   @Times New Roman--------------- 2 0 West  2 0 Virginia   2 A0   2 I 0 Fiction C   2  0 ompetition, 3 --- 2 0 rd---  2 0   2  0 Place Winner  t2 JF0    12 >0 Selected by Marie Manilla   2 0   @Times New Roman---  2 0     2 `0  0 2 Y0 Ren could feel the uneven staccato of the brick pavers under the wheels when they turned     D2 `&0 onto the long driveway to the hospital   :2 N0 . Peering over the edge of the   2 0 backseat  2 I0   2 N0 window   2 ~0 , he   2 E` 0 watched the   2 E0   Y2 E40 little groups of people sitting on the rolling lawn.      2 E0    2 E0 T  2 E0 here  2 E0 weren't   2 EE0   2 EK0 many  #2 Es0 other children.    2 i`\0 Crestfallen, he slumped against the seat. Sure, the picnic would be nice. Playing ball alone         2 i0 ,   2 `0 however,   2 0   12 0 didn't hold much appeal.    2 A0     2 `0  0 C2 %0 His mother turned around in the front    2 }0   =2 !0 seat so he could see her hands. " 2 Q 0 Underneath t   2 0 hat   (2 `0 tree looks perfect  2  0 for eating  2  0   2 0 lunc  2 -0 h b2 4:0 . Don't you think?" She pointed out the window to a large       }2 `L0 maple tree. He nodded in agreement, all the while thinking it looked like a        2 @0 nift )2 R0 y tree for climbing      2 !`0 as well.   2 !0   2 !0 "I w  +2 !0 ill go get your Aunt    2 !30 Aster   2 !T0   12 !Y0 while you help your Aunt    2 !0 Iris  2 !0   22 !0 unload the picnic things."  2 !0     2 F`0  0 2 F0 Ren   2 F0   2 FS0 nodded his head and began collecting the things he'd brought along. A baseball and      v2 k`G0 two gloves, a coloring book and a tin of crayons, and a book. His Aunt      2 k)0 Iris  2 k<0   2 kB0 had  2 k]0 star 2 ks 0 ted buying    12 `0 him Hardy Boys books. He      @2 #0 read them when traveling in the car     2 0   82 0 or when the adults talked and    2 ` 0 only included   2 0   +2 0 him from time to time     2 F0 .  ,2 Q0 Today though, he was c   2 0 onfident  2 0   12 #0 he would be climbing the      2 `0 giant  2 |0   =2 !0 maple and reading the time away.     2 `0    2 0 Aunt  2 0 Aster   2 0   2  0 had been a 2  0 t Salinger   2 X0 - L2 ^+0 Whiteside for several months, nearly a year   2 w0 , and  2 0   2  0 this was    2 #`Y0 their first visit in warm months. The other visits were confined to a large sitting room           2 #0 with   2 #0   2 #0 two    42 H`0 or three other families in    2 H 0 different  2 H40   e2 H=<0 corners. His mother told him it was too close in there, and       |2 l`K0 others could hear your business. She had wrinkled her nose as if that was a     2 l? 0 n unpleasant  2 l0     2 `0 circumstance.    y2 I0 Of course, he couldn't hear their business, so maybe that was a blessing.     2 0   "Systemn}n}:--  00//.. ՜.+,0 hp|  t F@  Title  !"#$%&'()*+,-./012345789:;<=>?@ABCDEGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\^_`abcdgRoot Entry F#xi1Table6WordDocument.jSummaryInformation(Fl,DocumentSummaryInformation8]CompObjr  F Microsoft Word 97-2003 Document MSWordDocWord.Document.89q