Hands

[GreyZone]

Josephine shifted her weight around nervously on the couch in a foreign living room. Some peppy blonde woman was telling her all about what to expect living with them, about her husband, the son they had adopted as a baby, where she worked. She seemed kind, but not quite genuine. Josephine got the impression that she was trying to impress her, as if the mute girl was a hard one to crack, like she would hate her immediately if she wasn't as enthusiastic as a golden retriever puppy in a pond for the first time. Maybe she should throw the woman a bright red rubber ball.


"So we have a youth group and it's just great, I really think you'll love it. The pastor is so wonderful, and they have snacks--" Karen--her new foster mother--offered her the most hopeful grin that it almost broke her heart. Why was she so damn eager? Josephine had been told that the woman took a rushed ASL class just for her, that they had finished their basement so they could take in two more kids. Yeesh. "I'm just glad that you can be a part of our family, Josephine." She clasped one of her hands in both of hers, as if this made her words more sincere.


Josephine looked down at her charcoal-stained fingers, now being gripped by this strange woman's tiny and soft hands. What did she do, smear her skin with melted butter every night? "Thank you for being willing to share your home," Josephine signed back, but she was relentless with her speed and ASL grammar, and it showed based on the confusion in Karen's eyes. Her mom and told her to say that--Josephine found it highly ironic that her mother was couching on her on how to be polite to the people that was taking her away from her.


"Okay," Karen finally replied, brushing it off even though they both knew she had no idea what Josephine had said. "I am so excited to have you two here. You know, he's deaf too!"


"I'm D-deaf, not d-deaf," Josephine signed with boredom in her eyes. "I've adopted the Deaf culture and use ASL as my only form of communication, but I can hear. I just can't speak because my disease causes my frontal lobe to erode, damaging what lets me say words. Jenna is the one who's deaf too."


Karen just smiled, but her eyes showed the terror she was in as she tried to comprehend this new language that Josephine was slaughtering her with. But then again, didn't Josephine have the right to be a little mean? She sure thought that she did. "I know, I looked at both of you when I was offered some girls to foster."


So Karen had understood at least a little. Why she had picked Josephine over her gorgeous and healthy older sister, she would never know. But that was beyond the point. Karen headed back to the kitchen, staring at the plate of cookies that Josephine had ignored when she first walked in. "Well, I hope you like the boy. I'm excited to meet him."

 

[VintageBlues]

The black van pulled up in front of a large and picturesque looking house. It was like something out of a magazine; Levi found the house to be incredibly unoriginal. He tried to stay optimistic, hoping that his foster siblings were reasonable. There was a tap on his shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts. He turned around to face a mousy haired girl named Josie, "This is it. Be good Josie, don't get into trouble." His fingers flew quickly and gracefully, stringing together the simple sentence. Josie had been the closest thing he had to a sister. She was several years younger than him and, in his opinion, the cutest girl on the planet. There wasn't a valid reason as to why no one had signed the adoption forms. "I'll miss you Levi." Josie didn't know how to sign, but she had committed his name sign to her memory. He wrapped his arms around her in a final embrace before jumping out of the car. Jessie, the driver, waved and signed good bye. Levi was sure as hell going to miss them.


Levi hadn't bothered to read the papers about his new legal guardians, but he remembered his social worker telling him that Karen knew limited ASL. Without hesitation, he knocked on the door, trying to force himself to seem happy. As the door swung open, he caught a strong with of cinnamon and vanilla. Karen had over done it with the perfume. She smiled, enthusiasm smothered on her face. "Welcome! Come on in, Josephine is in the living room. I'm sure she's excited to talk to someone who knows fluent ASL." He fought the urge to laugh at her broken and amateur signing. "Don't worry about the signing too much, I'm decent at lip reading. Just make sure you face me when you're taking and please enunciate" He spelled out a couple of words, knowing that she wouldn't understand him if he didn't. The weather outside was hot against his freckled skin so he wasted no time getting into the house. Karen stepped aside, closing the door behind him.


The inside of the house was nicely decorated, the hard wood floors polished and the walls decorated with expensive paintings. He appreciated the art work that was splattered around the house. "Just sit your stuff by the door, my husband will take it to your room when he gets the chance. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes!" He picked up most of the words easily, but it was going to take a while for him to get used to her odd accent. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a girl resting on the beige couch and decided to approach her. "I'm Levi. What do you think of this place so far?" His hands reached out towards her, offering his greetings.

 

[GreyZone]

Karen scurried off into the kitchen to start making dinner ready, but she kept turning around to steal glances and smiles at the two teenagers. She texted her husband Dave, they're both here. I can't understand them at all, but that's okay! I'll just have to learn more. Every time they signed to her, she just nodded with her pasted-on grin, but the confusion was blatant in her eyes. She hated feeling stupid, but it was okay. She had tried so hard to learn their language before they got here, so they would hopefully feel more comfortable. Karen and Dave had only fostered toddlers and infants so far, so this was a whole new ball game that she had no idea how to handle.


Josephine looked up when the other boy walked in, cracking a faint smirk when she watched Karen try to sign to him. He was cute. Levi? Her sister had dated a boy named Levi, and a redhead. Great. "Hi, my name's Josephine," she signed to him, her motions small and precise. She wouldn't be good at interpreting because she could never make herself sign too floridly or dramatically. To her, it was just communication. She didn't know how people made it look beautiful. Then again, when it was all you spoke with and you got ridiculed so much for it, it was hard to find it beautiful.


"I haven't met the boy yet, but apparently there is one that they adopted as well." She glanced toward the kitchen, the tangy smell of tomato sauce and melting mozzarella flooding the entire house. Garlic followed soon after, and Josephine closed her eyes. She couldn't remember the last time she had eaten anything but McDonald's takeout. Her siblings had come up with a good system--someone goes, buys a random collection of sandwiches and fries, and tosses it on the floor. You just hope for the best.


As if right on cue, a twelve-year-old boy with technicolor hair ran out into the hallway in a striped t-shirt and plaid shorts, beaming at Levi and Josephine. He was so excited to have teenagers in the house, especially an older boy. "Yes!" He exclaimed with a grin on his freckled face. He had always been afraid that Karen and Dave were just kidding, and oh, surprise! More diapers for you to change! But then again, he had no idea that they both only used ASL to speak. He knew nothing but 'fart.'


But the boy--Alex--froze when he saw Josephine, causing her to self-consciously pull her sleeves lower and look away from him. Of course, if she turned so he couldn't see the words she had carved into her skin with anything that she had been able to find, it was just the gnarly scars and staples on her head. Quickly and a little violently, she parted her hair in the middle to hide what had been shaved off for surgery. "They're trying to reconstruct the erosion in my frontal lobe," Josephine signed to him with small and quick motions, much better than Karen's, naturally. "That's why I can't talk. But I can hear, thank the gods. My sister can't, though, so I wonder if that's coming for me as well."

 

[VintageBlues]

Levi watched as Josephine signed, trying to analyze the emotions behind her 'words'. Much like talking, a persons signing gives away a lot. Josephine's hands were fast and lazy, showing her insecurity. His eye's flickered between Josephine and the confused boy. He turned towards Josephine with an annoyed look, "You know he didn't understand a single word of that..." Levi laughed and shook his head, signing lazily. He hated speaking, despite his many years of speech therapy, but he didn't want to leave the boy confused. "She can't talk, so she signs. They're trying to reconstruct a part of her brain. Josephine can still hear though." Levi looked to Josephine several times during his explanation, making sure he wasn't missing a detail. His voice was a little shaky as he finished and the boy was looking at him strange. Alex's head tilted sideways with a goofy smile. "Why do you sound like that?"





Before Levi could answer, Karen peeked her head into the room. "Alex, honey, let's not be rude. We don't ask questions like that!" Karen giggled, clearly embarrassed. Quickly, Levi shook his head, wanting to explain. "It's okay," he signed. Taking another deep breath, he signed and talked at the same time; "It's a deaf accent. I obviously can't hear so I don't know what I sound like; therefor, my inflection is different that everyone else's." He smiled, impressed with the fact that he had remembered some of the difficult words. The room was quiet, Karen still smiling ridiculously.