Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Hear / Here (01/26/23)
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TITLE: The Sound of Silence | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jack Taylor
01/30/23 -
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It all started on a Wednesday morning when nothing much important was happening. Only the visit of the greatest grandson the world has seen. I crouched low and held out my arms. “Petey, walk to gamma.”
Petey in pampers was sunshine in a bottle. His magnetic smile dazzled me as he took his first steps, arms flailing, rocking side to side like a penguin across the ice. His giggles were little rapids of joy until they stopped. When he reached me, his little hands latched onto the first things they touched. My ear on one side and my hoop earring on the other. My grandson has always loved to explore my ears and he has learned to understand “gentle!”
Something was different this time as he latched on and I lost my balance. I tilted over like a bowling ball to ease the pain of the pull and he tumbled with me. For a moment his howl was clear and then it wasn’t. My daughter hovered over us, her face fluctuating between a frown and a laugh. Her lips moved but the words didn’t come through.
I knew of course what had happened and I reached for my hearing aid. My ear was empty. I could feel the sharp pain in my hip but I needed to find the little transformer that turned my world of silence into one of joy and laughter. I attempted to turn over without success and my daughter held me down by the shoulder as she jabbered wordlessly into the phone.
I could see that Petey was howling and anything I tried to say must have been drowned in the volume he created. I pointed at my ear and my daughter nodded and kept focusing on her conversation. I was too weak to fight off a young woman in her prime so I relaxed and tried to ignore the broken hip screaming for relief.
I sent my fingers on a mission of exploration by my side, crawling across the carpet, searching for the little earbud that would bring life and sense back to my world. I had to hear to be here. My pointer finger touched a little object and I slowly curled the other helpers around it. I hoisted it toward my glasses which were askew. It was a fishy cracker. I released it and took a deep breath.
My precious daughter hovered over me again, babbling in a mime that would do Charlie Chaplin proud. I shook my head and pointed to my ear. She nodded and cradled the phone under her chin as she wiggled her son and murmured sweet nothings to him. The little gaffer glanced down at me and stretched out his arms. I smiled and did my best to jabber something reassuring back to him.
In minutes, the paramedics arrived and knelt beside me, trying to communicate. I pointed to my head and they put a neck brace around me. My daughter and one of the paramedics communicated and eventually I waved and pointed toward my hip. They transferred me carefully onto a stretcher board and life whirled on.
Hospital staff came and went. Pills to swallow, surgery to endure, physio to survive. All in a soundless vacuum of smiling faces and nodding heads. Some wrote notes and that helped.
The amazing thing I realized is that I could talk to God and hear from him perfectly fine despite my lack of hearing aids. The one who made my ear had no problem communicating. He knew perfectly well how to speak in the silence.
On the third day, a resurrection occurred. My daughter arrived and held out a little twisted glob of metal and plastic. “I think Petey stepped on your hearing aid,” she wrote. “Three weeks for a new one.”
I’m learning how to be here in the silence. Petey doesn’t seem to notice I can’t hear his jabbering. I can see his smile and feel his hugs. I’m not wearing hoop earrings anywhere near him anymore but he still explores my ears to see what he might discover.
When I hear him I know that I am truly here.
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Well done and I hope this places!
Your work was well crafted starting and ending well. In addition it flowed smoothly.
Good job.
Keep writing.