The men took turns signing.It seemed many of them had practiced the same thing.Probably from the recent lesson.
“Do you think the summer is hot and the winter is cold?”Evan teased his sister after the fifth soldier signed the same sentence.
“Hey,” Deanna pushed back at him.“They’re trying at least.Just watch.They get better.Some of them, anyway.”
There were about a dozen guys, and several of them had really picked up how to communicate in ASL.
“Who’s that man?”Carli asked, pointing to a dark-haired man with a Latin appearance who’d done a remarkable job.Deanna had made sure to point him out.
“That’s Rafe.He’s one of the better signers.”
Mercedes fanned her face.“He’s very cute.Is he the teacher’s pet?”
Before his sister could answer, the men in the video also started teasing Rafe.“Hot for teacher.Best student.Maybe he needs to stay after class with Miss Jameson.”
Deanna’s face turned red, and she waved away the teasing from her own family.“Rafe is a big goofball.He’s always making jokes.All the guys are.I’ve never actually met any of them in person, and I probably never will.It’s all just fun, though still educational for my students.The kids feel they’re helping the troops while they protect our country.”
Evan had to admit it was a wonderful activity for Deanna’s class to do, teaching new skills to those who wanted to learn.Would he be as successful with his new charge?He certainly hoped so.
Chapter Fourteen
Only one more book to reshelve and Mercedes would have most of today’s work done.She’d taken Evan’s suggestion and started keeping a list of all the tasks she needed to accomplish in case Tasha decided to hover over her shoulder during the day.Typically, the woman would do a few of them, then shuffle off to flirt with either Huntley or Vikram.
Thankfully, today, Tasha had stayed on the third floor of the library.Mercedes wanted to do some research, and she didn’t need that obnoxious woman hanging around.She had already made several comments about Evan.
“He’s so gorgeous.He must be fun to play with.And if he wants to argue about anything, you can simply turn your back and not see what he’s saying.”
Mercedes had sighed.“First, he can actually speak, so turning my back wouldn’t do anything.I could still hear him.However, if he turned his back to me, he could completely block out what I’m saying.Second, I’d never do anything like that because it would be incredibly rude, and I respect him too much.”
Tasha had huffed off, and Mercedes was never happier.Okay, maybe when Evan tugged her to his shoulder and pressed his lips to her hair.Which he’d done a few times lately.She had a feeling he didn’t realize she could feel his lips humming against her head and hear the soft movement of air when he inhaled.
The fact he liked to smell her got her excited.She hoped it meant she smelled good and he liked it.The sentiment was returned a hundredfold, especially when he was fresh from the shower, with his hair all damp and before he put his shirt on.His soap smelled nice, but there was also some manly Evan scent that permeated the air when he was near.
The library was quiet on a Friday since many of the students had already finished up their work for the week.She’d been a college student herself not so long ago, and she was aware how often studying was done at the last minute.It gave her time to cruise the internet and the college database to see if she could find any way she might help Evan with his reading issue.Why did he always shut down during school when he was a kid?Laziness didn’t sit right with her.This man played ball harder than anyone on his team.He helped out his parents with chores around their home, even though he hadn’t lived there for years, and he must be an exemplary worker if his boss was making him a mentor for another employee.
After first scanning the library for anyone who might need help, she dug into her search.She started with a keyword search.Deaf.Reading.Learning disability.Tired.Hundreds of articles popped up, and she skimmed through all of them.Some weren’t anything she was looking for.A few had some interesting information, then several of them had her doing a deeper dive using other keywords.
“What are you working on so furiously?”Gracie said, startling her.
“Oh, I didn’t hear you come over.I’m trying to find a few articles for one of the education teachers.”Hopefully, that would put her off the scent.Thank God it hadn’t been Tasha.Gracie looked disappointed.She always liked a good piece of juicy gossip.Nothing here to see.Move along.Thankfully, she did and Mercedes got back to work.
Two hours later, her heart sped up at the amount of information she’d uncovered.The most amazing, and appropriate, was something called Concentration Fatigue.As she read several articles about it, so much of what Evan went through during his school years made sense.
It wasn’t something that only Deaf people experienced, but they were a huge demographic that seemed affected.The articles talked about how Deaf people had to process more and then construct meaning out of words and sentences that they might have only heard a small portion of.The fatigue was caused by constantly making guesses, figuring out context, then thinking of something intelligent to say in response to what seemed like a random question, hoping they were on the correct topic.
With Evan in class with all hearing children who used spoken language, it had to have been exhausting.Even with an interpreter, she doubted he’d understood much of what was said during the day.If the aid or interpreter only interpreted what the teacher was saying, and Evan wanted to feel included, he’d have to search extra hard, looking at lips and body language to try and find the context of everyone’s conversations.
The information she’d read confirmed that concentration fatigue often resulted in poor performance in school.According to several studies, many deaf people who lip read only comprehended about thirty percent of what was said.Mercedes knew enough Deaf individuals to know some could lip read much better than others.Deanna was a wiz, for sure.
Her mind wandered to Evan in school, say at lunch or recess.He would’ve been surrounded by all these hearing children, chatting away, none of them taking the time to try and fill him in on what they were saying.Yes, he’d said that boys were more physical, and he hadn’t needed to communicate as much with them to play games, but there must have been many times that he didn’t understand what the game was or how to play if it was something new.
She tapped away at a few more sites and found symptoms of concentration fatigue.Zoning out in your own little world.Feeling like you hit a brick wall.Your brain switching off and staring at blank space sometimes without even realizing it.People thinking you’re rude and lazy when you zone out.Being thought of as selfish because you aren’t paying attention to what you should be.
When Mercedes had spoken with Cheryl, she’d said Evan often came home from school and slumped on the couch.And this had happened all throughout his school years.
She remembered a conversation she’d had with both Carli and Evan many years ago.They hated going out to eat with a group unless there was at least one other person who signed.When she asked why, they’d said because others ignore them.They called it Dinner Table Syndrome.Where everyone is chatting and having a good time, discussing all sorts of topics and sharing gossip, but the Deaf person can’t read everyone’s lips all at once.Plus, when people eat, they have food in their mouths or have utensils in front of their faces, blocking their lips.Eating in a group becomes a very lonely situation.
Carli and Deanna had gone to a school with all Deaf students and all the staff knew how to sign.Evan had never had that luxury.It’s no wonder school hadn’t been a place he was excited to go to.
