Vince glanced at Evan.“Give me your keys and I’ll have someone get your truck to your place.”
Evan shook his head, which was a mistake.It pounded harder than before.“I’m fine.I can drive myself.”
Vince indicated the dented hard hat and the bandage spotted with blood around his arm.Evan knew enough not to argue with the boss.
“Text me later and tell me what the doc says,” Vince ordered.“Take tomorrow off.Paid.No arguments.”
A free day off with pay.He’d take it and not have any complaints.He tossed his truck keys to Vince and followed Tyler to the foreman’s truck he’d been told to use.
Once in the cab of the vehicle, Evan leaned back and closed his eyes.He only peeked for a moment when they didn’t get started immediately.Tyler was putting the clinic address into his GPS.Ridiculous how many people didn’t even know how to navigate the roads around them.
Once they arrived at the walk-in clinic, Evan grabbed for the truck door handle.Tyler stopped him.“Do you need me to go in?”
The last thing Evan wanted was some spoiled, snot-nosed kid hanging on his shoulder, acting like he was too stupid to talk for himself.“I’m good.Head back to the site.”
The kid actually looked nervous.“How do you say ‘Thanks’?”
Was he seriously asking to learn some sign?That was a step in the right direction.Evan touched the tips of his fingers to his chin, then lowered his hand, palm side up.“Thank you.”
Tyler copied him.“Thank you.”
“See you later.”He didn’t wait to see if he responded, just gave a wave with his uninjured hand as he hoofed it into the building.It wasn’t too crowded as he marched up to the registration desk.His head didn’t like the movement, so he slowed it down and waited for the person in front of him to be finished.
The antiseptic smell and bright lights didn’t help his condition any.As he waited, he perused the room, noting all the mouths moving and people in motion.He definitely didn’t have the attention span to try and focus on any of that today.
The person in front of him was handed a piece of paper and ambled back to one of the chairs.Evan moved forward.The woman at the desk was already talking, though she hadn’t even looked up.
“I’m Deaf,” he said as clear as he could.The woman glanced up and sighed.Whipping out his phone, he tapped on the screen.
—Construction accident.Cut my arm.— He held up his injured arm, and she nodded when she saw the blood seeping through the bandage.
“Who?”She held her hands up in the universal sign for who or what, then pointed at the temporary fix.
He nodded back, then squeezed his eyes shut at the stabbing pain in his head.Tapping away, he wrote, —First aid at the construction site, but it’s still bleeding.Also hit my head on a drainage pipe.—
She placed a paper on a clipboard, added a pen, then handed it to him.“Fill this out.”She pointed to the waiting area.“Bring here when done.”Then, she pointed to her desk.
Evan took the clipboard and gave her a thumbs up.Something everyone knew.In one of the seats, he quickly filled out the form.Name, address, phone number, birth date, insurance, any health issues they should be aware of.
They needed to know he was deaf, but he hated adding it as a health issue.It didn’t affect his health at all.He was incredibly healthy.He just couldn’t hear.Gritting his teeth, he wrote Deaf.He wrote the word again near the top of the sheet, so they’d see it and understand they needed to make adjustments to their form of communication with him.
After dropping it back at the registration desk, he settled into a chair with a view of the door where patients were going.Too often, whatever person was taking people back didn’t always notice that he was Deaf and just called out his name.
The TV in the corner flickered with some silly talk show.The host was very animated, but Evan couldn’t tell what he was saying because he had a huge mustache.Plus, the cameraman kept panning to the audience to get their reaction.Just as well.Most of those shows were ridiculous, even with the closed caption on.
A mom with a very sad baby in her lap sat in a corner, attempting to keep him quiet.Poor thing.Evan couldn’t hear the child, but with the way the baby’s mouth was wide open and tears streamed down his face, he could tell it must be loud.The person next to them kept a wad of tissues to her nose, and her eyes were bloodshot.That didn’t look fun.
Little by little, people were brought into the back room.His head felt fuzzy, and the room swam on occasion, like he was watching from behind a wall of glass.When it all got to be too much, he closed his eyes and took slow steady breaths in and out.
When he opened them one of the times, a woman in scrubs stood in the doorway, searching the room.Crap.Had she called his name and he didn’t see?He waited another second and sure enough she mouthed, “Evan Jameson.”
Springing to his feet, he moved forward, then regretted the fast action.He grabbed the back of a chair and waited until the room stopped spinning.“I’m Evan,” he said, hoping his voice was loud enough to be heard from across the room.She glanced up from her clipboard and frowned.Because he hadn’t responded right away?
She said something as he approached her, but he missed what it was.“I’m Deaf,” he said and pointed to his ear.“I didn’t hear you call my name.”His automatic response was to apologize, but it wasn’t his fault he hadn’t heard her.He’d written Deaf on the top of the page in big letters.
She peeked at the paper in her hands and shook her head when she saw the words.Her expression turned contrite, and she mouthed, “Sorry.Busy day and I didn’t see it.”She made sure to face him and speak clearly.“Follow me.”She waved at him to through the door.
She led him to a room and indicated he should sit on the exam table.Once there, her eyebrows slid together.“Do you read lips?”she asked.
