It had been four years since Charlotte,(or Charlie if you like) had come to live with Willard and I, we adopted her not long after my stepmother died and things seemed to be running at a good rhythm for us. Everyday I took Charlie to her school in St. Cloud, she was socialized with other Deaf children and I had time to do house work and a few errands while she was gone. She was a brave little girl, though quiet and reserved, she stood up for what she knew was right. Her facial expressions were fantastic, which helped a lot when it came to her signing and communication. She was a bright child who picked up on things rather quickly. She could read people, especially Will and I within seconds. She knew who to stay away from and who was okay to approach, even if they were strangers. If something was wrong, either Will or I became upset, no matter how much we tried to play normal, she knew.
One warm spring day, just after school had gone into break, Charlie and I were sitting out on the front deck of our home, in New London, when a call from the front gate came in. There was a small group of men asking admittance, they were here to do the lawn work that Willard didn't have time to do because of his current project. I pushed the button to let them in and soon a mid-sized green truck rolled up to the house. Three men vacated the cab, I looked at each of them carefully, or tried to without staring. One was younger, tall and thin, like the classic “pool boy.” I thought to myself that he was in the wrong line of work, and smiled a bit. The second seemed to be in his fifties, with a small gut, and not very attractive at all. The last man looked to be in his late thirties early forties, head shaved bald, with a light blue handkerchief tied around his neck. Classic. The man was the first to come up to introduce himself as Pete from the lawn company I had called a week ago. He pointed to the youngest of the three and introduced him as Derrik, then to the bald man, Joshua. I shook Pete's hand, then Derrik's. Joshua was a bit stand offish at first and I couldn't get a good look at his face. Pete politely ordered Joshua to come up for “inspection by the lady,” as he put it. When Joshua finally climbed the six steps to the platform of the porch, I understood his hesitation, and I myself was in a bit of shock. I managed to play it cool as I said hello and introduced these new people to my daughter.
I signed to her as I said their names and gave them each name signs that she would remember. She giggled when I made curls in my hair with a “P” sign for Pete. She giggled again when I gave her the sign for “cute” with the letter “D”, for Derrik. But when I got to Joshua she didn't giggle, she was confused. For him I signed donkey with a “J.” Apparently Derrik understood all of it and laughed, especially at Joshua. I explained everything to them concerning the signs I gave them, but I lied when I told them what was meant for the bald man. In doing this I received what Willard and I referred to as the two o'clock look from Derrik, and a tap on the leg from Charlotte. She could read lips and she knew that I had lied. I told her that I would explain later, then continued to give the men a list of the duties that I needed them to do today, and my expectations for the rest of the spring through fall. I signed everything that I said, so Charlie could understand, it's rude to talk to hearing people in the company of a Deaf person without including them in what is said, even children.
When them men had gone about their business I asked my little girl to join me in the house. I had to explain myself. I told her that Joshua was someone I knew from a long time ago, and hurt my feelings, but had never had the chance to apologize. What I didn't tell her was that I had worked with him on a project, but on a different team, and he had flirted with me unabashedly, for months. I was flattered of course, but nothing ever came of it. He was fired from that job, and soon there after the project we had been working on was finished.
She told me that she didn't like the was he Joshua looked at me, that she didn't trust him. I assured her that everything would be fine and that we had to be nice to all of the people who worked for us. At that time she began to tell me that she liked the man who plowed our driveway in the winter, Taylor. She would invite him in for coffee or hot chocolate, if we were his last stop for the day, and we usually were.
At four o'clock, Charlotte decided it was a good time for the men to take an ice tea break. We made fresh home made ice tea and she went out to gather the troops. I had nothing to worry about, the entire five acres were fenced in and though she was Deaf, my child could scream and make noise louder than any hearing child ever could, if she was in trouble. She ran off down th steps, finding Joshua first. She took a note with her to communicate, before she left I wrote, “Ice tea break, front porch.” Joshua was the first of the crew whom she found. She showed him the note and he shook his head, “no.” With her big brown eyes she persuaded him. Still he denied her. She leaned against a tree and stared at him for a few moments, studied him. Then she pulled out one big crocodile tear. He caved and headed for the house. She waited until he was out of sight, then skipped off to find the next man.
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