September rolled around quickly. Summer School classes ended one week; there was a one-week break the next, followed by the fall semester starting up. Emily didn't mention Dr. Piersall or the reaction from the school to her pregnancy after the day he showed up at Wolf Lake. I could only assume that it had been brushed under the proverbial carpet during Faculty and Staff meetings that had taken place the last week of August, during the student week break.
I wish I could have also believed that Jack too had been brushed under that carpet but the fact that he'd simply vanished into seemingly thin air left us all worried. Emily not only had to worry about where on the earth Jack was but after seven weeks his sister was becoming just as big a thorn in Emily's side as Jack had become. The woman was on Emily's TTY more than students where. It seemed like she called 4 or 5 times a day to see if Emily knew anything more.
Emily still hadn't told Joanna that she was pregnant with Jack's baby. She didn't want Joanna to know if Jack hadn't already told her before he went disappeared. Emily made the assumption that Joanna didn't know, because Joanna never once made reference to her condition in all the messaging back and forth they did. I wasn't positive that Emily's assumption was the correct one to make but I understood her reasoning. I also wouldn't have said anything... Why give the woman anything if it wasn't absolutely necessary?
I figured even if Joanna did know about the pregnancy that she had no proof besides Jack's word that the baby was his. He had no proof that the baby was his. As far as he was concerned Emily could have been with someone else after he left. I don't think he had knew how far along she was. All he knew was that she was pregnant.
Because of all the stress Emily was under from the situation with Jack, the police, Joanna, the school, the pregnancy and the resumption of classes for the fall, her blood pressure was already nosing skyward. Her doctor was concerned and had placed her on hypertensive medication to try and control it. He was worried that under the circumstances she'd develop pre-eclampsia.
I was worried about her for a different reason. She was reminding me of a beheaded chicken. With everything that was going on she was at times forgetting to take care of herself. She'd get busy trying to fix schedules, juggling Jane and Betsy's needs, her own class load, meeting and testing of possible new students, and so on; that on more than one occasion I'd come to talk to her only to learn she'd forgotten to eat breakfast or lunch and sometimes both. Between the stress she was under and her responsibilities something was going to have to give. I had a feeling it was going to be Emily. This is where things stood as we finished the first week of fall classes.
I left my morning class to see Eunice standing in the hall. "Hello Rachel. How are you today?"
"I'm fine. I haven't seen you here since school started. Are you taking any classes the fall?"
"No, my husband is worse I thought I should stay home and care for him. I don't think he has long left," Eunice answered.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. It will be better if he just dies Did I tell you my Greek man is taking me to the opera in October?"
It never ceased to amaze me how indifferent Eunice was about her husbands declining health due to Cancer. Nor did it cease to amaze me how in the same breath she'd switch from talking about the man she was married to, the father of her two daughters, to discussing the Greek gentleman who takes her out for a good time… in more ways than one. It is almost like because her husband is dying she doesn't have to pretend to love him any more. She's his caretaker and nothing more. I always get a terrible taste in my mouth whenever she makes those kinds of remarks. "No Eunice you hadn't told me."
"Oh well, he's flying in and taking me out on the town. I'm so sick of playing nursemaid to my husband. All I do is give, give and give. There is never time for me."
"I understand," I muttered thinking, "Can anyone be more selfish?"
"I just wish he'd get on with it so I could claim a life of my own."
"The time will come soon enough Eunice. So why are you here at school if you are not taking classes?"
"Because that bitch Emily failed me."
"Oh, so now you hate Emily too?"
"I'm running out of patience with the lot of these deaf people. They none have anymore brains than a flea."
"Jeez Eunice, why are you so vehement? What have these people done to you?"
"Always try and make me into a fool. They none can teach."
"Oh come on Eunice you know that isn't true. I have had many years of college and these gals are some of the best and have some of the highest standards and expectations that I have ever come across in my schooling. They are really great teachers."
"Well then they must all hate me because not a one of them will talk to me or make eye contact with me. Betsy called me down in front of class to say my fingernails are to long and my shirt too busy. Jane always graded my papers incorrectly and then tore me up one side and down the other on my presentation and now Emily who I thought liked me at least a little failed me. Women always hate me."
I'd never met a person so full of themselves until I met Eunice. She was always looking for someone to blame for all her problems. It didn't matter if all her problems actually stemmed from within Eunice if there was a way for her to pass it off on someone else she'd do it. So now she was going to blame Emily for her failing Deaf Culture. It wasn't the least bit surprising. Actually I wondered what took her so long to come up with a reason to hate Emily. "Eunice, I'm a woman… and though I definitely don't always agree with you, I usually don't hate you." I answered even though it was a bald face lie.
"Well, you're different. You're like my daughter."
"Ugggh," I thought. "So you're here to complain to Emily about your grade?"
"I just want her to double check it. It has to be a mistake. I had a C going into the final, I thought."
"Be easy on her Eunice. She is under a great deal of stress right now. She is in a precarious state."
"What do you mean?"
"Just that she doesn't need added stress right now."
"You can go with me to talk to her to help keep me from going to far."
"Wouldn't you rather have Sally there?"
"Why would I want her?"
"Okay, Sure! I'll go with you," I said. I wasn't going to bother asking what Sally had done. I'm sure it would be something terrible like maybe causing Eunice to break a nail.
Emily came to her door moments later and told Eunice to come in. I followed her and sat down in the chair to the left of Emily's desk while Eunice sat on the right. "Good Morning. What you need?"
"I want you to double check my grade," Eunice signed falteringly. She was much worse at signing than I was and of course that was someone else's fault too.
"Why?"
"I think you graded my final wrong."
I looked away sheepishly. I knew that more than likely Eunice at failed so miserably that Emily had no choice but to fail her.
"I check. Wait your test I find." Emily signed as she walked toward a filing cabinet behind her office door. She found what she was looking for and motioned us to the conference table, where she went question by question over Eunice's test. She took the time even to explain the correct answers to Eunice. But it all fell on deaf ears. It didn't matter to Eunice what the correct answers were as far as she was concerned what she had written was the correct answers.
"Wait, see that one is right," Eunice would say aloud before remembering to sign.
"No! Wrong! Correct Answer..." Emily would give the correct answer again.
"Isn't that what I said?" Eunice would counter.
"No, you said...." Emily would sign Eunice's response to the question again and back and forth they went.
I could see that Eunice was getting angry that Emily wasn't going to back down any. Emily held her ground and that infuriated Eunice that she couldn't bribe, intimidate, or flirt her way into a better grade. Finally, Eunice met her boiling point. She threw up her hands in anger, stood up and then slammed her hand down in front of Emily face onto the table. "Look here you are not worth the ground I walk on. You are a lousy teacher. You are nothing more than a slut, a stupid deaf slut. I hope social services take that baby from you! You don't deserve to be a mother," Eunice half yelled and half-signed in front of Emily's face.
I'm not sure exactly what came over me but by the time Eunice was done with her tirade I was out of my chair and next to her, where I let my hand fly and sent a sharp slap across her face, "Get out Eunice! Now before I do more than slap your trap shut!"
Eunice took one look at my face and stormed out. It was only after she was gone that I turned to look at Emily, "I'm sorry. I should have stopped her."
Emily looked away for a second, "What me Eunice say, you tell."
"I repeat want not."
"You tell," she signed again. I took a breath, signed and fingerspelled my way through what I remembered of what Eunice had said. I didn't intentionally leave anything out.
By the time I was finished, Emily's eyes were glassy. I knew Eunice's words had cut deep. I also knew that before the pregnancy if someone had said what Eunice had to Emily it would not have fazed her. It would have rolled off her back like rain. Emily was content with herself as a person. She knew who she was. She was a good teacher. She was a kind and caring person. She never went out of her way to hurt people. Emily embodies the best of mankind or at least in my opinion she does.
Then there is Eunice who pretends to be good and caring when underneath the veneer of acrylic nails, and designer clothes lives a mean and vile snake. But the pregnancy left Emily open for hurt and betrayal. It had left her vulnerable because now not only was her teaching to be judge but her choice of lifestyle. Now people could question her teaching based on the fact that she'd made a mistake and became pregnant though she wasn't married. Her teaching credibility had become an ethical and morals dilemma. Instead of looking at her ability people were going to look at her mistakes and judge her by them.
"Thank you," Emily signed after a few moments. Her hands were shaking.
"I sorry," I signed watching her closely.
She rubbed her head absently with her left hand, "Bad I feel. I throw up."
I jumped up from my chair not exactly wanting to witness that again. I went to find her trashcan that she always had stuck beneath her desk and raced back to the table with it. She stood only briefly before she fainted. I caught her somehow, not an easy task considering how tall she is compared to me and lowered her to the floor before screaming at the top of my lungs, "Sally!" I think I probably could have risen the dead with that yell.
Sally came running. Jane and everyone else who was within hearing distance and could hear my scream followed Sally. Those who didn't hear followed the ones who did. Given that it was right before noon on a Thursday, there weren't too many people in the building. Most had already left for lunch. The next class scheduled would happen 'til 5 PM that evening.
I told Sally what had happened so she could call for an ambulance. Jane and Betsy were kneeling beside Emily. Betsy was taking her pulse. I counted respiration and then felt her skin. It was cold and clammy. I had a feeling that she was suffering from low blood sugar induced from stress and not eating breakfast but it was better to be safe than sorry.
"What number have you?" I signed to Betsy.
"90 for 1 minute," Betsy answered.
"Sally tell the 911 operator her pulse rate is 90, her respiration is 30 and shallow. Her skin is cold and clammy to the touch and she's very pale. Make sure you also tell them that she's 24 weeks pregnant and 48 years of age. They will want to treat her high risk." Sally didn't like it that I had taken command but since I knew medical information she did as I asked with a scowl.
"Anything else?" she asked a bit sarcastically, at least it was to my ears.
"You probably should pass on the information that she lost a twin at 11 weeks and also that she's Deaf if you haven't said that already."
Sally said what I asked her to while I turned one of the swivel chairs around and gestured to Jane what I wanted to do. She helped me raise Emily's legs up onto the chair so that the blood in them would circulate down to her heart and brain and maybe bring her out of her faint. At least that was what I hoped would happen. By the time we'd done that I could hear a siren's wail getting closer.
Within a matter of minutes Emily was on her way to the hospital. The EMT's had taken a blood sugar sample and found hers to be only 55. Normal is about 80. They started a ringer's solution and other medication to bring her blood sugar up to normal range.
I drove Jane and Cherry to the hospital. Betsy stayed at school with Sally to hold down the fort. Betsy was to teach that night while Jane was done for the day. That was why she had gone with me to the hospital. Cherry just sort of ended up in the car with us. I was fine with that since she could sign better than I plus she was also closer to Jane than I was.
Jane was allowed back to Emily in the ER. It was three hours later before Cherry and I finally was allowed in to see Emily. She smiled weakly as Cherry and I walked in to her hospital room.
"Stop scaring us!" I signed but smiled.
"I try," she signed with the old spark back in her eye.
Cherry signed, "All okay?"
Sharon, the nurse-interpreter, was there so she told us what Emily was signing. "I need to rest. Too much stress in my life. The Doctor wants me to cut back my hours at work. The baby is okay right now. They are watching contractions and the baby's heart rate."
"You're having contractions?" I signed in English word order and fingerspelled even though Jane was glaring at me.
"Yes, stress, low blood sugar and dehydration induced. My doctor is sure they will stop once I am hydrated and my stress level lowered."
Jane signed, "Take sick days. You have them saved for 10 years." She signed in ASL but I converted in my head to English.
"Maybe after baby born I need. Now not want take," Emily replied while Jane shook her head.
Cherry spoke up again, "Take time you need. Baby early born bad. Rest. Healthy Mother equals a Healthy Baby."
I signed in agreement. In fact we all signed in agreement. Emily didn't like it that we all thought she needed to take some sick leave but as it turned out her Doctor made her when he came in about an hour later to check on her. He refused to release her from the hospital the next day unless she agreed to take two weeks off from work and then cut her hours back to no more than 25 hours a week in the office until her life had quieted down. Little did he know that Emily wouldn't be able to sit still at home. She'd be doing something at all times. Rest was not exactly in her vocabulary. He'd been better off putting her on bedrest or keeping her at the hospital. But who was I to argue that point. Jane and I exchanged looks of knowing what the doctor wanted of Emily was futile. I was beginning to wonder if Emily had a chance of making it to term. Life was sure throwing her for a loop.