The Wolf Lake ASL Program is run in conjunction with the State School for the Deaf. By this I mean we students have access to the classrooms and the other buildings as part of our curriculum. We are allowed to observe and take part in classes regarding Bilingual/Bicultural education of Deaf Children. But it is because of this open door policy between the schools that we sometimes get to participate in learning experiences that are part of the Deaf School history, things such as homecoming, basketball, volleyball, swim meets, track and field and so on. This is how I came to see a picture of our Emily as a teenager.
I was snooping in the school library. Over a century ago I had a cousin who was said to have been educated at the Deaf school but I had never found proof in the county census records to where she was educated. So on a slow day after the Gala I went to the school library to see what I could find. Well I didn't find anything that proved my cousin, Adeline, had attended. So I got playing and looking at the school year books out of curiosity and there in 1972 was Emily Wesson decked out in a swimsuit and a swim cap but her smile was hard to miss even then. I discovered that Emily was not just a swim star but also ran track, and played Volleyball. The pictures of her were for lack of a better description less than becoming. She was a tomboy even then. In the pictures everyone else had the long hair and curls. Then there was Emily with a pageboy cut and the sides tucked behind her ears. It is funny that today it's just the opposite even though she still tucks the sides behind her ears. The only reason I knew she was in these pictures was her smile. It's a dead giveaway. It was neat seeing Emily as a young girl with her whole life still before her. I wander if the Emily I know today would tell the Emily of then anything that would change the course of their history in time.
On the Saturday the weekend after the Gala, Cherry and I stopped by Emily's house on our way to a country fair. It was a crisp fall day but bright and sunny. There wouldn't be many days as beautiful to come before winter set in. The reason we stopped by was because Nora had taken ill and had gone home to recover from pneumonia. I, of course, did not like it that Emily was alone as she got closer to term. With less than five weeks to go and her history of premature labor I had to at least stop and check on her. I couldn't ask Matt to do it for me. He'd not yet forgiven me for sending him to Natural Childbirth classes with her.
Emily answered her doorbell flasher slowwwlyyy. We could see her through the shears of her living room window and knew she was answering the door. She just didn't have the agility anymore to pop up off the sofa quickly. It took some swing action for her to rise. "Hello" she signed giving us belly to the side hugs.
"Hello," we signed in return patting her stomach as we passed into the house and were greeted by Max and Tux, well as much a greeting as most cats will give. They were lounging in a living room chair with Tux's paws wrapped around Max in a hug. It was cute. They are best buddies.
"What's up?" she signed sitting back down uneasily.
"Nothing. Fair the two of us go. The two of us decided drop by here before we go. We see you okay, we want," Cherry replied though it was me who'd said I wanted to stop.
"Me fine. Tire, not comfortable, Baby kick all day. Nothing new," Emily replied and then rubbed absentmindedly at a spot on her abdomen. It was apparent that the imp that lived within her was trying to beat her up from the inside out.
“Baby kick me feel, okay?” I asked hesitantly as I still had problems with asking that question.
“Fine ++”
“Me same as her, okay” Cherry asked not about to be left out.
“Come on,” Emily waved feigning irritation though she truly wasn’t upset. Even with a deluge of hormones Emily was pretty serene, except for an occasional crying fit but I expected those.
“Kick, Where?” I asked.
“Where Not,” she answered basically saying there wasn’t a single spot that the kid wasn’t punching one minute or the next. I laughed.
“Now, where?” I asked for exact.
“Here,” she placed her hand near the top of her abdomen and too the right slightly.
I placed my hand next to hers and felt the baby kicking hard. No wonder she was tired. That had to hurt. Then Emily placed Cherry’s hand where hers had been so she could feel too. We smiled at each other with the wonder of life.
“Find spine, me try.” I explained as I felt along her stomach until I could discern the string of pearls that made up the baby’s spine.
“Why?” she questioned.
“Because if hearing person lay their ear near baby spine person can hear baby heartbeat. Me thought maybe Cherry like try if you not care.”
“Me not care.”
“Cool!” Cherry said. “Where?”
“I’m not certain this will work. I can’t do it myself because I can’t hear such soft tones. But you maybe can. It will sound faster than your own heartbeat. Fetus’s usually beat at about 140 to 160 beats per minute. It will be muffled because you’ll be hearing it through the uterine muscle and abdominal muscle. I think you should be able to hear it about here,” I said touching a spot just below Emily’s belly button that no longer was an inny.
“You say what?” Emily asked as Cherry tried to find the baby’s heartbeat with her ear. I explained in English word order and fingerspelling what I had just told Cherry.
Emily stuck out her lower lip indicating she was disappointed that she wouldn’t be able to do the same. I asked, “You hear Doppler stethoscope at Doctor’s?”
“Yes,” She replied.
“Same. Doppler work better.”
“Shhh. I’m trying to hear this and all I can hear is you two making noise.” Cherry said and I laughed.
“She says the two of us too noisy!”
Emily signed, “Quiet.” I stifled another giggle.
“Me hear that! Cool.”
“You hear?”
“Yes, Sound like raindrops maybe.”
“Neat.” I said as I looked at my watch. “Cherry, we need to be going.”
“The two of you need leave?” Emily asked trying to stand again. We pulled her to her feet.
“Yes, we go fair.”
“Have fun.”
“Thanks, Call if you need anything.”
“Fine++” she said with a smile as we left her standing in her doorway.
We drove out of the suburbs into the country to an old country fair. It was like stepping back in time. Everyone that was working the fair was dressed in pioneer clothing. In truth, the area was a pioneer settlement reconstructed. So all the houses were log cabins. Everything was as it would have been 150 years ago.
Cherry and I walked around browsing the art displays and the knickknacks that were for sell. Things like true beeswax candles. Quilts made by hand, canes and walking sticks cut and whittled from the mighty oaks that surrounded the settlement. We watched a cabin raising demonstration and then sat down on hewn logs to watch a late fall baseball game played by the children.
Later we found the food stands and had roasted corn on the cob dripping in butter and salt and barbecued pork that had been slow roasted and lathered in sauce. For dessert we had apple turnovers that melted in our mouths.
After lunch we took a tour of the livestock area. The children were raising bunnies in creates. As Cherry and I passed one admiring the huge buck rabbit as we did so he decided he didn’t like or appreciate his neighbor and sent a stream of Rabbit pee over both Cherry and I. I broke out laughing as I thought it was funny. I mean how many times does a person get peed on by a ticked off Rabbit at a fair? Cherry however was mortified and decided she needed soap and water then if not sooner. “Oh come on it’s funny,” I said as we looked for a restroom.
“No, it’s not… It’s pee.”
“Well, It’s not gonna hurt you.”
“How do you know.”
“I don’t think I have ever heard of anyone dying from being peed on by a rabbit besides I got it worse than you,” I said still laughing.
“I don’t care. It’s not funny.”
“It is too.” I laughed as we both scrubbed at our shirts with soap, water and paper towels.
“I hope this stuff doesn’t stain.”
“Nah it will come out. You can’t even see where you were hit you are wearing a gray shirt. Look at me I look like I took a bath in beer,” I exclaimed still working on spots.
“Serves you right since you think this is sooo funny.”
“I’m ready to go back to see the rabbits again.”
“Nope, I’m not pressing my luck again. One time being peed on by a rabbit is enough. Let’s go look at the draft horses.”
“Oh Okay maybe later we’ll look at the bunnies some more.” I smiled knowingly.
“No!” She snapped in sign. I laughed. We never did get back to see the rabbits again.