Part 6 (1/2)

And that meant boarding school.

We read through the correspondence courses that included games and activities, until Miss Gordon announced that her brain hurt, and she went up to bed for an afternoon nap.

”Don't be disappointed, Louisa,” Robert said, noticing the look on my face as I watched her go up the stairs. ”She's interested. It's just a lot of new information to take in.”

”I thought I might ask her if she would be the one to write the letters to Mrs. Spencer Tracy.”

Robert burst out laughing. ”Yes, that would definitely keep her interested.”

There was one more piece of information I needed to present to Robert. ”William should be seen by a specialist. He's really never been thoroughly tested, and he is going to need to have some kind of amplification box. I found the name of a doctor in Phoenix who works with deaf children.”

Robert looked doubtful. ”I don't know what could be amplified when a child is profoundly deaf.”

”Couldn't you at least find out? It seems to be an important part of understanding sound.”

Robert looked over in the parlor at William. William was doing somersaults on the parlor rug around an enraptured puppy, repeating the same sound he had made this morning in the kitchen. Finally, Robert turned back to me. ”Okay, Louisa. Before we go any further with trying oral communication, I'll take William for testing and hear what this doctor recommends. You picked this doctor, so whatever he suggests is what we'll do. Fair enough?”

I smiled. ”Fair enough.”

And despite Miss Gordon's loud objections, with a rare overruling by Robert, a yellow-haired, brown-eyed puppy became the newest member of the Gordon family. Robert even insisted the puppy be allowed to sleep in William's room. We decided to name the puppy ”Dog.”

To my surprise, Robert made the call to the doctor in Phoenix without any reminding on my part and set up an appointment for the following week. He and William made the two-day trip, staying overnight with a relative.

I couldn't sit still while they were away, having no idea what the doctor would recommend. Miss Gordon complained I was ”fidgeting worse than a dog with fleas.” She was right, but I was more than a little concerned that he would be just like the ancient doctor in Copper Springs who recommended that Robert wait until William was older, then send him off to boarding school.

The more I read about Mrs. Spencer Tracy, the more I realized how forward thinking she was. Even though I only knew of her by reputation and through her correspondence, I had confidence in her. Perhaps it was because she was a mother. Perhaps it was because we shared the same name. Louise Tracy.

Robert and William returned back late the next night-so late I didn't even hear them come in. When I woke in the morning, I heard Robert's voice in the kitchen, talking to his aunt. I unscrewed the radiator cap and listened carefully.

”So he gave us this...” With a thud, I heard Robert place an object on the table. ”The doctor said everything she had told me, about a short time of opportunity to try spoken language and lip reading. I don't know how she knows so much.”

With a satisfied smile, I realized I was the 'she' to whom he was referring.

”And the doctor said I was an enlightened father.”

”Well, you're a Gordon, of course. It's always been said the Gordons are enlightened,” proudly affirmed Miss Gordon.

What?! I nearly said aloud but clapped my mouth shut with my hand. The Gordons? Enlightened? I shook my head in disbelief. Who would have possibly ever said that? I finished dressing and hurried downstairs, hoping to be included in the conversation while Robert was in a mood to talk.

He smiled broadly as he saw me walk into the kitchen. ”Louisa! I've been waiting for you. Guess what? William is not profoundly deaf! He has a moderate hearing problem but not profound. He's been able to hear some things all along. Low sounds, the doctor said. And he gave him this.” He pointed to the kitchen table. There lay a hearing aid.

”So it was worth the trip?” I asked, making a valiant effort not to look self-righteous.

He laughed. ”Yes. And you have my blessing to carry on.” And then, just like that, he left to go to his office, happily whistling, as Miss Gordon went upstairs to check on William.

I sat down at the kitchen table, flummoxed. His blessing? Did he just give me his blessing to carry on? With his son? How could I expect William to develop language when his own father hardly communicated?! A small fire of anger started smoldering within me. I marched over to Robert's office and burst in without knocking, startling him. He was seated at his desk, already engrossed in preparing Sunday's sermon.

”Robert? This is not my project. Helping William to learn to communicate is a project for the entire household! This is an enormous undertaking. I can't do this alone!”

Wide-eyed, Robert said nothing and stared at me.

I looked at him in utter disgust and marched out again, closing the door with a decided bang.

William hadn't woken yet, so I took the hearing aid and the instruction manual up to my room. Not long afterwards, I heard a timid knock at my door. ”Who is it?” I snapped, knowing full well who was there.

Robert walked in, a little awkwardly, and sat down on my desk chair. ”You're right,” he said sheepishly, chin to chest.

I raised an eyebrow at him but didn't say anything.

”It's just that...from what I learned from the doctor...and from the materials you have...it is going to be an enormous, time consuming work, and someone will have to make this a full-time job.” He cast a guilty glance at me. ”I just a.s.sumed that...since you started the whole thing...you would be the one to take the bulk of responsibility for it.”

He raked a hand nervously through his hair. ”In fact, as I was driving back from Phoenix, I realized it might be best if you didn't have a job outside of the home. What I mean to say is...if you could consider this to be your job, almost like a tutor or governess. I would pay you, of course.” Cautiously, he glanced up at me. Then he hastened to add, ”And I will be involved, I promise. I can't speak for Aunt Martha, but I will support this.”

”And help? You'll learn to help teach him?” I asked, eyeing him with suspicion.

”Yes. Of course.”

I hesitated, just to make him squirm a little. Then I smiled. ”I accept the job offer. But I won't accept payment. Consider it a barter agreement. In exchange for room and board.”

He held out his hand to shake mine. As I took his hand, I said, ”So help me understand how this hearing aid works.”

He came over to the bed and picked it up. ”It's a Zenith Radionic A2A. First vacuum tube hearing aid. Just came out last year and they're already working on a new model.”

I took it from him to look it over.

”From what I understand,” continued Robert, intrigued by its mechanical features, ”this hearing aid uses a microphone to turn incoming sound waves into an electric current so they can be amplified. Then a speaker transforms the electric current into sound in the ear ca.n.a.l. Voil! Sound! It won't be the same as you and I hear, but it will give William some awareness of sound.”

I watched him as he explained the process. It struck me that he looked a little different after returning from Phoenix. For the first time, I thought he looked like a young man.

”Robert?” I asked, suddenly feeling more than a little overwhelmed. ”Do you really think we can do this?”

He sat back down on the chair. ”Louisa, the doctor told me something that clinched it for me. He said, 'Language is language is language. You have to get language into these kids.' So, yes, I think we can do this. The doctor said we have nothing to lose and everything to gain.” He looked at me with great confidence. ”He also said to expect miracles.”

Robert, William, and I worked diligently to finish correspondence lesson #1 and started on lesson #2 as we waited for lesson #3 to arrive. The John Tracy Clinic planned for families to have something to work on at all times, so there was a continual overlap of correspondence courses.

Intuitively, William sensed the need to learn to listen, which was the foundation to oral communication. He was never without the hearing aid hanging around his little neck. Soon, we didn't even notice it; it became as much a part of him as the cowlick on his forehead. His ability to concentrate and his determination to learn kept me scrambling to keep up with him. His sounds were unintelligible, but they were the beginning of language.

It was thrilling! And exhausting.

I worked to bring sounds to his attention all day long. We repeated exercises hundreds of times. Hundreds of repet.i.tions! I fell asleep each night completely worn out but woke up refreshed, reinvigorated by William's enthusiasm.

One day, I tried to engage Miss Gordon in the process. We played a game where I knocked on the door and she would answer it. She tried it once or twice, but she had to exaggerate her behavior to help William understand the relations.h.i.+p between sound and response and said she felt ridiculous.

So we tried it the other way, where she knocked on the door, and I opened it. But again, she said she felt foolish, knocking on her own front door. Then she stopped trying. I knew her well enough by now to know not to push her. Martha Gordon was not a woman to be pushed.