Page 109 of The Sign for Home

She’s gone. I can now clearly hear yelling at the front of the building. No time to think about whatever is happening. I take my two fingers and quickly draw our path on Arlo’s back, from the emergency door, four steps, turn right, pass three doors, the fourth door is her room, and then I tell him to remember that we’ll reverse the directions when we leave, and then quickly draw that map on his back: out the emergency exit door, across the lot, and back out to the street.

“Clear?”

“Clear!”

We make our way down the hallway. Unfortunately, Arlo is swinging his cane and slapping his feet loudly in that cautious way of his, testing the surface. Even though no one is supposed to be back there, I tell him to walk on his tiptoes. He does.

10:50 p.m.

Finally inside Shri’s room, and without turning on the light, I lead Arlo to her bed and place his hands on Shri’s shoulder. He shakes her and shakes her again. Shri groggily comes to. Realizing it’s Arlo, she begins to quake with excitement. As Arlo explains what’s happening, I turn on my phone’s flashlight and run around the room, jamming everything that looks necessary into a pillowcase, including cans of Ensure, diapers, wet wipes, a few items of clean clothing in her drawers. It all feels in slow motion because I’m freaking out and my hands are shaking. When I look to Arlo and Shri, they seem way too calm. Lucky for them, theycan’t hear the sound of yelling coming from somewhere in the front of the building. My heart is scraping at my chest, and I consider the possibility of how bad it would be to have a heart attack at this moment. I tell Arlo and Shri we have to get moving. But then my phone rings and it’s Hanne.

“Hanne?” I whisper into the phone. “Are you okay?”

There is no response, but instead I hear her screaming in garbled tones, and then someone screaming back at her: “Stay where you are! Don’t move!” I get it. Hanne’s in trouble and she turned her phone on to signal she needs help. Maybe she was wrong about the Russian nurse. What happened to Molly? I text her but get no response. For a second I’m paralyzed. I don’t know what to do.

11:00 p.m.

Still no word from Molly or Hanne. If I leave with Arlo and Shri I may not be able to get back in the building. I think about what Arlo had been saying, about this being his and Shri’s plan, about respecting their choices. I tell them that Hanne and Molly appear to be in trouble and that I need Arlo and Shri to make their way out of the facility on their own so I can help the two women. I quickly explain how Shri’s going to need to look out for obstacles outside so Arlo doesn’t trip. She tells me she understands and that she has lots of experience guiding Arlo. I tell them to go very slowly and meet us at the gas station a block away. Once more, I draw the escape route on Arlo’s back: pass three doorways, turn left, then out the emergency door, diagonal across the empty lot to the pavement, turn right and follow the pavement until Shri tells him to stop. Before they go, I give Arlo a quick hug and wish him luck. He looks nervous but also excited and is smiling.

11:03 p.m.

Arlo lifts Shri onto his back and immediately she starts using some sort of touch communication from when they were younger, tapping his shoulders like she’s steering a truck. As they head out into the hallway, Shri waves the nonromantic sign forI love youat me.

I sign it back. Then I take a deep breath before running to the front of the building to help Hanne and Molly.

53WHAT HAPPENED NEXT

As I neared the front of the facility, I could see and hear it was mayhem. The staff were all standing around watching Hanne, whose arm was being held by the Russian nurse, and he was demanding to know if Hanne had taken the file, where it was, and who she was. I hid myself around a corner.

“Just give it back,” the nurse demanded. “I’m serious or I’m calling the police.”

“Why don’t you call the police then,” Hanne demanded. “I don’t have your stupid file. I just came back to pick up my ID.”

I saw no sign of Molly. Had she bailed? Then things managed to get worse. Right outside the side window, just behind the backs of the entire staff, I could see Arlo and Shri stumbling across the open lot where a bright streetlight was illuminating them and bouncing light off Arlo’s white cane. All that had to happen was one of the staff turning around and they’d be caught. I considered my options. I could rush the Russian guy, which, by the size of him, would not end well. But then maybe Hanne would have a chance to run, and that might cause enough of a distraction to give Shri and Arlo time to reach the street. And then I had a meta moment:Am I really thinking about physically attacking a Russian nurse so I can free my friend and aid a DeafBlind man to escape with his Deaf wheelchair-using lover? Has being a sign language interpreter really come to this?

As I prepared myself to act extremely out of character, I felt my phone vibrate. It was a text from Molly, finally:Pull the fire alarm!

Just as I received her text, Molly appeared at the front glass doors, banging and screaming:

“Fire! Fire! Your dumpster! It’s on fire!”

And sure enough, the dumpster in front of the building had been set ablaze, smoke was billowing and orange licks of flame were crawling up the old mattresses. The perfect distraction from Shri and Arlo, who at that very moment were crossing the lot just outside the window next to where everyone was freaking out.

“Holy shit,” one of the attendants screamed. “My car is right there!”

“Someone call the fire department,” another shouted.

As Molly instructed, I pulled the nearest fire alarm. Immediately strobe lights and sirens went off, and the sprinklers created a massive deluge throughout the hallways. The Russian nurse released Hanne, who immediately bolted out the front door, grabbing Molly’s hand and running. Not wanting any of the staff to possibly recognize me from earlier, I headed back through the waterfalls of sprinklers and out an exit on the other side of the building.

When I arrived at the street, soaking wet, I ran as fast as I could until I met up with Molly and Hanne, who were huffing and puffing and walk-running. All of us had that look of stunned joy, that we actually pulled off Shri’s plan, or thought we had.

“Molly, that was brilliant,” Hanne said, catching her breath.

“Good job, Molly!” I added.

“Let’s not talk about it now,” she said, barely able to breathe. “Where are they?”

We assumed we would pass Shri and Arlo en route, but five minutes later we arrived at the car parked at the gas station and there was no sign of them. All of us were worried and puzzled. Had they taken a wrong turn? Had Arlo fallen? Did they catch him and we just didn’t notice?

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