Page 12 of The Sign for Home

“You really need to learn more ASL,” Molly signed. “Especially the signs for food so you can ask for it. This is called a B-A-L-O-N-E-Y sandwich.”

Then Molly taught you her sign forbaloney, which she explained was also the sign forhot dog. You repeated the sign over and over, burning it into your brain.

“Baloney, baloney, baloney! Hot dog, hot dog, hot dog!”

You decided to request the same kind of delicious sandwich the next day, and also the day after that, and maybe forever.

Molly turned away to talk to another intervenor named Sybil. You had met Sybil the day before. She smelled like flowers and had soft squishy hands. Unlike Molly’s brittle, awkward hugs, Sybil’s hugs were thick and warm. Sybil had worked at the Rose Garden School longer than Molly and was the intervenor for the two boys who would be your roommates.

“Hello, Arlo!” Sybil signed, sitting next to you at the table. “Good news! Your roommates came back to school today. You will meet them later!”

Your body rocked back and forth with excitement. Would your roommates like playing games, telling you stories, and sharing their dessert?Do they have Usher syndrome 1 as well? Is their vision better or worse than mine?Then a chilling thought entered your head:What if they know more ASL than me? What if I can’t understand them?

“Molly!” you cried, turning away from Sybil. “Molly! Teach me better sign language! Must! Now!”

“What? Finish your baloney sandwich—”

“No time!” You pulled her from the table.

For the next two hours Molly became your flesh-and-blood ASL-English dictionary, as you pointed at nearly everything and everyone you encountered.

“That… name what?” you demanded. “Sign what? That… what do? Name what? Sign how? Fingerspell?”

They tried to teach you to lipread at your old mainstreamed school (which you never could do very well, even before your sight got worse),and the little ASL you did know was from the hearing JWs at the Kingdom Hall who studied sign language so they could preach to the Deaf. Many of the signs Molly was using, like “ketchup” and “fork,” you already knew, but then there were dozens of others that were completely new. Signs likeCoke machine,cake,lunch lady,nosy, andrude.

You pointed to a big cylindrical metal object near the door.

“That!” you begged. “Spelling? ASL… how?”

Molly fingerspelled the termtrash canthen followed it with the ASL sign. Molly said that some people also liked to signtrashthe way you signed the wordslettuceorcabbage. That version, Molly said, was probably invented because the wordgarbagelooked like the wordcabbageto some long-ago Deaf person who read lips.

Within the first hour you learned over fifty new signs from Molly.

“Wow!” you signed. “Too many words! Head is full! If not remember… Wow! My face will red!”

“Maybe it’s time we stop?” Molly begged, her previous willingness deflating.

“No time! Teach more! That!”

You pointed to something on the wall behind Molly: orange and black paper formed into circles and connected, pumpkins with faces, the wordHalloween.

“H-A-L-L-O-W-E-E-N?” you fingerspelled, already knowing you were crossing a line. “ASL… what?”

“Never mind about that,” Molly’s hands reprimanded gently. “Didn’t your mother teach you? It’s sinful to celebrate P-A-G-A-N holidays.”

You nodded, but still had hoped for a loophole at the new school.

“You are good boy,” Molly signed.(Yay! She likes you!)“You love Jehovah God. Same as me. When goats talk about H-A-L-L-O-W-E-E-N or C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S, we’ll just smile and say ‘Excuse me. Need to go now!’ Remember, the children here aren’t meant to be your friends. They aren’t special like you.”

“Me special… why? ‘Special,’ what mean?”

Molly folded your hands in hers. Was she praying? Or was she just killing time to figure out what to tell you?

“You know what the wordsavedmeans in the Bible?” she finally asked.

“Yes! I know meaningsaved!”

Before you knew the word forhamburgeryou knew the words forsavedandthe Anointed Ones.The Anointed Ones were like JW movie stars. They were 144,000 individuals specifically chosen by Jehovah God. The Anointed Ones would never have to die or face Judgment Day like the rest of us. Instead, all 144,000 would be gathered up and go directly to heaven to help Jehovah God rule and get everything ready for the end times. The un-anointed must follow God’s law, be spiritually fit, and await Judgment Day. Then and only then will you know if you are saved.

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