Page 81 of The Sign for Home

“I hear you,” I said. “But it’s not so simple. I mean, if Brother Birch was hitting Arlo, or starving him, I’d have to do something as a mandated reporter. But lying to someone isn’t a crime. And right now Arlo’s justexcited that he’ll see Shri again. And—this is the really weird part—Arlo said he talked it out with his uncle and is able to forgive him. I guess that’s his whole religious thing. I would have grabbed a knife.”

“Well, I won’t forgive them,” Hanne growled. “He’s going to get to see her, yes?”

“That’s the plan. Big Head Lawrence was able to find out where she’s living, which unfortunately is this long-term nursing rehab in Queens.”

“A nursing home?” Hanne looked alarmed. “How disabled is she?”

“Unclear. Arlo told me he was able to contact the home about visiting. Brother Birch can’t take him but told Arlo that if he could find his way there, it was okay for him to go. So Arlo’s asked me to take him, which has me a little nervous.”

“You have to do it!”

“Are you kidding me? I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Hanne began to clap and stomp her feet, which made the old woman behind the counter look over.

“We’re driving down tomorrow since he can’t miss his church thing on Saturday. Arlo was supposed to go on that museum field trip to Albany, but he wrote his professor and asked if it would be okay for him to write about visiting Shri instead. Naturally Professor Bahr loved the idea.”

“This is perfect!” Hanne gushed. “Tell him I want to read it when he’s finished. Can I come too?”

“This isn’t a reality show, Hanne. No.”

“Does that awful woman get to go?” Hanne grumbled.

“Molly? No. In fact, when he was emailing Professor Bahr and me, Arlo asked us not to say anything to Molly. He’s forgiving his uncle but not her. He wrote us that he’ll just tell Molly last-minute that the professor said there isn’t going to be a lot of interpreting needed on the trip so he’s just bringing one interpreter: me. I asked him if he didn’t think Molly would naturally try and call his uncle to complain, but Arlo says Birch will be incommunicado because of some JW meeting.”

“Pretty cunning that one, huh?”

“It appears so. The nursing facility is about an hour-and-forty-five-minute drive—two hours with traffic. We’ll be back by dinnertime. It will give Arlo a good hour or so with Shri. Molly will throw a tantrum when she finds out she wasn’t included, but boo-hoo for her. I wouldn’t be surprised if her days as his interpreter are numbered.”

36THE FIELD TRIP

By nine in the morning that Friday it was already eighty degrees and steaming hot. I waited at the meeting point behind Hudson Hall for fifteen minutes before Arlo finally walked out the door with Snap. He looked really nervous, with sweat stains in his armpits even though he had been inside the air-conditioning for a while. Considering what we were about to do I expected him to be smiling from ear to ear. I tapped his shoulder gently, but still he nearly leaped out of his shoes.

“Take it easy! Cyril here. Why so anxious?”

“I don’t want Molly know. She will very jealous.”

“Didn’t you already tell her she didn’t need to work today?”

Arlo nodded. “Yes. But Molly stubborn. Suppose she comes anyway? Or maybe shows up for another reason. If Molly finds out, will ruin everything!”

“Don’t worry. It’s going to be fine. And today you’ll get to see Shri! So let’s get this adventure started.”

I gave him my arm and we headed across the upper part of the campus to the parking lot. After helping Arlo and Snap get in and settled, I suddenly realized that chatting with Arlo while driving would be difficult since I’d need to take my eyes off the road and my hands off the wheel. I’m sure there are acrobatic Deaf people with superhero peripheral vision whoare capable of this but I wasn’t. So I told Arlo that if he needed something to just tap my leg and we could pull over to talk.

“Ready?” I asked.

Arlo’s smile grew so large it strained the edges of his face. Moments later we were driving past the dozen or so auto-parts stores, the Abilities Institute, and the Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery. When we stopped at the next red light, I looked over at Arlo and his smile had disappeared, replaced again by that manic look of worry.

“You doing okay?”

“Nervous. First time touch New York City. Also thinking: Suppose Shri doesn’t love me anymore?”

My first instinct was to tell himEverything will be okay.But I couldn’t. People change. Feelings change. In my own life I had seen people go from loving someone to never wanting to see them again. I didn’t want to be another person who told him lies.

“You’re right,” I signed. “Five and a half years is a long time. And you were both teenagers. Maybe Shri has changed a lot. Maybe you have. Sometimes people fall in love with other people when they’ve been separated for so long.”

“I haven’t.”

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