My Own Four Cents [2016]

Chapter 13: Mixed Sale

I try to stay on topic during the school week. It's hard though, because my family's in trouble and Veronica's in the orphanage and Tundra's having a baby. I still ride Liberty, but Tanisha doesn't ride Tundra as much.

As Mr. Seay speaks to the class at the end of the day on Friday, he writes on the board. He does that for me. I read it.

How can we help people? We need ideas for raising money for the poor. Who has ideas?

Bake Sale

Dog Walking

Baby Sitting

I think about it for a while as more ideas go on the board. Then I raise my hand.

Tanisha tells Mr. Seay what I say as I sign it. How about student made items? Selling them? Books, T-shirts, bracelets, jewelry, paintings, pastries, stuff like that. It mixes all our ideas. Then we could raise a lot of money.

Good idea! Tanisha says to me after telling Mr. Seay.

Sandy gives me a thumbs up and I give one back before realizing that was one of the nicest things she's ever done for me.

Tanisha signs to me what Mr. Seay is telling the class. Let's vote on the ideas.

He makes an T chart with the ideas: Dog walking, babysitting, bake sale, or mixed sale. Then he points to Dog walking. Seven kids raise their hands. Babysitting. Five. Bake sale. About three. Mixed sale. At least thirteen! Most of the class! It must be a good idea.

Mr. Seay wrote on the board, Mixed Sale wins the vote.

Yes! Tanisha signs.

Mr. Seay writes on the board. What are we going to sell?

People suggest stuff as he writes.

Student written stories/poems

Handmade jewelry

Tie dye T-shirts

Paintings

Clay pots/figures

Cupcakes

The list grows longer and longer. Tanisha volunteers her horse essay for them to photocopy and type up for the sale. Sandy draws a flower with beautiful colors and Tanisha also draws a horse. I make one of those swirly pictures. I offer five dollars for it. Tanisha offers ten for her horse and fifteen for the story, and Sandy offers seven for her flower. Other kids make stuff and put prices for them.

I look at the table set up in the lobby that afternoon. There are drawings, string and rubber band bracelets, stories, and other stuff. Other classes have done bake sales, babysitting companies and stuff, but our class has the most items to sell.

I read some of the stories and they are awesome! I wish I could do that... but I realize I've never tried.

Sandy runs up to me after school, and I wince out of habit. She signs to me rapidly.

Listen. I'm sorry about what I did to you. I've always treated you like an idiot, but you're really smart and you have great ideas. I'm sorry I treated you so badly, and everyone else. I once met a girl, Donna, who was deaf and she gave me a hard time no matter how much I tried to help her, and it gave me a bad feeling about deaf kids. I shouldn't have thought that way. You're a great person and I just need to get to know you better. I've been really stressed about my parents getting a divorce, but I've realized your experiences have much worse. You have great ideas that the world will love someday. I liked your idea about the mixed sale. I bet you'll come up with something great to sell. Will you forgive me?

I stare at her for a second. Is this the same Sandy who has been making fun of me for the past few months?

Sure. Want to be friends?

Yeah! Here. She holds out her other hand in a fist. Bump it.

I smile and touch her hand. Friends?

Friends.

You won't believe what Sandy said to me today, I say after school.

Tanisha grimaces. What?

She said sorry for being mean and that her parents were getting a divorce and she now realizes that my experiences are worse than hers, and she finally realized I'm not dumb.

Tanisha gasps. Are you KIDDING me?

Nope.

Wow! That's amazing!

Yeah!

We make string bracelets for a while. I make a purple one with yellow stripes and Tanisha makes a matching one, sort of like friendship bracelets. Then we make other varieties of bracelets for the sale, and I go home. 

I sit at my desk in the afternoon on Friday. A piece of white paper lies blank in front of me. I remember what I said to Tanisha a couple of months ago about writing a story about her own life and decide to take my own advice. I write down a first sentence.

My name is Maria Valasquez.

Boring! How about something that's more CREATIVE?

I erase my sentence and start over. When I start, I can't stop.

My life is like a movie being watched on someone else's computer... and they're wearing the headphones. Everything is silent. It's been silent for my entire life. I have never heard anything since I was born. I was thrown into this life against my will, a girl with no family and no hearing. I feel like I live in a horror movie.

That's exactly how I feel. I pick up my pencil and continue writing.

My name is Maria Valasquez, and it drives me crazy that I can't make a difference. I long to make a difference, to myself, to deaf people, to the world. There are millions of things that happen to me and the world, and it's like a horror movie (a silent horror movie)-- I see everything happening around me, but I can't do anything about it. I just watch it happen, as much as I would like to scream and stop the movie so I don't have to watch something so awful, but it's life, not a movie. I just have to cope with it...