No Such Thing As Perfect

Matthias

Matthias counted himself lucky to have an older sister to show him the ropes. Ali had taught him many things, but most perhaps not as important as when she showed him where every creaky floorboard was in the house when they were little. Stepping on the wrong board meant someone would hear, and if someone heard, well, Matthias liked the idea of being as silent as his own world was. It had been an adventure for him, stepping from one place to another to avoid the noisy floorboards. Besides, Ali had shown him so he wouldn't mess things up when they snuck down the stairs early in the morning to sneak chocolate ice cream bars from the freezer before their mother woke up. She stopped buying ice cream bars when he was eleven and Ali was thirteen, but he hadn't forgotten where those floorboards supposedly groaned beneath his weight. Supposedly, because for all he knew, Ali might have been playing a joke on him when they were kids. Maybe there were no creaking boards. Maybe she just wanted to chuckle to herself whenever she looked back at him, wide-eyed and hugging the wall to make sure he didn't let her down as she pointed out how to hop from stair to stair without making a sound.

Matthias walked into the living room. The scent of lilacs still lingered in the air. A light smile crossed his face as he noticed his mother laying on the couch, an open book on her chest. The breeze fluttered the pages as she slept. He hated to wake her simply to tell her he was leaving, so he crept past the couch and slid the front door shut, letting it latch into place. The evening was warm and breezy; the sun lay low in the sky.

With one more look over his shoulder at the big house, he set his skateboard on the concrete and start coasting down the street toward downtown. A car would have been faster, but that wasn't an option. Ali was shopping with friends for the evening, and Ben had taken the only other car to work that morning. Riding around on a skateboard wasn't so bad. Matthias liked the wind blowing in his face. He liked feeling the wheels kick over the asphalt beneath his board. It was an adventurous feeling. But not having a car when the weather was freezing cold or super hot, and having to ask Ali or a parent to take him where he wanted to go to wasn't much fun. Especially considering he was seventeen going on eighteen and wanted a little more independence.

He frowned. He could get a license if his parents let him. Get a used car with low mileage for a fair price downtown. But he was deaf, and that meant, at least in their eyes, he couldn't drive. Shouldn't. What if he crashed into someone? What if he didn't pull over if a cop needed to tell him his taillight was out because he couldn't hear the sirens? What if...That was his mother in a nutshell. Armed with a long list of what ifs and always worried for him. Not thinking he might be less helpless than he seemed. He hoped he didn't seem helpless. He certainly didn't feel like he was.

The warm spring breeze rushed against his face and through his hair as he coasted down the streets. The skateboard wheels shuddered across the loose asphalt, bump, bump, bump beneath his feet. Matthias' shoulders tensed as a car turned the corner, barely slowing as it drove past him. Sometimes he felt a little afraid, adventuring out like this. What good would his hearing aids do if he didn't see a car driving toward him in the first place? What if –

His frown slid upward into a grin and he laughed to himself. The nervous tension drained from him. There he was, acting like his parents with the what ifs. Still, he figured he should keep an eye out for those creepy ice cream truck guys. The ones who looked for innocent kids to dump in the backs of their scary white vans. Maybe he looked like an easy one to kidnap. He was quiet, shorter than the average seventeen-year-old boy, observant yet unable to hear approaching vehicles. Maybe he did look helpless.

But was he? He might not be able to hear, but on the slight chance he was kidnapped, he planned to wear out his throat hoping he was screaming for help. And he did have arms and legs, so they'd have to stuff him into that van with him kicking and flailing all the way. Then again, he mused, getting kidnapped was an adventure, however horrifying.