Story of the Day 2/ 15/ 2013

It happened again.

This time, Sarah told her teacher. I am not sure why she told her teacher, what led up to it in their conversation, but she told him.
He was incredulous.

Sarah was on the bus.
This is different, an actual change in what is an unchanging narrative. Until now, it has only ever happened in the classroom.
But Sarah was on the bus, Thursday, yesterday, getting ready to ride home.
A girl came and stood beside her.
Sarah looked up.

"Will you be my friend?"
The girl signed this out word by word, using her iPhone to check the signs she was using.

Who knows what Sarah really thought, when the girls asked this, but Sarah has been well trained and nodded her head, "Yes".

Sarah's teacher., Mr. H was incredulous. "But you're in high school."
"I know, but this happens . It has happened more than once."
And , Sarah added that the girl responded as the other girls who have asked her this question in the past have responded.
The girl became very excited.

The first time it happened, Sarah came home and told me, and Sarah thought that perhaps the girl who asked her was developmentally delayed or had some other special need, because, as she told me, at the Deaf school, kids don't' ask that once they are out of 3rd grade.
She asked me if Hearing people were "different".
Did they ask this of other kids even when they were in high school? A question that was seen as immature and uncool by her deaf peers.

"No," I told her, " Hearing people also stop asking that at some point in elementary school."

Despite this, every semester or two, a girl will come up ands ask Sarah exactly that same question.

And Sarah always nods her head ,"Yes."
This is because , if , in fact, the girl is developmentally delayed, it would be mean to answer otherwise.

But her teacher, Mr. H, still didn't believe it.
It was....really odd.
He did , however, advise Sarah that the next time it happened she should look very interested and maybe excitedly ask, "Do you like to kill cats?"

According to him, this will help to weed out a lot of .........

I am sure he is right. In fact, it is a brilliant suggestion.

Except think of the friends she will be left with.