My Friend Went Down to the Water. I Didn't See Him Again.

Kids are often mean. As soon as a child picks up a toy, someone pulls her hair. She picked out the "wrong" toy by mistake; someone had already "claimed" it. In a way, they're very aggressive little animals. Some experts think it's an evolved trait to quickly figure out where you fit in the food chain. It's not clear to me how a green toy tractor, even if it looks exactly like a John Deere, would help someone stay alive. I guess it has something to do with putting parts of yourself onto inanimate things and making your existence depend on that of the object.

In this area, I have a fair amount of skill. I grew up in a place where there was no sound. The other kids knew about my condition, even though it was so bad that no one could see it. It made me look like a ghost made of thick blankets. They did, of course. This made it very easy to hurt me.

My parents made sure I had everything I needed to face the world when I was young. It was sad that it wasn't enough. People who are deaf might think that their words are safe, but words are never the worst part. When I miss a sign in PE, I get angry looks. Not being in band class, even though I loved how the guitar strings felt against my fingers. Teachers aren't putting on subtitles when movies are shown. Those parts were the worst.

Tone was cold the day I met him. I remember being slow to get to school. Along the sidewalk, there were brown puddles, and my white shoes soaked up the water way too well to be made of…