Against Dr. Lahar’s recommendation, Detective DiRoso stood in the hospital room of the Sunshine Girl, looking down at her. Upon their entering, she had scooted back to the head of her bed and curled her legs up against her chest, but she did not look at them. This had been the way of things for three days. The doctors couldn’t even say for sure whether she was understanding English, since she did not react to the voices at all. All medical tests had suggested her hearing was fine, but how could they be sure?1
Nevertheless, talking again didn’t seem to do any harm. DiRoso knelt down so he was at face level, and said, “Hello.”Nothing.“Can you understand me?...How are you?...Would you like to know where you are?”2
She moved her head, making everyone in the room take a sharp breath. For a moment, she just looked out the window. Then, her hand moved quickly, making a small quick wave that no one was even sure happened. DiRoso looked up. “What was that?”3
Marion checked the chart to be sure. “She’s never responded before to speech, at all. Go on, Joel.”4
With more pressure on him, DiRoso sighed deeply. Then he repeated. “Hello. How are you?”5
For the first time, the girl looked the man in the face. Her eyes were a steel blue color, nearly gray, and he had an uncomfortable feeling of being analyzed. But he maintained the gaze. Slowly, listlessly, she brought both hand to her face, palms open toward her, and dragged them down her face. Her eyes closed for a long second. He maintained the gaze until she returned it again, then looked back to the doctors. To his shock, Dr. Fleming’s mouth was hanging open and Dr. Lahar was nearly in tears.“What?”6
Marion Lahar, in a voice that was soft but wavering with emotion, said, “That looked a lot like American Sign Language. I--I think she said ‘sad’.”7
The three adults stared at one another, and all three missed the girl nodding emphatically. “She knows ASL?” DiRoso finally sputtered. “That’s--that’s—random.”8
“Weird.” Fleming added.“Well, let’s ask her her name, and what was happening in the Bailey house!”9
Lahar shook her head. “I’m sorry. It’s just by chance that I know the word ‘sad.’ I can’t really understand sign language.”10
“Well, get someone who does!”11
She looked at Dr. Fleming helplessly. 12
“No one in the hospital understands ASL?!”13
“To be fair, there are only about three completely deaf people in Rayburn, Joel. They can all talk and read lips. And the other hard-of-hearing people have hearing aids. I…we haven’t needed it in a long time.” There was something else on the tip of Fleming’s tongue, but he refrained from saying it. Everyone waited for him to.14
Finally, Lahar murmured, “How about your son, James?”15
“Yeah, I know.” 16
James Fleming's son Luke knew sign language. James had actually taught it to him, for the most part, but James had long since forgotten it. Luke remembered it because it was his first language, and he had taken classes on it since then. For Luke was born deaf. Deaf, but with an assurance that by the time he was four or five, he would get cochlear implants that would allow him to hear almost perfectly. James didn’t like to remember the sign language days—the days when he couldn’t talk to his newborn son, but had to awkwardly move his hands around to try to get a point across. He didn’t like the adamant way Luke still studied the language, as if James hadn’t paid tens of thousands of dollars for the implant, and then spent years teaching Luke to speak properly. But it was an irrational dislike, and he knew it. 17
He finally responded. “Yeah, Luke can understand ASL all right. I can bring him by after school lets out at three.”18
Marion seemed to sense his discomfort. "Thank you, James."19
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