Freak City by Kathrin Schrocke

realized that I hadn’t told anyone at home anything about Leah. I didn’t intend to either. My parents didn’t need to know everything.
    “Good,” my dad said. “Now at least I know why you don’t have time for the caving trip this summer.” Offended, he stirred his coffee around in circles. The sign language course had wedged itself between us.
    Back in January, he had started raving to me about a caving trek. Two weeks in France, exploring caves with a well-known adventure team. I had put off saying yes or no for the longest time and finally last night had said no. Not because of the class. For a while now, my dad and I hadn’t been getting along very well. The thought of spending two weeks in a cave with him was unimaginable.
    “These young people do the strangest things!” Aunt Vera had finally choked down her orange. After the table was cleared, she would secretly pack up a huge chunk of cake to take home and stuff into herself in front of the television. It happened every time, everyone knew it, but no one said it aloud.
    “It’s not only young people who are interested in it,” I reported. “My teacher, Sabine, is mom’s age.”
    “Sabine. Aha. So there’s even a real teacher for this? I can see that you’re thoroughly informed.” Dad had stood up. “It’s an honor that our son has let us in on his summer vacation plans.” He disappeared into the house and turned on the TV.
    “A cousin of mine was deaf, too.” It was the first sentence my grandmother had spoken all afternoon.
    “Really?”
    She nodded. “Bad ear infection as a baby. He was deaf as a doorpost. You couldn’t communicate with him at all.”
    “Then do you know a little sign language?”
    She looked at me with an amused expression. “Nonsense. Where would we have learned such a thing back then? He didn’t learn it either. We just made do somehow and got our point across in any way we could. That was all right for my cousin. He wasn’t terribly bright in the first place.”
    “Deaf people are often bitter,” Tanya inserted herself in the conversation. “They experience so much frustration. Blind people are much more grateful when other people interact with them. But the deaf? They’d rather stick to themselves, at least that’s what I’ve always heard.”
    I thought about Leah. She hadn’t made the impression that she didn’t want to connect with anyone, not at all. Just the opposite, in fact.
    “I’m going to my room,” I said.
    Sandra stood up at the same time, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “I’m going with,” she said. Our mothers threw each other joyful glances.
    My heart made a desperate leap as I climbed the stairs, Sandra close behind me. She smelled like the perfume I liked so much. The ankle bracelet made a bright, jangling sound, a familiar melody.
    “I thought you would have painted that over by now,” she said when she saw the graffiti on the wall in my room. I looked at the floor awkwardly. “So what’s up with you and that deaf girl?” Sandra looked at me eagerly.
    “Nothing,” I said quickly. “We just know each other, that’s all.”
    “She’s pretty,” Sandra said. She came a step closer to me. “If she wasn’t handicapped, I’d be totally jealous of her.”
    I hadn’t even thought of Leah as handicapped before. Besides, why would Sandra be jealous when she was the one who wanted to get rid of
me
? Women didn’t make any sense to me.
    “Nadine thinks we should get back together again,” she leaned against me and gave me a hug.
    “Nadine?” I asked, disappointed.
    “Well, I kind of think so, too.” Sandra’s head rested on my shoulder, and her arms were around me. I could distinctly feel her breasts against my body.
    Again, I thought of the red tent. Sandra’s fast, hot breathing. How could she do all of this to me after a night like that?
    “Are you getting a hard-on?” Sandra giggled.
    I let go of her and took a step away from her, embarrassed.