Freak City (15 page)

Something else was written in tiny letters at the edge of the page:
I would like to invite you to a very special event downtown. Are you free on Thursday night? I hope so! I know you’ll enjoy it!
”

What exactly she had up her sleeve, she didn’t say. Only that I should dress up a little bit, maybe like I were going out to dance. And that I should pick her up at her house.

I felt indescribable relief. For the past two days, whenever I had thought of Leah, all I could think of was her face contorted with anger and outrage at her parents’ kitchen table. Now that unpleasant image disappeared and others returned to replace it. Images that were so much nicer and whitewashed everything else: Leah standing at the pool table, totally relaxed, and directing the scene with her cue. Leah laughing about something silly with Franzi. Leah in a hot bikini, her skin dotted with countless freckles. Leah lying next to me, only inches away, and getting me to divulge a few secrets. Leah blinking at me, grinning at me, how her eyes met mine and understood without words. Always Leah, as if she were on a giant screen in my head. A sexy silent movie, nothing like Hollywood, and made for me and me alone. My hand wandered down to my pants. I felt like a jerk. I didn’t always want to have such a one-track mind, but it just happened.

“Mika?” My hand retreated and I jumped up hastily. In less than a second, I was out of bed and I had stuffed the letter under my mattress. The last thing I needed was for my mom to catch me jerking off. At least she had called me from the bottom of the stairs instead of just bursting into my room.

“Yeah, Mom?”

“Telephone. It’s Sandra. She wants to talk to you.”

I tore down the stairs much too fast. “Hello?”

“Hi, you heartbreaker. So, have you missed me the last three weeks?”

“Yes!” In my shock and after tearing downstairs, I was out of breath.

“Why don’t you come see me sometime? We can just hang out and talk, have a drink, see what’s new on YouTube or something.”

“Okay, sure. When should I come over?”

“Thursday night?”

My throat got tight. It seemed like I was the victim of a miserable plot. “I already have something going on Thursday.”

Sandra didn’t say anything, and for a brief moment, I thought about canceling with Leah. But Sandra was ahead of me with her question. “What are you doing Thursday night? Are you doing something with your stupid friends?”

There was no point in lying. Stories like that always came out in the end. “The deaf girl. Remember her?” I tried to sound normal.

Sandra laughed. “Oh, my. Is she still around? She’s kind of a clingy little one, isn’t she?”

The little one. Again. When I thought about Leah, she was big and proud, no one who could be described as little. “I’ve already promised her. Sorry. We’re going out.”

“Oh, does she need an interpreter?” Sandra chuckled again. I was reminded of my last conversation with Claudio. No one seemed to take this seriously.

“No, I’m not her interpreter. We’re going out together. On a date. The two of us are meeting up and going out to have fun. Call it whatever you want to!”

Sandra was quiet.

“I’d have time on Saturday,” I said in a gentler tone. “How about if I come over around seven?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.” Sandra sounded a little miffed. She wasn’t used to working around other people’s plans. “Come to my house, I have to play a couple of new recordings for you. The Colored Pieces are incredible. Besides, we need to talk. I miss you so bad. I’ll be home alone, all of next weekend.”

I swallowed. Home alone. Sandra’s mother almost never went anywhere.

We finalized our plans, and I hung up.

“And?” My mother stuck her head out of the kitchen, curious to know what had happened. I had spoken quietly; she hadn’t been able to hear anything.

“We’ll see each other this weekend.”

My mother looked pleased, almost happy.

“Hi.” I raised my hand in greeting and nodded at Leah uncomfortably. Yesterday I had gone into town and used my savings to buy new clothes. My dad had given me the money at some point for new climbing gear.

Leah studied me, astonished. “Why did you buy new jeans?” she asked in sign language.

I swallowed. As always, she got right to the point. How was I supposed to answer that? That I wanted to look good for her? That my old clothes were hideous? Why did she ask such an embarrassing question? The answer was obvious!

She grinned. I followed her into the house. Her family seemed not to be at home. But maybe they were there and just didn’t show themselves. After the debacle of my first visit, I could understand that perfectly well.

Only then did I realize how much I had missed Leah. It was really good to see her again! There was no trace of our fight. As if it were the most natural thing in the world, Leah took me by the hand and led me through the house and into her room. Her grip was warm and firm, and as I walked along behind her, she tightened her hold on me. My breath came faster. We were only holding hands, but still. No one had ever touched me with such intensity. Her fingertips massaged the inside of my hand.

When we got to her room, she let go. My hand tingled. It felt unbelievable.

Leah’s room was neat. Nothing lay around on the floor. Her schoolbooks were arranged on the shelves next to a whole collection of DVDs. There was a big, soft rug on the floor. To the left was a small sofa with a table. In the middle stood a bed covered with a mosquito net. Right of that a desk. The strange monitor caught my attention.

“What’s that?” I pointed at it. Leah nodded. “Videophone,” she spelled with her fingers. She walked over to the screen and typed on it. Suddenly, the monitor came on and Franzi’s face appeared on the screen.

Franzi waved, and then the two of them quickly got deep into a lively discussion. So that’s how deaf people talked to each other on the phone!

While Franzi and Leah conversed in the background, I took a closer look at her room. Apart from the videophone, a fax machine, and the enormous computer system, her room was just like any other girl’s. Leah collected shells and rocks in a glass cabinet; some of them were big. Her walls were covered with photos and posters. The earth seen from space. A movie poster for
Amélie
. A class schedule, postcards from England and Alaska. A mirror hung above the sofa with a chain of stuffed flowers tossed over it. Three old stuffed Teddy bears sat on her bed and looked over at me with bored expressions. A broken skateboard leaned in the corner. There were a couple of plants, too. I only noticed what was missing the second time around. There were no CDs or stereo in this room.

The phone call with Franzi ended, and Leah came over to me again. “I love New Zealand!” she exclaimed when I pointed with a questioning look to a mouse pad bearing the New Zealand flag next to her computer.

“Why?”

“Because sign language is an official language there. Soon, all kids will learn sign language in school! New Zealand is paradise for deaf people. Not like here.”

“What wakes you up in the morning?” I asked, curious. “I mean, you wouldn’t hear the alarm clock, right?”

She nodded, went over to the alarm clock, and set it for me. After twenty seconds, a harsh light came on. Then she pulled open the drawer of her nightstand and took out a watch. She fiddled around with it and then put it on my arm. About a minute later, the entire casing began to vibrate.

“Clever!” I spelled out. She laughed.

“Will you wait here for a minute? I still have to change,” she said. For my sake, she moved her hands in slow motion.

I nodded to Leah, and she disappeared into the hallway with a mountain of clothes. I still didn’t know what awaited me this evening.

A few minutes later, I heard water running in the bathroom. It was unfair that even though I couldn’t see her anymore, I could hear exactly what she was doing, while she didn’t catch much of anything that happened outside her field of vision. Another thought crossed my mind. She didn’t understand much about noises. Did she know that everyone in the house knew when someone took a shower? When your stomach growled, you burped, or accidentally let one go?

I went over to the bed and picked up one of the three Teddy bears. I had had one like that myself when I was younger. On the wall was something cut out of a newspaper.
There is a worm that lives under the eyelid of the hippopotamus and feeds itself from its tears
. Yet more useless knowledge.

The doorbell rang. The light over the door started flashing, and downstairs someone put a key into the lock. I could hear high heels on the stairs. Cindy peeked curiously into Leah’s room. “Oh. You’re back. Did the little one get over herself?”

I nodded. Cindy was nice, but there was also something about her that I didn’t like. And it definitely had something to do with Leah.

“Why do you all call her little one?” I asked aggressively, and Cindy looked at me astonished.

“Because that’s what she is. Our little problem child. We have to look out for her all the time. That’s just the way it is.”

“I think she’s stronger than you all think,” I replied.

“Oh, really?” Amused, Cindy started to stroke the Teddy bear I was holding. Then her look quickly turned serious. “I think Leah is incredibly strong,” she said. “The situation wasn’t always easy for me, either. Ever since Leah was born, our entire lives have revolved around her. And I . . . I was her big sister and had to protect her. You can’t even imagine how horrible kids can be! The neighbor boys thought it was hilarious to yell curse words at Leah. No one wanted to play with her. She was always left out.” Then she grinned again. “Could it be, that you’ve got a thing for my little sister?”

I turned red. “That’s ridiculous,” I defended myself. “We’re just friends.”

At that moment, the bathroom door opened, and Leah came back into her room. When she saw her sister standing next to me, she didn’t seem very happy.

Me, on the other hand, I lost control of my facial expression for a second. In the short time she had been in the bathroom, Leah had undergone an amazing transformation. I had always liked her, from the first time I saw her. But now she had really dressed up for the occasion. She was wearing a short black dress that emphasized her small breasts, worn-out Doc Martens, and a leather bracelet with silver studs. She wore her hair down and wild. She had dark mascara on her long lashes. Dressed up like that, she came close to my image of a divine apparition.

“What are you looking at?” her hands asked me suspiciously.

“You . . . you just look fantastic.” I even managed to stutter in sign language. If I stared at her even a second longer, it would slowly start to get embarrassing. I didn’t even notice that her sister was still standing right next to me.

Leah pointed to me with a hairbrush. “Weirdo!” she spelled with her free hand.

“Where are you guys going, anyway?” Cindy asked, snatching the brush away.

Leah turned to her. It was the first time I heard her speak. “To a concert.”

I still hadn’t figured out if Leah wanted to pull my leg. But fifteen minutes later, Franzi and the beautiful Marcel actually showed up in a decrepit old Beetle. The car was more fit for a museum than the road, but you could open up the roof so it was like a makeshift convertible.

In the backseat was another person, Marcel’s sister, who was not deaf. As I climbed in next to her, she gave me a friendly smile. “Hi, I’m Clara.” Clara looked nice. She slid over to make room for us.

“Hello,” I replied. Leah crammed herself in next to me. I could feel our thighs touching. Electricity coursed through my right leg. Leah pressed gently against me. A warm, hungry feeling spread throughout my body, even stronger than a while ago when she had been holding my hand. Franzi turned around to us. She looked great, completely happy. Marcel stroked her arm lovingly.

“Hey, you two. Everything going okay?” Her hands practically flew threw the air.

Leah and I nodded. It was hard not to reach over for Leah, to touch her as naturally as Marcel was doing with Franzi.

“And where are we going now?” I had turned to my hearing neighbor.

“To a rap concert,” Clara said. “Signmark. He’s really brilliant.”

In disbelief, I turned toward Leah. She would be completely bored all night. Deaf people at a rap concert? How was that supposed to work?

Franzi leaned on Marcel’s shoulder as he drove the car toward downtown Munich. Apparently, they had recently become a couple, and he was the source of Franzi’s romantic troubles. Franzi was wearing a yellow tank top and on her upper arm, I could see words in faint blue ink. Marcel. Marcel forever. Sandra . . .

I thought about the graffiti on my wall. It was really time to paint over it.

“Are you sad that Marcel is going out with Franzi now?” I asked undercover in Leah’s direction. I remembered Franzi’s brother, who had let me know that both girls were crazy about him. Now he had picked Franzi, and Leah was left out in the cold.

But to my astonishment, she shook her head energetically. “There are other nice guys out there.” She winked at me and pressed her knee harder against mine. She smelled so good and was so close to me. Blood rushed into my ears. For a moment, everything raced past me while the wind pouring in through the open roof blew through our hair.