The Pearl 2020

46
Wood. You’re my student, but she’d be a guest.”
“What’s the waver for?”
“You said she wanted to try cane travel, correct? She needs to sign a
release form in case she gets injured or hit by a car so I can’t be sued, and
neither can Grant Wood.”
Morbid, but fair.
“I’ll bring a waver next week when we work together. Have her fill it
out and Claudia,” he says, flaring her name a bit, “can join us when she’s
free.”
We come to the end of the street. The cold has me now, and I can already
feel my nose numbing. My right hand, chilly despite the two layers of
gloves, grips my cane tightly. My other is stuffed into the pocket of my outercoat.
“Okay, so remember what I taught you,” Jim says, standing next to me.
“Listen for parallel traffic and go when you’re ready. 1st Ave. is on our left,
Coe Road is right in front of you. When we are on the other side, we’ll cross
over 1st Ave. towards the Hamptons.”
I don’t say anything. I step forward, swiping my cane across the pavement
until I hear the grazing of the tip over the raised bumps that come before
a street. I stand on the bumps and stick my cane out into the street and
to the right. Jim had told me to do this so that oncoming drivers know I'm
blind and can hopefully use some common sense moving forward.
A car passes in front of me and turns left onto 1st Ave., traveling behind
me. A few more seconds and there goes another. I think I’m ready to
proceed, but then my worst enemy arrives: the hick truck.
Large, lumbering, and loud as all hell, it roars down the avenue. He’s
not listening to country but hip-hop, his subs shaking the street, almost as
loud as the engine that makes up for a lack of personality. No muffler, of
course, because who needs ear drums?
The truck eventually passes, but it’s still in my field of hearing for
much longer than I’d like. I have missed my chance, and here comes more
traffic. I curse inside my head, not wanting to stand in this frigid wind for
much longer. However, after thirty seconds, I hear a car coming up behind
me on 1st Ave. Parallel traffic is a blind person’s best friend because, in Jim’s