Potpourri of Tales

4. ILY 🤟

In retrospect, Hailey supposed it was a poor decision to mention to her roommate that she hadn't ever gone volunteering during her college career. Then again, her entire life was a series of poor decisions, so this wasn't exactly a change from the status quo.

"Girl," Rebecca said, horrified, "don't you want to be an animal person or zoologist or whatever it's called?"

Hailey did (better to deal with animals than humans, in her opinion), but... So? she signed, raising her eyebrows and mouthing it.

They'd been roommates for all their three years of college, and Rebecca was still not great at ASL, but the nonverbal so what gesture was pretty universal.

"All those missed opportunities!" Rebecca practically shouted. "There's literally a farm right next to campus. You could drive there in five minutes. You do know how important volunteering is, right?"

Hailey did not, and she informed Rebecca as such. She was then treated to a several-minute-long spiel about the importance of gaining volunteering experience for resume-building and the "feel-good vibes," neither of which Hailey was particularly interested in. You know I don't like speak, she pointed out.

Rebecca rolled her eyes. "No, Hailey, I thought you were just using ASL for the heck of it. I know you don't like talking, or, uh, social interaction in general. Half the people here think you're deaf."

This was probably because Hailey ignored them when they asked her if she was deaf.

She thought the answer was fairly obvious—she didn't wear hearing aids, didn't need accommodations in her classes—and not worth answering.

It was just... maybe it had spiraled a bit out of control in college, and maybe there was something morally gray in using a signed language when you were perfectly capable of talking, but Hailey didn't see why she had to talk when she preferred other methods of communication. She'd picked it up when she was little when her parents had bought her an ASL book (something they'd come to regret—Hailey suspected that poor decision making was genetic). Ever since, Hailey had favored using her hands and voiceless mouth.

It was also a great people deterrent; those who didn't know ASL (so, pretty much everyone) would stay away.

Hailey wasn't an antisocial people-hater (though Rebecca accused her of this every so often). She had a (short) list of people she'd be willing to befriend. She just didn't like talking, found most people grating on the nerves.

Rebecca let the subject drop, and Hailey thought that was the last she'd hear of it... until a week later, when her roommate woke her up at seven on a Saturday morning with triumphant crowing.

"I hooked you up with the farm! Here, read this!" Rebecca shoved her laptop into Hailey's hands; Hailey blinked blearily at the bright screen.

Hi Rebecca,

Thank you for your inquiry! We would be happy to have your roommate join our team. Our volunteers work in partners, but the Farm's tasks involve more manual labor than communication. Even so, we can definitely accommodate her needs. One of our senior volunteers, Blake Grayson, is fluent in ASL. He generally works Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. If this works with your roommate's schedule and she is interested, please invite her to contact us at...

Hailey stared at Rebecca, then the email, then Rebecca again. She sat up in her bed.

You did not, she signed.

"Oh, yes I did!" Rebecca trilled. "Don't look at me like that, I didn't say anything false! Ahem: Dear Farm, I am writing for my roommate, who is very shy and hesitant to volunteer on account of the verbal communication involved... do you happen to offer ASL accommodations?"