The First Second Hand

Lights. Lights so bright that they rivaled the stars on a perfectly black night. They illuminated the sweat dripping down the young patient’s face, dripping onto his new white shirt that his mother bought just for this occasion. He sat stiffly on the table with the white paper that ripped whenever he shifted nervously. He glanced around the white room, and wondered when someone would explain to him why they chose such an ugly color; so bland and emotionless save for a jubilant painting of children laughing which only made him more upset and uncomfortable. Finally, after watching the clock tick and his mother’s twiddling thumbs for what felt like hours, a group of people dressed in white coats walked into the room. He could see the eagerness etched on their faces and watched their lips move as their hands slapped together in what he knew as applause. For as long as he could remember, the young patient had made inferences about the world around him. Only guessing at the marvels that surrounded him yet never fully grasping the true sense of how others lived. He had longed for the day when he could once feel normal, like he belonged to this strange world full of silence. A world where he could let the chaos in his brain escape and fill the quiet exterior around him. To finally know noise. As he left his mind swirling with the implications of today, he looked up to see a nurse and her white teeth smiling at him. He understood a smile even without words. He smiled back, reassuring her that he felt ready. She reached over, brushing away his sandy blonde hair to find a new and improved ear. Click. The doctors smiled at him as they waited eagerly for him to start exploring the new world around him and said “Let’s have a second hand for our brave patient”. The young boy, rid of his deafness, heard his first sound; encouragement. He knew that the white of his hearing aid meant a new beginning.